Local coworking community goes digital in response to the stay at home movement

Local coworking community, Work & Friends, has launched a solution to bring the business community together despite social distancing during the COVID-19 crisis. The new initiative was launched under a non-profit organization called the Good Work Society which has been gaining momentum as an online community designed to bring freelancers, artisans, makers, entrepreneurs, remote workers, transitioning employees, non-profit professionals, and business leaders together to share work, do good work, and work for good:

• Share knowledge through online webinars and digital guidebooks
• Connect members through online message boards, job boards, and weekly group tea times
• Encourage social good through the creation of the “Work for Good” task forces focused on good work, good health, and good community

“It is going to be a very long road and it is so important that we work together through this process,” says Good Work Society Founder Larkin Garbee. “Many people that are employed are on very limited travel from their homes and need the connectivity that an online community can provide. Also, many people will lose their businesses and jobs through this experience, so it is critical that we provide a space for people to connect, learn, and share information. As an organization that holds space for people to come together, we know that space does not always have to be a physical space.”

“As we continue to serve the community in a time when we are encouraged to practice social distancing and we know that there will be many unknowns through this experience, we launched this online space and we have already seen very positive results from the connectivity learnings across geographical boundaries with members joining from Texas, South Carolina, New York, Florida and everywhere in between. The organization is a 501(c)3 nonprofit and the goal is to make the information and network as accessible as possible to the community.”

In a short amount of time, the organization has been able to curate #GoodBusiness virtual webinars from national industry experts sharing COVID information and thought leadership, they’ve brought their daily “Tea Times” into digital format for members to share successes and challenges.  The online community is something Garbee has always wanted to launch, but had not previously had the bandwidth to launch. “This was the perfect time to bring this idea into fruition,” says Garbee.

In addition to the launch of the Good Business Task Force, Good Work Society has also launched the Good Health Taskforce as a way to support the needs of our healthcare workers by partnering with communities that are interested in locally producing face shields to protect their communities.

The initiatives were piloted in Richmond with the #RVAProjectShield team in collaboration with RVAMakers, BUILD RVA, and VCU’s Health Innovation Sprint with Master’s of Product Innovation students from the daVinci program.  This initiative has already produced 15,200 face shields for health care workers in the Richmond region with a second initiative well underway in North Carolina for another 14,000 face shields.