Morgan Everson of Newport credits her partner, Britt Riley of Portsmouth, with coming up with the plan for the Coggeshall Club, the new one-stop shop for coworking, childcare, and fitness that they …
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Morgan Everson of Newport credits her partner, Britt Riley of Portsmouth, with coming up with the plan for the Coggeshall Club, the new one-stop shop for coworking, childcare, and fitness that they have recently opened on Valley Road in Middletown. The two have been friends for a long time, and colleagues on several occasions when their work — both in the marine industry — has overlapped.
"This has been Britt's idea for the last few years," Ms. Everson said. "One night while she was at home nursing she thought 'there has got to be a better way to do this.'"
She has two kids and has always worked remotely, and so have I. It's so hard to work from home and afford childcare which fits with how you work at home, the way traditional child care is structured."
Designed for the suburban family, The Coggeshall Club model takes an approach that is much more aligned with the way many parents work these days. "With our model we do three hour blocks of time, and we allow parents to decide when they need it, based on the membership that they have," said Ms. Everson. "They get to choose how they want to use their hours.
"You don't have to put your career on hold."
The downstairs child care space is bright, light-filled and fun, with toddler-scaled kitchen and bathroom facilities, a dedicated infant room, and a preschool classroom run by an experienced Montessori teacher. The child development program is guided by a nurturing, play-based philosophy. Designated rooms for different ages will provide educational toys and experiences to support imaginative play, story time, creative movement and use of the outdoor, natural playground. Mothers can nurse on-demand throughout the day in the nursery, and family events will take place throughout the year, including movie nights, food truck Saturdays (once per month), weekend beach days, and even snowman-making contests in the winter.
Additional support and benefits for parents are bundled into the membership, including, but not limited to, counseling, professional mentoring/coaching, lactation support, in-office spa services, and monthly pop-up events and seminars.
You definitely don't need to avail yourself of the childcare opportunity — or even have children — to appreciate what the Coggeshall Club has to offer. Upstairs, in the workout and coworking space, it's another world, with several welcoming and quiet rooms that invite creativity and productivity. They also offer office supplies, high-speed, secure Wi-Fi, unlimited coffee, tea and snacks and access to a fitness suite which features Peloton spin bikes, treadmills, rowing machines, free weights, and showers. Hours for accessing the coworking and fitness space are unlimited, for all members.
Various levels of discounts and other offers will be presented from local partners such as pilates, barre, spas, salons, outdoor sports, and clothing. Food trucks will be offered as available for lunch, as well as grab-and-go dinner, relieving many of the stress points families with young children face in their day to day lives.
The Coggeshall Club delivers, and the community seems to agree. Within two weeks of opening their doors in August they were at 50 percent capacity, and expect to have a wait list by the end of September. For more information on hours, price structure for customizable memberships, and to schedule a tour, visit www.coggeshallclub.com.
"It's an actual dream come true," said Ms. Riley. "Parents leave here at the end of the day, and they are like 'We've found it. This is the balance we've been looking for.'"
We're so lucky to have the opportunity to do this, and I couldn't have done this without Morgan."