Learning Network Launch

Written By Colin Lacy

MakerUSA announced the launch of its new Learning Network, which will engage 34 leading institutions and organizations across 20 states. The MakerUSA Learning Network is a national community of practice designed to facilitate the exchange of resources and ideas, develop new regional collaborations and strengthen social capital across institutions and organizations taking community-driven approaches to supporting maker education and pathways to “making” industries. The model also aims to lift up best practices for the wider fields of maker education and workforce development innovation, including entrepreneurship.  

“Making” includes industries ranging from advanced manufacturing and biotechnology to computer science and the skilled trades. Maker education uniquely empowers students to explore and improve their world. It enables students to create by building, prototyping, coding, digitally fabricating and experimenting. Maker education puts the student at the center of the learning experience and is interdisciplinary, fusing arts and design with science, technology, engineering and math. 

These leading institutions and organizations were selected based on their unique expertise, leadership and community goals. MakerUSA aims to expand the Learning Network in 2023. 

MakerUSA, incubated within the National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship (NACCE), is made possible by the generous support of founding sponsors Arconic Foundation and Genentech.  

MakerUSA 2022-23 Learning Network Members

California

  • Boys & Girls Clubs of the Los Angeles Harbor (San Pedro, CA)

  • Cabrillo College (Aptos, CA)

  • Folsom Lake College (Folsom, CA)

  • Krause Center for Innovation at Foothill College (Los Altos Hills, CA)

  • Moreno Valley College (Moreno Valley, CA)

  • Norco College (Norco, CA)

  • Riverside City College (Riverside, CA)

  • Sacramento City College (Sacramento, CA)

  • West Los Angeles College (Culver City (Los Angeles), CA)

Colorado

  • Pinhead Institute (Southwest Region, CO)

Connecticut

  • Operation Pathways (Stamford, CT + Washington D.C.)

Florida

  • Pan African Cultural Institute (Pensacola, FL + multi-state ecosystem)

  • Tallahassee Community College (Tallahassee, FL)

Georgia

  • STE(A)M Truck (Decatur, GA)

Idaho

  • Idaho STEM Action Center (Boise, ID + state-wide ecosystem)

Louisiana

  • Xavier University of Louisiana Library (New Orleans, LA)

Maryland

  • Coppin State University, (Baltimore, MD)

  • Open Works (Baltimore, MD + state-wide ecosystem)

North Carolina

  • Forward Cities (Durham, NC + national)

Nebraska

  • Northeast Community College (Norfolk, NE)

New Hampshire 

  • MAXT Makerspace (Peterborough, NH)

New Mexico 

  • Navajo Technical University (Crownpoint, NM)

  • New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (Socorro, NM)

New York

  • Rockland Community College (SUNY) (Suffern, NY)

Ohio

  • Greater Cincinnati STEM Collaborative (Cincinnati, OH)

  • Mantles and Makers (Cleveland, OH)

Oklahoma 

  • Fab Lab Tulsa (Tulsa, OK)

Pennsylvania

  • Harrisburg University of Science and Technology (Harrisburg, PA)

Tennessee

  • Global Center for Digital Innovation (Chattanooga, TN)

  • Public Education Foundation (Chattanooga, TN)

  • Tennessee College of Applied Technology Knoxville (Knoxville, TN)

Virgina

  • Patrick & Henry Community College (Martinsville, VA)

Wyoming

  • University of Wyoming (Laramie, WY + state-wide ecosystem)

National

  • Urban Manufacturing Alliance 

About MakerUSA

MakerUSA’s mission is to partner with the communities that have been most marginalized by unequal access and opportunity and support their goals to leverage maker education to drive community-led innovation and maker career pathways. MakerUSA is a new organization (founded in 2021) that is incubated within the National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship (NACCE). MakerUSA is made possible by the generous support of founding sponsors Arconic Foundation and Genentech.  

About NACCE

NACCE provides leadership and resources to foster entrepreneurial thinking and action in one of the largest entrepreneurial ecosystems in North America. NACCE has a diverse and growing network of over 300 community and technical colleges and minority-serving institutions. 

Media Contacts

Colin Lacy colinlacy@makerusa.org 970-596-2133

Stephanie Santoso stephanie@makerusa.org 412-592-4729

Colin Lacy
Next

MakerUSA Launches with 20 Pending Innovation Sites to Build Pathways into Maker Careers and Entrepreneurship