Editor's Note: Affinity Development Group will be opening an office in South Reno instead of relocating their corporate headquarters, which was stated in the original version of this story. Both the text and audio have been updated.
Three new companies are coming to Northern Nevada and will eventually hire for more than 300 jobs.
PlusPlus, YOGO, and Affinity Development Group (ADG) are arriving in Northern Nevada. PlusPlus is a peer learning platform for larger companies, YOGO creates eco-friendly yoga mats, and ADG offers customer relationship management programs. Among the three, YOGO will be relocating its corporate headquarters to Sparks, Nevada.
Mike Kazmierski, President and CEO of the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada, or EDAWN, made the announcement.
“Diversification efforts of our community over the last ten years have really paid dividends during this crisis,” said Kazmierski. “Our unemployment rate is dramatically less than the south[ern] part of the state and we certainly expect, when you look at manufacturing and technology, most of those people are still working. And a lot of those companies did not exist in the north five or ten years ago."
Nevada’s April unemployment rate was 28.2 percent, which was the highest in the nation. In April, the unemployment rate for the Las Vegas metro area was 33.5 percent. In the same month, Reno’s unemployment rate was 19.6 percent. Kazmierski said economic recovery will be slow and the workforce won’t be the same as before.
“The good news is things are starting to pick up and some of the people are going back to work,” said Kazmierski. “But most economists will tell you a lot of those jobs are not coming back. Things have changed, the world is different. And with the change, what’s happening now, it’s more important than ever to bring in great new companies that people have an opportunity to apply for, become a part of, and help support.”
Kazmierski said that in the next few months EDAWN is going to announce more than a dozen businesses that are coming to Reno.
The image included in this story is a screenshot from Facebook of EDAWN's press conference on June 10, 2020. View the video.
Jayden Perez is a senior studying at the Reynolds School of Journalism.
