1. The Case for the Center There is a growing number of people of Urhobo descent and other Nigerian nationalities in the New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut area. Many of these people and their children have made this area their permanent homes. However, they have very few public meeting places of their own for social and cultural interaction. They occasionally rent event centers owned by people of other nationalities for wedding ceremonies, associational meetings, and celebrations of cultural events. The children and young adults have no place to go to learn about their cultural heritage, and the growing number of seniors, including many who are retired, have no place for social interaction. Young married couples have no place where they can keep their young children to mix and mingle with their kith and kin. There are hardly any business parks or guest houses owned by Nigerian organizations or people of Nigerian descent to service the Nigerian community and other minorities. To fill this gap, UC has decided to establish the UCCN to provide a variety of facilities and service/programs for people of all ages, first for the benefit of the Urhobo people and then other Nigerians, Africans and African Americans and other minorities living in the area. The Center will be an event and business center primarily for people of Urhobo descent and other Nigerians and minorities. The Center will host a wide variety of events, educational, cultural, social, fitness and recreational programs for people of all ages and backgrounds, as well as African shops or mini-markets, other businesses, and a mini-hotel/guess houses/rooms. The Center will be unique in its service offerings and clientele. 2. Purposes of the Center The purposes of the UCN include the following:

(a) Serve as event center primarily for people Urhobo descent, other Nigerians, and Africans in the tri-states.
(b) Promote Urhobo culture in the tri-state.
(c) Provide educational, recreational, health and wellness facilities for Urhobo people and other Nigerians in the area.
(d) Provide business space primarily for people of Urhobo descent in the tri-state.
(e) Provide hotel, short-term and extended stay facilities for Urhobo people and other Africans living in or visiting the area.
(f) Generate revenue for UC to carry out and scale up its humanitarian and community development work in Urhoboland in Nigeria

1. The Case for the Center When fully operational, the Center will include the following:
1. A large 500-seat Event Hall for socials events including meetings, marriages, birthday parties, funeral ceremonies, conferences, seminars, workshops, cultural exhibitions, and other celebrations. The hall can easily be partitioned into two 250-person capacity or four 100-person capacity and 5 smaller 80-person capacity halls/rooms.
2. A 5,000 square feet area for UC Programs and Services Unit, including UC-CT Office, Resource Center which will include a mini-library, mini-museum, and language lab, and rooms that will be used for after-school programs and summer camps for Urhobo youths, adult and seniors’ programs, marriage seminars/counseling, financial planning, screening of Africa movies, dance, music, and art classes, etc.
3. An 10,000 square feet Office/Retail Rental Space, that will consist of several rooms of different sizes that will be rented out for use as Doctor’s Office, Lawyer’s Office, Pharmacy, Grocery Store, Beauty Salon, African minimarkets, etc.
4. A Guest House/Short & Extended Stay facility comprising of 30 rooms.
5. A Fitness, Health and Wellness Center that will provide sporting and recreational programs including swimming classes, basketball, soccer, table tennis, nutrition classes, massage, etc.
The services provided will be unique and the environment will be clean, friendly, and upscale where clients will feel comfortable with each other. The Center will strive to set itself apart from other community centers that may offer similar services.
4. Ownership, Management & Implementation

(a) Serve as event center primarily for people Urhobo descent, other Nigerians, and Africans in the tri-states.
(b) Promote Urhobo culture in the tri-state.
(c) Provide educational, recreational, health and wellness facilities for Urhobo people and other Nigerians in the area.
(d) Provide business space primarily for people of Urhobo descent in the tri-state.
(e) Provide hotel, short-term and extended stay facilities for Urhobo people and other Africans living in or visiting the area.
(f) Generate revenue for UC to carry out and scale up its humanitarian and community development work in Urhoboland in Nigeria

The Center will be operated as a separate (but affiliated) social enterprise owned by the UC and its shareholders. UC will own 25% of the shares while 75% will be allocated to other investors (individuals and organizations with no other investor owning more than 20% of the shares. The initial share capital will be $3,000,000. The projected start-up cost (capital) is US$10million which we plan to sources through donations (target $2m), shareholding (equity) $3m and bank loan ($5m). The Center will be managed by a professional property management company that will receive 5% of all revenues generated as compensation. The management company will provide Quarterly Activity and Financial Report to the Board of Directors of the Center which will meet quarterly to review the reports and make necessary decisions. The UCN project will be implemented in two phases as follows: Phase 1 (2024): This phase will consist of buying an existing property on a large expanse of land or a vacant land, and remodeling and/or building the structure to house the event hall, the UC Business, Resource, Programs and Services Unit, and the 10,000 square feet Office/Retail Rental Space. The remodeling and construction and equipping of these facilities will be completed in during the first six months of the first year after the required funds have been secured, and the Center will open for business as from the seventh month of year 1. Phase 2 (2025-2009): In this phase, the undistributed profits will be used to add a Guest House/Short & Extended Stay/Vacation Rental Unit and a Fitness, Health & Wellness Unit. All the facilities will be completed by the end of year 5 and the Center will be fully operational, breakeven, and making profits by the end of that year.
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