April 2026 Newsletter: “Prom for people who love manufacturing"
“Prom for people who love manufacturing”
"Anytime I go to a Mechanism National Gathering, I feel like I’m at prom for people who love local manufacturing.”
That’s Mechanism Board Director and repeat National Gathering attendee Leah Archibald talking about why she loves our flagship annual event so much.
She had more to say:
“The energy and good vibes are contagious. You always leave feeling professionally rejuvenated, like the bigger questions or challenges you face around how to lift up local manufacturing all of the sudden feel more solvable.
It’s events like these that make you realize you’re part of a bigger community that’s making progress and responding to challenges together.”
From May 12-14, Leah will be with us again in Philadelphia as we host our 2026 National Gathering, sponsored by the City of Philadelphia’s Department of Commerce. Attendees will get access to:
- Walking tours of South Kensington focused on small-scale manufacturing
- Presentations by thought leaders in modern production practices
- A Futures Thinking workshop led by Love & Order
- A Design Jam to identify creative ways to turn underutilized urban spaces into hubs for community-led production
This unique blend of hands-on activities and forward-thinking education is why we say there’s no other event quite like a Mechanism National Gathering.
Get your Gathering tickets here!
New Mechanism Podcast Season Dedicated to Worker Voice
Four new episodes from The Mechanism Podcast’s 3rd season, titled “Worker Voice,” are available now anywhere you get your podcasts.
Featuring interviews with garment workers, advocates, and visionary leaders, host Vincent Sagisi and guests take an in-depth look at power, agency, and dignity inside flexible product fabrication, from apparel and automotive interiors to medical supplies and beyond.
Listen to the newest podcast season here!
New Strategies From Our Industry & Inclusion South Cohort
As our Industry & Inclusion South cohort wraps up, Mechanism and our partners at The Century Foundation have created a new resource describing a set of enduring approaches for expanding access to manufacturing careers under evolving federal constraints.
The new report, titled “Durable Strategies for Strengthening Manufacturing Talent Pipelines,” examines the threats and risks associated with the current policy environment, describes the manufacturing talent development framework of the cohort’s colleges, and distills practical lessons from the I&I cohort that can serve as a playbook to other community colleges.
Together, these recommendations support efforts to strengthen manufacturing talent amid an evolving policy environment.
Launched in 2020, I&I is a national learning community of community colleges, workforce intermediaries, and employer partners working to strengthen manufacturing talent pipelines.
Explore the new strategies here.
Mechanism to Speak at UN Science and Technology Forum
Mechanism’s Director of Program Strategy Tanu Kumar will be a panelist on an upcoming UN Science and Technology Forum event, May 6, looking at how revitalization in Buffalo, NY, can be understood not only as an economic opportunity, but also as a question of people’s relationship to place.
Kumar will be a panelist alongside speakers from the New American Manufacturing Renaissance, Northland Workforce Training Center, and International Psychoanalytical Association.
They will discuss how leveraging worker-centered development to deploy investment is a way of ensuring that long-disinvested communities are able to benefit from neighborhood change, rather than experience revitalization as another form of displacement.
This framing strengthens the session’s focus on inclusive innovation by showing how equitable industrial growth can support not just business success, but also community stability, dignity, and resilience for the people already rooted in place.
Learn more about the May 6 virtual forum here.
Mechanism to Lead Events at Planning in the Face of Fascism Conference
Mechanism Co-Executive Director Nepal Asatthawasi will be leading two events at the Planning in the Face of Fascism conference this May 8-10 in Toronto.
One event will dive into Mechanism’s Asheville Local Lab process for community-led planning, with a focus on how our programs team engaged food and beverage manufacturers to collectively map assets and gaps in infrastructure, capital, capacity, and policy. This process culminated in a final set of recommendations endorsed by the community.
The other workshop, “Reclaiming Imagination in the Face of Fascism: A Creative Futures Workshop Using the Mechanism Case Study,” will be presented in partnership with Love & Order’s Eliza Yvette Esquivel. It will explore how Creative Futures methodologies can help planners counter the dystopian mindset produced by authoritarian pressures, with Mechanism’s recent organizational transformation serving as a grounded case study.
The conference is hosted by the Planning Network, a network of progressive planners, academics, students, and activists based in North America.
Registration is closed, but you can learn more about the event at the link below.