The Frameworks Guiding Our Path

When Mechanism’s leadership embarked on updating our mission and vision to reflect and respond to the web of conditions that lock our communities in cycles of crisis, disruption, and contracting economic opportunity, they didn’t do it alone.

They were guided by ideas and frameworks that form a path toward human-centered, equitable, and flourishing economies which operate within ecological limits. They are ideas developed and espoused by creative, tenacious organizations and alliances across the globe.

Mechanism’s staff has been spending time with these frameworks – analyzing them, debating them, and identifying how to best incorporate them into our work – since we officially transitioned from Urban Manufacturing Alliance to Mechanism in September 2025.

We’ve looked at practices of mutual aid, which offers a perspective on a different kind of economy where communities pool and share resources as need arises; we’re curious about how these practices can become durable. We’ve also looked at degrowth principles, a movement for a reduction in the material size of the global economy, and a shift in common values towards care, solidarity, and autonomy.

Those are just a few.

Later this year, we’ll be sharing more about how these frameworks intertwine with how we do our work, and how we use them like a compass to guide and structure our thinking and process. You’ll also feel their influence, so to speak, at our National Gathering in Philadelphia from May 12 - May 14, which is focused on four themes core to our evolution into Mechanism: climate adaptation, circular economies, worker power, and shared ownership.

Even though we relaunched under a new name five months ago, there's still a lot of excitement about what’s to come for us, how we’ll push ourselves and our programs to meet the moment, and the new and old partnerships we’ll strengthen along the way. In other words, the change we've committed to has only just begun.

Mechanism Leads Learning Session at MakerUSA

Mechanism’s Laura Masulis and Andrew Dahlgren joined our long-time collaborator Alisa Smith to host an educational session for MakerUSA’s Learning Network of makerspace leaders on February 5.

They discussed their strategy development work with Westside Makerspace in Dayton, Ohio, and how they brought in peer makerspaces from across the country to provide guidance.

“There is so much amazing network-level understanding in all these different communities of people who figured out how to do this,” Masulis told the audience. “You don’t have to ‘start from scratch’ – that was a big part of what we wanted to bring to the team in Dayton.”

Learn more about MakerUSA here.

How to Build Government Support for Makerspaces

The Mechanism Podcast is deep into its second season all about makerspaces, and the latest episode, “Makerspaces as Community & Economic Development,” is available now.

In this episode, Andrew and Laura speak with Dr. Stephanie Santoso, Co-Founder and President of MakerUSA, and Jake Day, Secretary of Housing and Community Development for the State of Maryland, about how to turn political and public actors into makerspace supporters.

They discuss what it takes to secure public investment, how makerspaces can better communicate their impact to policymakers, and what leaders should look for when supporting these spaces.

Be sure to follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or whichever platform you use, to get updates anytime a new episode drops.

Listen to the newest episode here.