Hi Alex! Sorry I've been MIA. To answer your questions, we usually have around 40-50 members at Free Range and POC are currently in the minority. We are working to change that by providing more resources to minority women. Most of the minority women within our network are moms in business/"MIBs" or "mompreneurs" who may have quit their 9 to 5 jobs to stay at home with their kids and start their own businesses or freelance.
We work to cater to such groups by providing coworking + childcare popups, and hosting networking events for MIBs, etc. There are several organizations focused on minority women in Chicago, so we look to partner with them as often as possible. I also look for inspiration in other cities, such as Seattle, where there seems to be a growing coworking + childcare trend as well. As you mentioned, it can be difficult to convert attendees at meetups to members, unless you are providing consistent resources they need access to more than a couple times a month. That is where the coworking + childcare aspect comes into play for us, but for other spaces it might be another resource that is needed for POC in your community, like technical training, workshops, bootcamps, etc. The challenge is always creating a long-term draw. I haven't noticed people grouping by demographics at our space. Our members are more likely to group based on their industry and location in our space (if they work with a team and have a designated space, if they work alone and have a reserved desk, etc.) Happy holidays! Allison On Monday, December 5, 2016 at 2:05:28 AM UTC-5, Alex Linsker wrote: > > Hi all, I am passing along a question from a member which we'll talk about > on Wednesday at our weekly open meeting - where are people of color > coworking, why/how? > > We are in Portland Oregon, which has its own issues. But I'd value > knowing, and we'll talk about: > - what are the coworking places with the lowest % of white members, and > why? I know of one in Rwanda, what are others? > - what are alternatives to coworking places for persons of color? I would > think homes and cafes and private offices and churches are some options, > what are others? > - what are some coworking places with at least 15% persons of color, and > how do the individuals self-identify? > - we're open to reframing the questions too. > > Thanks! > > Alex Linsker, Collective Agency > > > -- > -- > Alex Linsker | Business Owner > Collective Agency <http://collectiveagency.co> > (503) 517-6900 office | (503) 369-9174 mobile > 322 NW Sixth Ave, Suite 200 | Portland, Oregon 97209 > > > -- Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
