New Mexico Stake Pool-Cardano Education and Business Center (NMSP-CEBC)

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

[GENERAL] Are you delivering this project as an individual or as an entity (whether formally incorporated or not)

[GENERAL] Please specify how many months you expect your project to last (from 2-12 months)

[GENERAL] Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated into English from another language

[GENERAL] Summarize your solution to the problem (200-character limit including spaces)

NMSP-CEBC will solve the problem by building a cutting edge multi-facility which consists of a Developer driven education center, an indoor/outdoor event center, and a Cardano business office complex.

[GENERAL] Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?

[GENERAL] If YES, please describe what the dependency is and why you believe it is essential for your project’s delivery. If NO, please write “No dependencies.”

No dependencies

[GENERAL] Will your project’s output/s be fully open source?

[GENERAL] Please provide here more information on the open source status of your project outputs

The NMSP-CBEC will be a completely open source project with all access to general and operational information, source material, education material, learnings, lessons, schedules, minutes, blueprints, and center finances on site website and for download.

[SOLUTION] Please describe your proposed solution

The NMSP-CEBC solutions to the problems will come from the facility and its location on four and one half acres of commercial/residential property, owned outright by the founder, in Hobbs, New Mexico, in the center of the Southwest region of the USA. Its central location to an underserviced industrial and technological region; the Permian Basin Oilfield (which is prone to boom/bust economic cycles in turn will encourage a constant cycle of potentially new people in search of different industry to onboard to Cardano) and the Lea County Energy Plex: a government initiative that has brought Nuclear, Solar, Wind, Natural Gas, and Bio Energy industry to this region; but has a lack of technical education and training centers for these industries. With a population of 75,000 residents in Lea County and 795,000 residents within a 2 hour drive (numbers from the 2020 census). The CEBC is targeting 1 million people for Cardano onboarding.

The CEBC aims to be a hub in this region that would spread Cardano and Blockchain education that will onboard new people to the Cardano ecosystem and facilitate growth in a vast rural area by educating through seminars, classes, and workshops that are developer driven. The center will start by having at least one Cardano meetup a month. With more structured workshops and classes scheduled after gauging engagement from the first meetups. Then the center will encourage Devs to come and do special classes by being a fully functional education center turn-key to anyone for open source education.

To further education the NMSP-CEBC will also schedule and go out and do remote Cardano meetups, seminars, classes, and workshops in other cities including but not limited to; Albuquerque NM, Roswell NM, Taos NM, Lubbock TX, El Paso TX, Midland TX. Having a turn-key education center will allow for educational resources to be used at remote workshops, and encourage other Cardano Companies to also travel to, and participate in these remote workshops as well as hosting events at the center. 

The New Mexico Stake Pool (NMSP) being run on-site will also allow new comers to the ecosystem to see the core of the Cardano blockchain in action, learn how it works, and encourage people to start their own stake pools. Classes will be provided for education into starting stake pools, marketing to keep stake pools active, and techniques to encourage new delegators. 

The NMSP-CEBC will also act as a site for hosting special Cardano events with the help of many other Cardano companies working as allies to the NMSP-CEBC, including but not limited to; the Cardano Caravan, Rare Events, OTG StarForge Stake Pool, Blink Labs, Joker Pool SPO, and the Cardano Stonerz Club. This site has already hosted one Cardano event in February 2024, with the OTG Starforge RV Stake Pool from the Cardano Caravan with good results. The site is already equipped to host events and has RV hookups for Food Trucks and a covered dining area and Parking Areas for RVs.

The business center side will provide a platform as well as office space for new New Mexico Cardano businesses. There is already interest from existing Cardano businesses to open office space in the NMSP-CEBC, including; but not limited to; World Mobile Token, Cardano Over Coffee, Disco Solaris, and Cardano Caravan. The business center office space will be state of the art to encourage Cardano businesses to come to New Mexico. The close proximity to the on-site Cardano education center will give easy access, to not only the Cardano Businesses; but also customers, students, and patrons of the center to employment opportunities and business relationships in the Cardano ecosystem. With 4+ acres of land there is plenty of room for expansion and upgrades that can facilitate office space as interest rises. The amount of initial office space will be dependent of what the interested businesses are requiring as far as space and capabilities.

In one year the NMSP-CEBC will serve as a lasting bastion for Cardano Blockchain education and onboarding growth. Twelve monthly Cardano meetups over the course of the year, subsequent classes, special developer workshops and remote seminars will bring in the future next wave of Cardano users from the southwest region of the United States. Special Cardano Events will draw in Cardano Devs and Influencers that will also educate and onboard people at a purpose built facility that will encourage people to come back for more. The New Mexico Stake Pool (NMSP) will serve as one of the starting courses of education and learning by being on-site and giving hands on training in blockchain tech. Cardano Businesses with on-site office space will encourage more growth in the Cardano Ecosystem not only in the US but abroad by encouraging Cardano businesses to come and open in an underserviced region, and recruit new team members freshly educated on-site, through Cardano Business specific education and employment fairs. That said businesses can hold on-site in the education center.

[IMPACT] Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community

NMSP-CEBC positive impact on the Cardano community will be felt within the first month. An unfunded, unplanned, impromptu Cardano event on the same site held in February 2024 onboarded one person the day of the event, and three more subsequently since. The onboarding effect of the center will be exponential, because every person that comes to one of the twelve meetups, could be onboarded the day of. Any person that comes for the SPO classes could be onboarded and encouraged to start a stake pool. Any person that comes to the Remote Event could be onboarded 100 miles or more from the center. Any person that attends the Special Cardano Event could be onboarded that day. The business center side could onboard exponentially as well by bringing customers to a Cardano business center that uses ADA and has the potential to onboard them thru purchases. The NMSP-CEBC also positively supports Devs and other Cardano projects by supporting them remotely or hosting them at the education center. 

The success of the project will be measured in the the number of people onboarded, the number of attendees to the classes, the number of businesses that open in the business center, and the number of new stake pools that are created.  The NMSP-CEBC will encourage and support other rural regional Cardano hubs to open around the world, by giving them all the open source information, statistics, and blueprints to open a similar center.

[CAPABILITY & FEASIBILITY] What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability? How do you intend to validate if your approach is feasible?

The NMSP-CEBC will be capable of delivering on the project and managing the funds properly because the four and one half acre site is completely outright owned by the founder, who is a reputable local small business owner, who has managed company funds, and done on-site education and vocational training for twenty years, and currently runs three profitable businesses on-site. The founder is also a popular Crypto 2 Real World Influencer, who has been in the blockchain space since 2013, is a co-host on Cardano Over Coffee, hosted a Cardano Meetup in February 2024, and is capable of hosting successful Cardano Meetups that lead to onboarding.

The NMSP-CEBC will not have to cover the cost of electricity, or internet because those expenses are already covered by the founders other businesses. Water expenses are covered by three recently drilled water wells. . With the help from friends and allies in the Cardano ecosystem including but not limited to; the Cardano Caravan, OTG StarForge SPO, Blink Labs, Cardano Stonerz Club, and Joker Pool SPO, the NMSP-CEBC will bring in external Devs and SPOs to help with education, classes, and workshops . The NMSP-CEBC will bring in profit in the form of rent or lease fees for the office space of the business center. The CEBC project will be undertaken whether funding is awarded in this catalyst funding round or not. If funding is not secured in this round of catalyst, future proposals will be submitted in the hopes of providing a state of the art Cardano Education and Business Center in New Mexico.

[PROJECT MILESTONES] What are the key milestones you need to achieve in order to complete your project successfully?

Construct the Cardano Education and Business Center (CEBC) and have one Cardano Meetup at the end of the first month.

Have six Cardano Meetups, one SPO class, schedule a external Dev workshop, schedule one special Cardano event by the end of the sixth month.

Host a Special Cardano Event, Host an External Dev Workshop, Hold two SPO classes, Hold one remote Cardano meetup, Hold twelve Cardano meetups, by the end of the twelve months.

[RESOURCES] Who is in the project team and what are their roles?

Founder/Property Owner:

Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/eon-dutram-59a556172

X - $eoniam(Chad) ₳k₳ $chucky_cardano (chadpdq) / X (twitter.com)

I'm fully qualified to build, manage, arrange, schedule, coordinate, facilitate, host, and upgrade the education, events, and businesses at the CEBC. I will be able to bring on volunteers to help on monthly meetups. I will be able to bring in Devs and Projects to help on Special Projects and SPO classes. I will also manage the business center side.

[BUDGET & COSTS] Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources

74,999 ADA total requested:

15k ADA for Cargo Container Building - Education Center

15K ADA for Cargo Container Building - Business Center

 10k ADA for Apple Mac Book Pro 

6k ADA for Apple IMac Desktop PC

10k ADA for additional Stake Pool Computer Parts for multiple new student stake pools.

2500 ADA for Apple Ipad Pro

1600 ADA for Projector

4200 ADA for Projector Screen

10,699 ADA for building material such as but not limited to; lumber, drywall, electrical wires and fixtures, lights, desks, tables, chairs, insulation, air conditioning and plumbing fixtures. Optional travel funds for Devs to come to New Mexico for workshops. Travel funds for one external workshop done in another city.

74,999 ADA total spent.

[VALUE FOR MONEY] How does the cost of the project represent value for money for the Cardano ecosystem?

The NMSP-CEBC can provide huge Value of Money for the modest amount of funding requested. For the amount of ADA requested Cardano's reach could be spread by hundreds of miles in a rural Industrial Technological region. The onboarding potential in this region is huge, considering there is not a place for this type of business or education to take root in this area. If the NMSP-CEBC can onboard two people a month at the Cardano meetups, onboard one new SPO in a year that will bring on new delegators, and have two Cardano businesses lease or rent and open at the business center in a year will also bring more eyes of potential customers onto Cardano, and onboard them thru sales. Conducting one Special Cardano Event and doing one remote Cardano Event will also add at least 100 miles of range to the potential onboard area of the NMSP-CEBC. Also having a turn-key education center which can facilitate support to other Dev workshops remotely in this region also adds to the onboarding potential.

The NMSP-CEBC's core cost will be incurred by the founder, the property is already self sustained financially and includes much of the infrastructure needed to build a facility of this type. The base annual cost to run this property is $1100 for Internet/$3600 Electricity for one year. $1300 annual state property tax. These costs will be incurred, and covered by the founder for the life of the project. The project will continue to be built incurring these charges regardless of catalyst funding. The founder sees the value of money by building the project to onboard and educate people in this region and hopes that Project Catalyst sees the potential of Cardano in New Mexico.