Documents and Handouts for the Stakeholders Meeting

In the spirit of “Save a Tree”, as well as, well, the cost of printing up nearly 100 copies of these (pretty interesting) documents, we opted for posting the PDFs of various resources and handouts here.

First up, the slightly abridged version of our overview/proposal.  You can see the vision here, as well as some of the down-and-dirty numbers.  Here’s that: Brickyard-Collaborative-Proposal_handout

Here’s the Brickyard Mission Statement, and the FAQs – some handy quick answers to common questions: Brickyard Mission Statement  /  Brickyard FAQ

Our proposed equipment list, which will show you what we’re planning to have available to members: Equipment List

There’s a great piece on how a MakerSpace aligns with education, especially Common Core standards, here: OPP_ResearchBrief7_SurveyofMakerspacesPart2_final

Sarah Beese of the Haley Pilot School put together this piece, describing their boat project: Haley Boat Building Overview

There are a couple of detailed articles talking about how MakerSpaces create opportunity.  From the Harvard Business Review, Is Collaboration the New Innovation: Appx2-CollaborationInnovationHBR  From The National League of Cities, How Cities Can Grow The Maker Movement: Appx1-CitiesGrowMakerMovementNRC

Made in Place is a piece about “small scale manufacturing” contributing to urban revitalization: made-in-place-small-scale-manufacturing-neighorhood-revitalization

The Working Cities Challenge website has probably the most compelling statement regarding “resurgent cities”, and is the quote we use to close the presentation.  The link to the site is below.

“Small cities in Massachusetts and across New England possess unique assets and face a unique set of challenges. …Notwithstanding these challenges, research on small cities conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston has found that eight cities out of a peer group of 26 nationwide have been able to either maintain or recover much of their economic stability, as measured by income, reduced poverty rates, population, and economic vitality.

Several factors drove the rebound of these “resurgent” cities: collaborative leadership, the role of anchor institutions, investment in infrastructure, and extension of benefits to the community as a whole.

Of these, collaborative leadership – the ability to work together across sectors over a sustained period with a comprehensive vision – was most crucial.

The findings are strikingly similar to those of the Living Cities Integration Initiative, deployed in five larger cities with substantial inner-city populations. Both sets of findings elevate the importance of collaborative leadership in creating systems-level changes that will enable small cities to reach their full potential as places to live, work, and raise a family.” (From Working Cities Challenge website.)

Also the Email Subscription link.

 


We’ll add more as we find them, so check back.

Wrapping Up: The Meet and Greet, 2017

Folks, it was awesome.  The interest, engagement, ideas and excitement we saw yesterday were absolutely inspiring.

We got over 50 people coming and going throughout the cafe.  We got a solid 25-30 people who stayed for the whole presentation and longer – several conversations lasted into the late hours of the afternoon.  We got almost 20 signups for the email list, and the same number of people interested in taking, or teaching workshops. We got several members of our city council and other elected government folks.   We got a couple who came from Marlborough MA just to see what we were up to.  We even got some press in LynnHappens.com: read that here.

For a first-time, seat-of-the-pants come-what-may coffee social, it was a resounding success.

We may not have a facility yet.  We may not have funding in place.  But support and interest?  You bet.

Just for fun, we showed one of the first cuts of a video we’re putting together for the Stakeholders Meeting.  If you missed it, you can see that here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V662RERLbTE&t=2s

See you next year!  It’s going to be a year like you’ve never seen before.

Keep building, keep making!  Play nice and clean up after yourselves.

 

Documents From Our “Meet and Greet”

We’ve got a few handouts prepared for you tomorrow, but if we run out, or you can’t make it, here they are:

First, the FAQs: FAQs

Next, our proposed equipment list, which will show you what we’re planning to have available to members: Equipment List

There are two other things we’ll have there – a signup sheet for our email newsletter, which you can access directly here: Email Subscription

…and a volunteer/member signup (no obligations, we’re just trying to get your name on the list as interested).  You can do that via email, here: Email TBC here.

See you tomorrow!

FAQ: Some Answers

This is moving really fast, and as it moves and changes, there are a lot of questions.  Here are some answers that will hopefully help.  We’ll keep updating this list, so check back.

What is a MakerSpace/STEAM/Incubator, exactly?  Think of it like a health club for tools.  You join, pay a fee, and get access to all sorts of tools, space and resources. Most important, it’s a co-op.  Everybody has a share in it and a stake in keeping it running.  Teaming with STEAM programs, we can share it with the schools in the area, and teaming with a business incubator, we can help make ideas turn into businesses and income.

Is there an actual place, yet?  Nope, but we’re working on it.  With the help of a bunch of people in the city, including MassDevelopment, the EDIC and LHAND, we have several locations in the downtown Lynn area targeted.

Who is behind The Brickyard Collaborative?  We’re a team of people here in Lynn – artists, fabricators, builders and makers, community organizers and activists, as well as city and state officials and administrators, all pulling together to make this happen.  Some names:

  • Community Organizers: *Ted Dillard, *Jaime Figuroa, *Lisa Wallace, *JoBeth Williams
  • Lynn Housing Authority & Neighborhood Development: *Charles Gaeta, *Jeff Weeden
  • Mayor: *Judith Flanagan Kennedy
  • Lynn EDIC: *Jim Cowdell
  • Lynn Department of Community Development: *James Marsh
  • EforAll: Kevin Moforte
  • Impact Lynn: *Norm Cole
  • Lynn Chamber of Commerce, St. Mary’s Board of Directors: Glenn Morris
  • Beyond Walls (Community Mural Project): Al Wilson, Amanda Hill, *Pedro Soto
  • Lynn Arts/Lynn Museum: *Drew Russo
  • MassDevelopment: Joe Mulligan
  • Lynn School Committee: *Michael A. Satterwhite
  • The Haven Project: Gini Mazman
  • North Shore Community College
  • Lynn’s State Delegation: Senator *Tom McGee, Representative *Brendan Crighton, Representative *Dan Cahill

(*residents of Lynn)

How soon do you expect to be operational?  We plan to start offering “pop-up” classes and workshops as early as mid-January, using various facilities and locations around the city.  By Spring, we’re hoping to have some solid funding in place, and will be hosting a Mini Maker Faire downtown.  By the start of Summer, we hope to be open and operating.

How can I help?  If you’re interested in helping out, contact us via email, here and let us know.  We need help organizing, teaching and sharing skills and resources.

How can I join?  We also will start enrolling members soon, so stay in touch.  Follow us on Facebook, check back here, or sign up for our mailing list here.

How do you get all that equipment together?  We rely on a combination of things to pull together the facility, and use a lot of tried and true tactics, proven out through the hundreds of MakerSpaces throughout the country.  We are working to get investors, grants, loans and donations to buy equipment outright.  We’re pros at scanning auction sites and CraigsList for the best deals on great used equipment, so we’re pulling hard on that front.

The Artisan’s Asylum has a strategy they’ve found to be particularly successful – offer pro-rated memberships in exchange for placement of equipment to companies and small shops.  A company gets a space, puts a few of their machines in there, and not only has a ready-made showroom and demo area, but they get access to the rest of the stuff in the MakerSpace as well.  Everybody wins.

Is The Brickyard Collaborative a Non-Profit?  Yes.  We’re a fully registered 501(c)3 Non-Profit.  All contributions are tax-deductible.


We’ll be adding to the list constantly, and especially in the week leading up to our Meet and Greet event at Land of a Thousand Hills on Dec 30.  Check back!