The Giving Center

THE HUB is a unique concept in community planning -- a center which would house all the non-profit agencies of the county and pay for them with an on-site apartment complex and business park. According to Sally Soufer, of the Volunteer Center of Sonoma County, THE HUB is a concept whose time has come.

"THE HUB, a community center/nonprofit business park, is an innovative vision and wonderful way to support the invaluable work of nonprofit organizations in our community...the nonprofit sector provides housing to the homeless, feeds the hungry, cares for the sick, and saves lives in time of disaster. It helps educate the young, protects the elderly, enriches our lives with music and art, and provides counseling and assistance to those in need."

THE HUB plan was developed by commercial developer Bill White (who would design the apartment complex and business park), Mike Hatfield, CEO of Calix Systems, John Records, the Executive Director of COTS (Petaluma Homeless Program), Alan Anspach, the Executive Director of the Petaluma Boys and Girls Club, and Tim Kellgren, a local pastor.

The existing school buildings would house the offices for Sonoma County's non-profit organizations. There would be an on-site teen center, Boys and Girls Club, senior center, community center, childcare center, community garden, job-training center, a nondenominational religious center, and the two items that would fund the rest -- a 450-unit condominium/apartment complex (to include at least 45 low-income units) and a multi-use business park that could house a restaurant and property management firm. The entire project would be built on a sustainability basis and would include a sustainability information station at the HUB.

An ambitious project, and one that could become a model for future hubs. The trend in philanthropy has been erratic with the creation of many of California's mini-millionaires, people who have no family history of money or guidance in giving, and who are occasionally parsimonious due to a money-less background, or quirky in their giving. The idea of a non-profit center which would be self-sustaining is appealing to those who must beg for money year-to-year or write interminable grant proposals.

John Records explains how the HUB would help his homeless program, COTS. "All the administrative offices for the county's non-profits would get space in the HUB, at little or no rent. We need 1,000 square feet of space, which we now have to pay for -- that takes away from the people we're trying to help. And, because we're looking to develop affordable housing at-site it would also help our clients to get out of the shelter and into their own homes. The Kenilworth Junior High school building is 55,000 square feet."

An ambitious and expensive project to create; this is where the Telecom Valley moguls come into it. The debacle of Silicon Valley is causing a ripple effect surging through Northern California, and the CEO's of the new booming companies have determined not to allow Sonoma County to become another Silicon nightmare. Bill White and Mike Hatfield (CEO of Calix Systems) are confident they can raise the 8 to 15 million needed to buy the Kenilworth land and buildings. This will come partially from the development of the office buildings and housing units, and the rest would depend on grants, bond funding, and donations from the Telecom giants.

Records stresses that the importance of this project, why it's so different from other, previous, attempts to provide the public with assistance, is the concentration of services at one site. That's why they're calling it THE HUB -- it will serve as the center of Sonoma County's assistance programs -- no matter what help people need, they'll find it there, in the big brick building that used to be a school. And if THE HUB becomes a reality Kenilworth Junior High School will continue to teach...all of us.