Who We Are
Mechanism is a non-profit organization working in collaboration with communities and manufacturers to create production ecosystems that increase local resilience, vitality, and well-being.
We're a home for people whose ideas and actions are laying the foundation for local economies that honor the interdependence of people, place, and planet, while strengthening community identity and resilience through craft and innovation.
Mission
Mechanism cultivates production ecosystems that safeguard the environment, steward shared resources, secure economic stability, and empower workers with safety, dignity, and agency. We partner with communities to transform manufacturing away from extractive models that drive inequality and depletion. In doing so, we lay the foundation for resilient places where people and production sustain each other.
Vision
We envision an economy where production ecosystems are guided by equity, care, and shared stewardship—an economy that strengthens communities, sustains local identity, restores balance with natural systems, and fosters resilience for generations to come.
Today’s global economy is driven by the relentless manufacturing of goods without regard for real need or long-term well-being. This focus on profit above all else has led to widespread inequality, social division, escalating climate impacts, and the depletion of essential natural and social resources, such as affordable housing, civic infrastructure, collective solidarity, and cultural knowledge. Collective efforts within this status quo have lessened poverty in some places and expanded mobility in others, but too often these wins reinforce the very structures that produce inequality and instability.
We no longer believe lasting community resilience can occur without new conditions.
For all communities to have a chance at long-term stability, the purpose and ownership of production has to shift. As Mechanism, we are committed to spreading the ideas and strategies to make that shift happen.
We believe now is the time to re-anchor production ecosystems in enduring, north star values that explicitly lift up strong labor standards, family-sustaining wages, safe and healthy workplaces, community ownership, and a culture of craft and innovation that strengthens the identity and resilience of the places we call home. Mechanism will work with communities to translate these values into tangible strategies that meet local needs, strengthen resilience, and build connections of solidarity across global networks.
We have much to build on. Across the country and around the world, makers, small manufacturers, and their collaborators are already demonstrating practices worth preserving and extending. Many are finding renewed purpose in efficient use of materials; repair and reuse; regionally sourced inputs; fair wages and benefits; worker-centered technologies; and close ties with local suppliers and customers. These high-road practices fortify local economies while reducing exposure to volatile global markets and climate disruptions.
At the heart of this work are our values: humility, care, and shared stewardship, rooted in the people and communities we serve. These values will carry this transformation forward in ways that endure beyond these next ten years.