New Leaf Initiative has ceased operation of its coworking and events space after nearly eight years in the State College Municipal Building, the nonprofit’s board of directors said in a statement.
The COVID-19 pandemic “upended” coworking spaces around the world, and New Leaf was similarly affected, executive director Abby Gaffron said.
“In 2019, New Leaf had a fantastic group of coworkers, sponsors, a diverse schedule of events, with a sustainable financial model,” Gaffron said. “Unfortunately, like many community businesses, operations were significantly affected by the COVID-19 virus and by necessary public health precautions like masking, social distancing and building closures. With the persistence of the pandemic and the borough’s need for additional space, we knew it was time to halt operations.”
A New Leaf board member said on Monday that the organization’s lease ended on Jan. 1.
The borough plans to use the former New Leaf space for municipal offices, assistant to the borough manager Douglas Shontz said.
New Leaf’s board of directors will convene regularly this year “to meet ongoing obligations and evaluate new opportunities,” to serve the community, according to a news release.
“The Borough of State College is proud to have worked with New Leaf since its inception and look forward to working with the board of directors as they explore future opportunities” State College Borough Manager Tom Fountaine said in a statement.
Founded in 2009 as a “home for changemakers” in the State College community, New Leaf opened a small office on South Fraser Street in 2011 before moving to the 2,600-square-foot space on the third floor of the municipal building in 2014.
The space offered private and shared desks, conference rooms and phone booths for conference calls. In addition to coworking space, New Leaf provided numerous events and workshops, business resources and coffee hours for entrepreneurs and community groups who could network and share ideas.
Board members said that today State College has many more resources for remote workers, entrepreneurs and community groups than when New Leaf was founded in 2009. Among them, Penn State opened its new Innovation Hub in downtown State College late last year, providing a new home for the Happy Valley LaunchBox business accelerator programs, coworking space and community programming. 3 Dots Downtown also opened in 2019 to provide a community cultural hub and event space.
“New Leaf has had a huge number of supporters over the years” Heidi Wrights, chair of the New Leaf board of directors, said. “And we hope they are proud of the change and growth that New Leaf has helped catalyze in the last 11 years as we are. Today, State College has more private and public coworking options, a vibrant arts and community hub in 3 Dots, and numerous entrepreneurship support programs – beyond what could have been imagined when New Leaf was founded in 2009.”
