By Bill Parry
Western Queens has been drawing young tech companies and experts expect many more with the opening of the Cornell Tech campus on Roosevelt Island next year. But these startups won’t be able to open office space right away.
WeWork Studio Square in Astoria, which provides co-working space for entrepreneurs and companies, has rolled out a new program to help individuals and companies that don’t have the resources to join. The new initiative called Mission Possible offers the western Queens community of creators, innovators and entrepreneurs a chance to apply for the support they need to achieve their objectives.
“We’re trying to infuse some new faces and introduce them to what we are doing here in Astoria,” WeWork Studio Square Community Manager Richard Scudder said. “Together, with our partners, we’re identifying potential members from hungry and driven companies and entrepreneurs and all we ask Mission Possible members to do is donate five hours of community service to a non-profit of their choice for each month that they’re part of the program.”
WeWork Studio Square took over four floors in the industrial-style building with more than 60,000 square feet last year. Along with work space the facility offers amenities like a rooftop garden as well as a patio overlooking the popular Beer Garden.
“We have capacity for 780 people,” Scudder said. “And they can network with more than 65,000 members that call WeWork home in more than 100 locations in 30 cities in 12 countries around the world. ”
Some 50 percent of WeWork members do business with each other, he said. WeWork Studio Square is partnering with Borough President Melinda Katz, the Queens Chamber of Commerce, Girls Who Code and Coalition for Queens in the program.
“WeWork’s Mission Possible program demonstrates the potential of our borough’s growing pool of talented innovators and entrepreneurs,” Katz said. “WeWork’s investment in our community is welcome and their efforts to support mission-driven companies with resources is to be applauded.”
Coalition for Queens, the Long Island City-based non-profit which has been helping to grow the tech ecosystem in western Queens since 2011, is thrilled to be a partner in Mission Possible.
“We’re committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive business community,” C4Q Founder and Executive Director Jukay Hsu said. “WeWork’s Mission Possible program will make vital resources available to help us achieve that goal.”
C4Q creates pathways out of poverty with signature programs like Access Code, an 18-week program that teaches coding primarily to women and underrepresented minorities. Graduates have seen their incomes rise from $18,000 to $85,000 a year on average according to Hsu.
“We have former cab drivers and retail associates now working as software engineers at leading companies such as Pinterest, Kickstarter and Capital One,” he said.
More than 500 people attended C4Q’s 4th annual gala fund-raiser at MoMA PS1 Tuesday night, which raised $250,000, more than 10 times the goal of the first gala three years ago.
“It was a celebration of our community,” Hsu said. “Everyone could see the good work that we do and the proceeds will help us do that good work.”
Reach reporter Bill Parry by e-mail at bparr
