Change Labs launches Native American business hub in Tuba City

With the help of a $1.2 million grant from the W.W. Kellogg Foundation and support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Pakis Family Foundation (a supporting organization of the Arizona Community Foundation), Silicon Valley veteran Heather Fleming has teamed up with the Grand Canyon Trust’s Native American Business Incubator Network to launch Change Labs, a space for Native entrepreneurs and community members to access the infrastructure, expertise, and support they need to build small businesses.

Change Labs will occupy 4,000 square feet in Towering Cliff 8, a new development project in Tuba City, Arizona, with a community grand opening ceremony slated for late summer 2019. Member startups will have access to laptops, software, desk and workshop space, printers, a business mailbox, and more. Entrepreneurs can apply for a business incubator program, get assistance applying for a tax ID number and registering their business with the Navajo Nation, meet with business counselors one-on-one, online or in person, and attend monthly classes in website design, financial planning, and other topics. Services will also be available at scheduled locations, via a Change Labs mobile unit.

What: Change Labs launch event, including: Change Labs mobile unit on site, dinner and presentation on what co-working is, and an unveiling of renderings of what the space will look like. Group activities will give community members a chance to help prioritize features and determine fair pricing for access.

Where: To’Nanees’Dizi Local Government (formerly the Tuba City Chapter House), 220 Main St, Tuba City, Arizona 86045,

When: Feb. 6 at 6-8 p.m.

Who: Free and open to the media and the public. RSVP required for dinner: https://westernagency.eventbrite.com.

More information is available at http://nativestartup.org/.