Grassroots Community Space

Love the space and the yoga classes have a lot of potential to be great. I loved the first class I took, only the instructor ended it 15 minutes early. I showed up for a yoga class tonight, and the doors were locked without a sign for cancelation. Bummer!

Grassroots Community Space is a downtown Jersey City gem. The owner’s primary mission (as it was explained to me) is to provide a space for entrepreneurs to start and grow their businesses. It’s also a great spot to host a variety of events of both personal and professional nature.
I rented GCS steadily from January 2012 to June 2014 for variety of performing arts classes and while there are absolutely challenges to operating out of facility that is not your own, I can say with absolute certainty that I would not have my own facility today if Grassroots Community Space was not host to my business for over two years.
As far as I know, there are several studios in the area that rent out by the hour (including my own), but GCS is still the only space that exists to truly provide a home for others’ businesses. Grassroots Community Space is just that– a space– and it helps you learn to help yourself. Seek it out if you’re a self-​sufficient, self-​starter. They will provide a platform and, as it should be, the rest is up to you.

This is a great space for the downtown JC community. They do a whole lot of different things, but from what I can tell they mostly rent it out for fitness classes. It’s also available to rent for rehearsals and other events. Their website has the full schedule as well as who to contact to register for each class. Another cool thing is that they frequently change art displays on the walls which are available for purchase.
The space is small but works well for a small to medium sized fitness classes. There is a nice bathroom, a small kitchenette area, and a bookshelf looking thing that people use to store their stuff.
I’ve been going to Zumba classes with Lisa there for a while now which have been a lot of fun. I’m pretty picky about Zumba instructors but she has some good songs, great routines, and a lot of energy. The only issue I’ve ever seen with the space is that there is no A/​C and the ceiling fans can be a bit weak, so we usually open all the windows and leave the door open. But otherwise it’s a great space!

Grassroots is a staple in the downtown scene for offering a variety of classes, from belly dancing to Capoeira. They also open their doors for the popular JC Slam series.
I participated in a handmade selling event with some of my fellow Jersey City Craft Mafia members for a JC Fridays event that featured female artists. The space was beautifully decorated, and wine and light food was on hand in their kitchen area for guests and vendors to enjoy. It was a lovely event, with live music, a belly dancing demonstration, and lots of happy people snapping up local wares.
The organizers, Chelo and Sirena Mercado, are two of the most warm, caring people you’d ever want to meet. Jersey City is lucky to have them and involved in a collaborative community space that enables people to learn, grow, and create.

People looking for rental space take note of Grassroots! 1200 square feet at $ 25-​$ 30/​hour, this one won’t break the bank. Book a full event starting around $ 300, which includes a little bit of assistance getting the word out if you so choose!
For local folks, they offer cool classes like African drumming and dance, local yoga, chess (really!), art classes and space for local movers and shakers to get their Create on. Often see these guys out and about at festivals and other places, and watching Capoeira is cool because I can’t do it.
The space has a full wall mirror for those of you with dance aspirations.
Location is convenient to anywhere downtown.