Talent Maker City is a community based non profit maker space; and our mission is to build a more connected, more prosperous, and resilient community through hands on steam-based learning.

In 2016, there was a small group of us that heard of this summit that was getting put on in Brooklyn, New York by Etsy, and we were able to go there and kind of learn about how a makerspace can actually drive economic development in a downtown area, utilizing local makers, providing some of the resources that makers need, and also how it can scale up using education for youth.

Seemed like a perfect addition for Talent, and it has grown exponentially since that time.

The demand for our services in the community just grew.

During COVID, a group of engineers and folks from Asante, we all came together to use our 3-D printers to start producing needed PPE for the hospitals.

We started making ventilator connectors and face shields.

Shortly after that was the Alameda fire.

So we were able to work with some other local non-profits, Rogue Climate and Rogue Action Center, to set up the mutual aid station in our parking lot.

We were able to provide needed supplies for the community.

So we had two natural disasters that sort of proved the necessity of a space like this for a community.

That resiliency caught the eye of some people, and representative Pam Marsh was one of those.

She saw the need for something like this in Southern Oregon and designated some ARPA funds, so the American Rescue Plan Act funds, for us to get the initial funding together for this brand new space that is amazing for the community.

Our brand new community maker space is now 8,000 square feet, so more than double our space that we had before.

And this new space is not only bigger and is built for our needs, so it's helping us really increase our capacity for serving the community.

So we really want the people of Talent as well as our region to be able to use this space.