Entrepreneurial powerhouses across Richmond have teamed up in an interdisciplinary project that's doing work for good as the Covid-19 pandemic rages on.
The owner of Richmond’s beloved co-working space and entrepreneurial refuge WORK & Friends, previously 804RVA, turned the space into a workshop for their new community project: the GOOD WORK Society.
As the global health crisis began to unfold, founder Larkin Garbee knew she had to take action. Garbee is already an avid supporter of the Richmond community, but with a sister and brother-in-law working as healthcare providers, she had personal stake in the game.
Alongside a list of community partners, including Build, RVA and RVA Makers, she launched the a national 501(c) nonprofit.
The organization has three central pillars: GOOD HEALTH, GOOD BUSINESS and GOOD COMMUNITY.
"What I love about the GOOD WORK Society and the GOOD HEALTH initiative is that they are true platforms for people across multiple disciplines to engage," Garbee said.
The business task force, she said, is all about translating that physical entrepreneurial ecosystem the co-working space was known for into a virtual one. Members have access to an online community of business owners sharing skills and resources about everything from accessing PPP loans to virtual tea times for socializing.
Through a network of entrepreneurial relationships many years in the making, Garbee has secured content for their virtual sessions from local management groups such as Big Spoon Co. and The Spark Mill.
Memberships for the online business community start at $100 per year or $10 per month, but it's free to those who have lost a job, shut down business operations or are transitioning their business.
Folks from Texas to South Carolina, New York to Florida have already joined the community, Garbee said.
"I've been building entrepreneurial communities for over a decade,” she said. “I've always had people come for the space and stay for the community."
The health taskforce, Garbee said, has become the true powerhouse of this new project. She teamed up with the Richmond maker community to source materials, volunteers and even 3D printing capabilities for the creation of face shields for essential workers.
Over the last month, a team of volunteers manufacturing and producing face shields have distributed 19,000 to hospitals and healthcare workers. Following the release of the next batch, Garbee said the team will have given out more than 50,000 face shields.
The GOOD WORK Society has taken mask requests from hospitals, nursing homes and even sent batches to Native American communities across the country. The organization also opened an online store so non-health care workers can purchase the masks, she said.
"I've been really excited to focus on how we can help people just do good work," Garbee said. "That is very much part of what our mission is."
She has since expanded the community to Wilmington, N.C., and hopes to recreate these community partnerships in other areas of the country.
“It’s been really fun to see connections pop up where I didn’t think I previously had a network,” Garbee said. “The entrepreneurship communities have been the first to bring these initiatives into fruition.
"Having the skills to identify assets across a community and connect is something that has been vitally important through this process."
The coworking space at 1623 W. Broad St. is currently closed to the public, but Garbee said the building has become a workspace for the team to produce shields, sanitize shipments and house their new laser cutter.
“This space has done so much for the Richmond community. We've hosted more than 900 tech and entrepreneur meetups over the past decade that have been mostly free to the Richmond community," she said. "For this to be able to be a home to do the sanitation, sorting and assembly for something else that can benefit the region... (the co-working space) is doing exactly what it's supposed to be doing.”
