 This is Think Tech Hawaii, Community Matters Here. This is my mainland, live streamed Fridays at 3pm or whenever you want to watch on YouTube or listen to the podcast, you can get the details at ThinkTechHawaii.com. As discussed in an earlier show on Honolulu's participation in the Rockefeller Foundation's 100 Resilient Cities Project, there is so much to do to equip our fair city for the future. Building the Commons is a strategy that has worked in many places. My guest, Anne Weber, is the co-working community manager for the Reborn Impact Hub in Honolulu. Welcome, Anne. Thanks, Callie. So, many people know that there has been an impact hub, and then it went away for a little while, and now it's Phoenix time. Yeah, absolutely. Out of the ashes, definitely. So, let's hear about it. Sure. So, three years ago, we started as Proto Hub Honolulu to kind of prototype the idea. Is it going to be feasible? We had 160 members, 300 events. It was feasible. It was definitely. We outgrew that space in Kakaako and spent two years trying to get into our dream location, 1050 Queen Street. It's 14,000 square feet, so three times the size of the Proto Hub, and we open on Wednesday. We have a couple of images of what that space looks like, as well as the rendering behind us. I can't wait to see it in person. I do plan on being there for the opening on Wednesday, especially since I saw that Juicy Brew is going to be providing some of the refreshments. They are. Always a temptation. Yes. So, it's the one to give the cross street, Queen Street. Queen and Kama K. Okay. Right. And do we have the pictures of the team we have there? There they are. Maybe that profile of the building. It's the old world gym space. So, the whole concept of co-working and a hub and impact hub, what drew you to that? So, for me personally, I was an elementary school teacher before this. So, I taught third grade on the Leigh Bird side for the last four years, and I really saw this disconnect between educators and businesses and teaching children the skills that they needed to be able to go into the jobs that were available. So, businesses were complaining that, you know, we have to hire from the mainland, and teachers weren't getting the right information. You know, how do you educate for the future? So, what drew me to impact hub personally anyway was this idea of bridging that gap, building direct connections between businesses, entrepreneurs, start-ups, people in sustainability, and the educators themselves, so that it's not happening at this high level with the DOE. It's happening between teachers and the people that need to fill those jobs. And in today's economy, you never know when you might want to or have to learn a new skill. I went to the Proto Hub to take classes on WordPress, for instance. Oh, great. And there was just, I mean, all walks of life in there. It was a great experience, but my gosh, it didn't look anywhere near as snappy as this new space. Yeah, we're very excited. It's a little more polished than the Proto Hub, but the same idea. It's bringing people together to build communities and make impact. That's the idea. And this impact hub is one of an international network. Can you talk about that a little bit? Sure. So Impact Hub Global is a partnership among 102 different Impact Hubs. They started in Europe, and if you are an Impact Hub member, then you get access to every single other Impact Hub. You can go visit for at least three days. Some of them have longer. So you could spend the whole year just traveling around, visiting all of the different ones, just being a member. So the reciprocal benefits, I mean, if I went to Seattle for a week, I could go three days there. But if I wanted to do more than three days, I would probably have to do some. Join as a member there. But so three days is the minimum that you have to commit to. So if someone from Oakland comes here, we give them three days. But Impact Hubs get to make the decision on whether they want to do more than the three days. So there's different policies per hub, but the minimum is three. So is this an independent organization? Is this a nonprofit? What kind of an organization? Yeah, it is an LLC. Each one operates independently, but we're part of a global partnership. So we get the advantage of having makers all over the world who are trying to accomplish a similar vision. And here in Kakaako, that's a neighborhood that is excellent for bringing people together. It's so central and you have a wide variety of services. You want to talk about those a little bit? Yeah, absolutely. So we offer co-working memberships, which means that you can come and work in any of the open spaces. You come and you bring your laptop, just like a coffee shop, except you have this network. If you are a small business, let's say you make some kind of food product, then you have access to a graphic designer who might work a few desks down and someone in digital marketing and someone that can help you with your packaging. How would I know that? So it's a hosted environment. So at every Impact Hub, there's a host or ambassador that kind of is there to make sure that those serendipitous connections, all of that networking that makes being a member of a hub beneficial, that all of it is happening. So the host gets to know each of the members so that that person can introduce them in the appropriate situations. Wow, that's fantastic. Yeah, yeah. And then we also have programming to bring people together as well. So all about honing that community and making sure that the members are talking to each other, that all of that networking that needs to happen is happening. So one of the really uncomfortable things about Kaka Ako is parking. Yeah. Not for us. Tell us about that, because that's where the rubber hits the road. Yeah. Like the details. Like there are events I won't go to in Kaka Ako simply because I don't want to waste the gas driving in circles. I'm exactly the same way. I won't go eat at a place if it's just like, oh, well, I can't park there. Or I have to pay a lot to park there. Exactly. We have a parking lot in-house, Kamakee Avista. You enter on Kauai How. It's 50 cents an hour with our validation, which you're just not going to find. I also have better than meters. I've been parking daily for free right on Kauai How, so yeah. We have ample parking. It's very exciting. And it's also covered, right? Yes. Thanks, Kauai. And for those of us who are more involved, not us, but in our community, I'm not one of them. You have space for bicyclists. Yes. And showers. And showers. Tell us about that. The advantage to being in a space where it used to be a gym is that we have showers, and we have bicycle storage and surfboard storage so you can walk two blocks up and jump in the water at Alamoana Beach Park, surf bowls for a minute, come back after lunch, take a shower, and get back to work. I think we just sold about 500 memberships. I know. It sounds so good. Wow. We also have a workshop room, which we want to bring a lot of movement classes. So yoga, Pilates, gong meditation. We were speaking with someone who wants to bring that in. So we want to offer our members the work-life balance. So let's just go down that alley a little bit. So the movement space, so that would be a room that if somebody wanted to do something went off, or would it be something that if they wanted to do something on going, how does that sort of thing work? Both. So you could rent the room on an hourly basis. If you're already a member, then you get a 40% discount. So big advantages to being a member. And you could have a running program on the schedule, or you could just do it one time and get a sense for what it feels like. Could you say something about that space? Yeah. It has wooden floors. So like the nice, you could do dance classes in there. We are keeping those nice floors. It's well-lit. Windows. It's completely closed. Windows all on one side. It has its own private access as well. So if you wanted to have people enter or exit from their own private access, that would be possible as well. Okay. And then I read something about a cafe. Yeah. So we're putting in a cafe. We're still working out those details, but we're going to have ready-made food available, kombucha on tap, and a break room as well. So if you do bring a lunch, then you have a microwave, a fridge, a toaster oven, free coffee for members, all available to you as well. So you don't need to feel like you have to go. We're also right across the street from the new whole foods that's coming in. So lots of options within about 10 yards. I know. It's so exciting. Well, I knew this was a good idea, but I didn't know how good an idea it was. And it seems like you can't even wait to start, and you've already got events planned like for today. Yeah. So today we have an event by Women's March O'ahu called Hot Seat, and Kaleen Hanabusa has agreed to do Town Hall Style Q&A. It won't be moderated. Any question and all questions are welcome. You can submit questions online at slido.com. And what? Slido, S-L-I-D-O, dot com. Thank you. Hashtag W-M Hot Seat. That's today, which is Friday, August 18th. Yes. And then Wednesday is our opening blessing. So that will start at 8.30 a.m. We will have some Juicy Brood Goodies, and Kumu Ramsey is doing our Hawaiian blessing that morning. And then that evening is Wet Wear Wednesday on August 23rd, sponsored by HTDC. So for people who aren't familiar with Wet Wear Wednesday, it's not about bikinis. No, it took me a little bit on that one, too. It's a palhana for people in the sustainability and technology industry. Well, I was really relieved to hear that they are going to be having meetings because I've been to some of their meetings, and the acoustics in some other venues were really not conducive to conversation. So really a great upgrade for facilitating communications, which is what it's all about. Absolutely. Okay, so we have the official opening happening next week, but people can already become members. Yeah, absolutely. So you go onto our website, impacthubhnl.com, and all of our membership options are there. You'll see three different levels. We also offer offices and hot desks, which means that you have a desk for $350 a month where you can keep your stuff, but it is in the open. We'll come back and talk about those specific details after our break. Thanks so much, Anne. Oh, thank you, Kauai. This is Think Tech Hawaii, raising public awareness. Hello, everyone. I'm DeSoto Brown, the co-host of Human Humane Architecture, which is seen on Think Tech Hawaii every other Tuesday at 4 p.m. And with the show's host, Martin Desbang, we discuss architecture here in the Hawaiian Islands and how it not only affects the way we live, but other aspects of our life, not only here in Hawaii, but internationally as well. So join us for Human Humane Architecture every other Tuesday at 4 p.m. on Think Tech Hawaii. Welcome to Sister Power. I'm your host, Sharon Thomas Yarbrough, where we motivate, educate, empower, and inspire all women. We are live here every other Thursday at 4 p.m. And we welcome you to join us here at Sister Power. Aloha and thank you. Aloha and Richard Concepcion, the host of Hispanic Hawaii. You can watch my show every other Tuesday at 2 p.m. We will bring you entertainment, educational, and also we'll tell you what is happening right here within our community. Think Tech Hawaii. Aloha. Ben Weber, who is telling us about the brand-new, reborn Hawaii Impact Hub Honolulu. Let's see if I can say that wrong again. So it's been two years since we've had the Impact Hub Honolulu really up and running. And I can see why. It looks like you guys have been very busy. Yeah, absolutely. So we, since being the Proto Hub in Kakaako, we were trying to find the larger space and it took us two years to really get that buy-in from the state to grant us the lease in this space. And speaking of buy-in, you have also gotten some very nice buy-in from the community through your crowdfunding. We're going to show the video that you guys made. It's the campaign is over, but you're going to tell us about it after the video. Aloha. We are the Impact Hub Honolulu team and we are building the Commons to Build community. We recognize the important role community plays in every aspect of your life. Without a gathering place that inspires you to create, build, and collaborate, our space would just be boring office space. The Commons is a community, a seating and gathering area inside Impact Hub Honolulu. We're building glitter-style comfortable seating that can be rolled into any area and separates into two pieces for dynamic events, how-hanas, programs, speakers, artists, and much more. We want our members to have a space to come and take a brain break, have a casual conversation, and share ideas. With Commons is more than a casual gathering place just for members. It will create direct local impact in your community. This campaign will support organizations that may not have the budget for co-working memberships or events. In addition to building the actual structure, your donation goes towards scholarships and event sponsorships to support impact makers, small organizations, and causes that you care about. So, we have 30 days to turn our vision for the Commons into reality. Let's create Impact and let's create the Commons. It was a delightful gentleman you were seated with. So that was George Yarbrough and Nam Vu, our co-founders and co-directors for the space. Okay, so tell us what the whole crowdfunding adventure was like. Sure, so we have been gathering a founding partner circle, which is corporations and nonprofits in the state of Hawaii that we believe would benefit from involvement in Impact Hub and also vice versa. Through that, we thought, why not make the community one of our founding partners? And so that's where the idea of the Commons was born. So the Commons is the background behind us, I believe. We're going to do bleacher-style seating, but you heard all that in the video. We were able to raise $10,332 so that we could build not only the Commons itself, but a scholarship fund for micronon profits, for causes, for community events that we want to bring to our community and that we want people to be aware of. So they can have their events for free and the community has sponsored them. So how long will it be before those kind of programs are up and running? They're already running. The first three that we've done, let's see, when did they start? In about mid-July, we started having events and those have been free events. So we did an educator documentary screening of most likely to succeed and we did a design thinking of activity. Yeah, we love that one, around designing space for learning and collaboration, which is exactly what we're trying to do. So some of our ideas for our designs from that design thinking activity. So really fun. We've been trying to bring in the community. Another event that we had was a hackathon. Angel Hat came all the way from Silicon Valley and they had six simultaneous hackathons going on around the world. And so Honolulu, this was their first time there. They did it in our bare bones skeletal space. How did that work? That's an amazing event. So who came? What was it like? We had 80 developers. Wow. They're for 36 hours. Sitting in the scaffolding and just going straight through and then there were 12 teams and they pitched their ideas on Sunday afternoon to our panel of judges and the winner was Shirt Connect who are also now members of the hubs. So that was one of the rewards that we gave to them. Do you remember anything about their... What are they doing? Yeah, so their business was providing a way for businesses to create advertisements that people wear. So people could get access to free shirts that businesses have made available in order for advertising to happen. Human billboards? Yeah. Okay. I'm not wearing my outdoor circle hat at the moment. Speaking of stories, I'm sure over the years there have been a few... And just to give people an idea of why it's useful and why it's worth it for corporations and the public to support this. Tell us, what can an Impact Hub do? So there's so many stories, whether it's a connection happening in real life from people sitting next to each other at the same hub or online on Hubnet, which is the Impact Hub Global Social Network. So you have, as a member, you get access to this network of entrepreneurs all over the world. So if you're doing similar types of business and you're having a problem with insurance and trying to figure out, well, how do I even go about solving this problem? Then you have access to other people in this giant brain trust. But in terms of face-to-face interactions, one that comes to mind is a bikini designer, actually, that was working out of the hub. And she was just starting out and she had her product. And the product was fantastic. It was bikinis for women who surf, because I'm sure you know as well as I do that they don't stay on as well as they should. So these were specially designed. They had a special waistband and all of that technology, but she needed a way to market it. And so she met at the hub a graphic designer who was able to do her branding, who then connected her to another member who was able to really start pushing it. And since then, the business has grown exponentially. The great thing about that is we track that revenue growth so that we can kind of trace our impact in the community as well. Okay, so let's get down into the nitty-gritty of what the memberships cost and how that works if you can. Sure. So there's unlimited 24-7 membership is $215 a month. That lets you in anytime. And you can use all of the common areas. For $95 a month, it's our part-time membership for 10 days per month. So if you take out weekends, you're looking at about 20 days a month. Part-time is 10 days. And then we have a $30 membership for two times per month. And any additional day is $10. So simple, easy-peasy, three options. And you can always go up or down once you kind of see your usage. There isn't a long-term commitment, no. No, month-to-month. So the business model for this, how long has that been around? Co-working? Yeah. For this impact of the network. Probably, I think, about 12 years. 12 years. So it's pretty mature. No wonder they had their own social media. So what is your, what are you most excited about as far as events upcoming? It doesn't have to be next week, but just in the near future. I am most excited for, wow, there's so many. It's been so much about getting people in the space. That's what I'm really excited about. From being an educator, my favorite part of being an educator was building a community. Growing a nurturing community of collaborators. And so that's what I'm most excited for, to be able to understand the community needs and provide programming that relates to what they do and also the impact that they want to create. How many people will fit in the Commons area? Oh, in the Commons area, depending on the setup. Is that the only public area? No, so we also have a main event area, which is even larger. So the Commons could probably fit about 25 people very comfortably, but you could bring in more chairs on the side and do a lot of flexible seating arrangements. The main event area is right next to the Commons. There was, there's the picture, perfect. That could fit easily over probably 130 people. That's what our chair limit is at. So, but a pahana, definitely more. A pahana, you mean just if it's informal? If it's not seated. Okay. So anything where you wouldn't need seating, you could fit more about these things. Wow. Well, somehow we only have two minutes left. Am I good to? That happened. So tell us what we really need to know that I don't know enough to ask you about. We open on August 23rd and we will be free from August 23rd to September 6th for co-working. So come in and work for the day for free. Well, I absolutely will. I can't wait to find my perfect spot there. Yeah. There's so many to choose from. Okay. And all of that, all of that showers and 50 cent parking and wow, it's just amazing. Thank you so much, Ann, for coming to tell us the great news about something positive happening in our community that isn't just a one-shot deal, that you guys have showed your commitment to this community and we just wish you all the best. Thank you, Coway. Thank you for having me and I can't wait to see you there. Aloha. Aloha.