A Visit to Make-It Springfield

Annessia Jimenez, Worcester Common Ground; Ivette Olmeda, Worcester TDI Fellow; Michael DiPasquale, UMASS Amherst and Make-It Springfield founder; Roberta Wilmore, Exec Director Make-It Springfield; Sheldon Smith, Make-It Springfield

Make-It Springfield moved into this space about a year ago. Part of the draw of the new building was that it was a center for innovation, and they could co-locate with other tenants.

Lots of stations do activities, all of which of is free. Bike repair in the back, sewing table on the left.

The list of many activities on offer at Make-It Springfield.

3D printing station.

We had great discussion about how to move from a pop-up stage to a more sustainable business model with an Executive Director.

On December 19, The Future of Small Cities accompanied a small team from the Worcester TDI coalition—including TDI fellow Ivette Olmeda, Worcester Common Ground Outreach Coordinator Annessia Jimenez, and local business owner Chris Bettencourt—to go see the amazing work that Make-It Springfield has accomplished in its six plus years of existence.

Originally a pop-up project co-founded by the Springfield TDI fellow back in 2017, Make-It Springfield has grown into a full-fledged organization and has recently moved into their current space at 286 Bridge St, which gives them much more room to offer all of their creative activities, including 3D printing, t-shirt printing, sewing, fashion design, carpentry, pottery, dance, and robotics. A bike repair apprenticeship shop is in the back.

We met with co-founder Michael DiPasquale (UMASS LARP/Extension School), Executive Director Roberta Wilmore, and Operations Coordinator Sheldon Smith to hear about their organizational journey, how you nurture and maintain a sustainable community space, and how you work with the needs or your city and neighborhood. Make-It Springfield succeeds for many reasons but they have an excellent team in place; they are nimble and adaptive, while also have a core set of principles; they listen deeply to the people they serve; and at the end of the day they offer a safe, dynamic, creative space that community members, young and old, want to be in. Nearly all of their programming is free. A community member can come into Make-It Springfield, design and sew their own clothes, use the equipment, all completely for free. It is an amazing asset for the city.

The group from Worcester came away buzzing with all kinds of ideas for what their own community space might look like.