At first glance, the Broadway Bubble looks like any other laundromat, banks of washers and dryers, plastic seats to pass the time while waiting for clothes to dry and a customer service desk for drop off service. But take a closer look and it becomes evident that the Broadway Bubble is not just another laundry for those without the luxury of an at-home washer and dryer.

Instead of vending machines, there’s a table with bottles of water and bags of chips free for the taking. Look at the rates printed on the facility’s 50 washing machines, at $2.75 for smallest loads and $8 for the largest, they’re a bit cheaper than the going rate. In the back there’s a lounge area with tables and chairs and a shelf full of children’s books. Out back a white picket fence sections off a corner of the parking lot. The space hints at the Broadway Bubble’s larger purpose as a community hub serving Midtown’s growing Latino immigrant community.

The transformation began a few years ago when the laundry’s predecessor, the Big Bubble shut down. Occupying a prime location on a rapidly gentrifying Broadway corridor, the space seemed destined to become another example of a business serving the Midtown’s low-income community giving way to high-end housing, retail or hospitality ventures. Then the NoVo Foundation stepped in and bought the building with the idea of turning it into a kind of public service laundry, offering programs aimed at the neighborhood’s immigrant community.

“Everybody has to spend a few hours a week doing laundry,” said Pacheco. “We want this to be a place where you can get back that time you would otherwise lose.”

Jill Pacheco is head of programming at the laundry, which opened this spring. She said that about 90 percent of the Broadway Bubble’s clientele were native Spanish speakers, with many of them hailing from Guatemala. One of the laundry’s first hires was 23-year-old Nery Pop who, in addition to speaking English, Spanish and Portuguese, is fluent in K’iche', a language spoken by indigenous people in the Guatemalan highlands.

“I like talking with people, I’m very outgoing with them,” said Pop of his role at the laundry. “And I like helping people.”

Programming at the laundry was still evolving as Pacheco and others at Kingston Midtown Rising work to gauge community needs. So far, she said, the greatest demand has been for English classes and assistance finding employment. The laundry, and its parking lot have also played host to a fall festival, job fairs, a Spanish-language financial literacy class offered by Rondout Savings Bank, and karaoke nights. Universal Health and the Golden Hill nursing home are among the employers planning recruiting events at the laundry.

“The programs are really driven by the community, what they need; we’re here to listen to them and make it happen,” said Pacheco.

The laundry and its programs are run by Kingston Midtown Rising, a NoVo-backed community service organization. In addition, we make announcements about many community events, not only Bubble events. Same is true about providing technical support In addition to the laundry, KMR has renovated the former WKNY and Radio Kingston studios to make them available for teaching and community media opportunities, like learning how to make podcasts, both with Radio Kingston and KMR. The 800-square-foot former studio is equipped with a kitchen and an office for private counseling. Plans call for programs held there to be broadcast to monitors in the laundry to accommodate larger events. The group is also planning to create a children’s play area in a fenced off portion of the parking lot.

“Once the programming takes off, I’m really looking forward to people really becoming invested in the community,” said KMR Board Chair Nadine Ferraro. “Through work, through jobs, through things that they want to learn.”

The laundry itself is a critical service for Midtown residents. Pacheco said an informal survey conducted recently found that most of the laundry’s users walked there from their homes in the neighborhood. In addition to the low rates, dryers — normally 50 cents per half-hour — are free on Thursdays and drop off service costs $1.25 per pound. Laundry manager Enma Villacis said that the great majority of her customers live nearby making the laundry a convenience for those without access to a vehicle.

“They are our neighbors,” said Villacis of her customers. “They come here because it’s a safe place for them and if they need help with the machines there’s a Spanish speaking person here to help them.”

The laundry occupies a section of Midtown that is rapidly becoming a hub for NoVo operations. The nonprofit run by Peter and Jennifer Buffett and funded by stock from Warren Buffett’s Berkshire-Hathaway has invested millions of dollars in Kingston over the past decade, with much of the money flowing down the Broadway corridor. Across the parking lot a building purchased by NoVo is undergoing renovation to become a food co-op run by KMR. Across the street is a new studio for NoVo-funded Radio Kingston and People’s Place, which operates wellness programs and a food pantry supported by the foundation. The NoVo programs in the neighborhood are mutually supporting. Youth from the YMCA Farm Kids program are helping design the laundry’s playground, and staff at Radio Kingston broadcast news about upcoming community events at the Bubble and elsewhere, and lend technical support far and wide.

NoVo staffer Megan Weiss-Rowe said that the proliferation of foundation-funded projects like the laundry was part of a broader strategy to empower grassroots community groups that have been at work in Kingston for decades and allow them to expand their operations by covering capital infrastructure and other up-front costs.

“This has been going on in Kingston long before NoVo came along,” said Weiss-Rowe. “We’re able to take on some of those expenses that serve as a barrier and help create infrastructure that will last for generations.”