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The Belle Center purchases IW Chadwick Library
The Belle Center announces plans to launch a new entrepreneurship center in 2024
MT. PLEASANT — A new regional nonprofit organization The Belle Center Inc. has purchased the former Chadwick Library at Iowa Wesleyan University. The Belle Center’s purpose is to empower rural southeast Iowa entrepreneurs who have historically lacked access to entrepreneurial resources.
“The Belle Center will be focused on supporting rural entrepreneurs of all backgrounds, but we will have specialized programming for women and immigrant entrepreneurs.” announced Sue Sorensen, the newly named Executive Director of The Belle Center.
Sorensen noted that The Belle Center is fondly referred to as, “The Belle,” and is named after famed Iowa Wesleyan alumna Arabella Babb Mansfield. A statue of Mansfield still resides on the former campus.
“Belle was the first woman to pass the bar exam in the United States and she was also a suffragette,” said Sorensen. “Belle pushed for equitable and fair access for all. In that spirit, The Belle will focus on providing equitable access to entrepreneurial resources for Southeast Iowa’s rural residents.”
One of those resources is a co-working center. Traction Steam Co-Working, Mt. Pleasant’s co-working center currently located downtown, will move to the top floor of The Belle in February. Former Traction Steam Director Ray Vens will take on the duties of Community Manager of the new co-working center.
“It is exciting to see how much the co-working space downtown has grown in two years,” said Vens. “The new space will allow for more coworking members and create an innovative space with more desks, break out rooms, high-speed internet, and high-tech online conferencing. It also allows us to rent the space out to community members and organizations for events and conference.”
Additional events and entrepreneurship programming will be announced in the upcoming months. Board members of The Belle Center include Luis Aranda, Jennifer Crull, Kellen Gracey and Mike Heaton. For additional information, contact director@bellecenter.org
