How Makerspaces Can Change Lives

We know makerspaces as places where people go and make cool things with unique tools, but this powerful quote from Kalia Morrison, executive director at Decatur Makers, from our newest podcast season reveals the breadth of their impact:

“We took a mental health survey to gauge how our community was positively influenced in mental health. 95% said our makerspace had a positive impact. Many talked about how it helped with confidence, focus, and overall happiness on that survey. We’ve had a member who lost a son who came into our makerspace and she will tell you time after time that she feels like Decatur Makers saved her life.”

The Mechanism Podcast’s second season is here, and as you can probably infer, it’s all about the power of makerspaces. Titled “Making Space”, Mechanism’s own Andrew Dahlgren and Laura Masulis interview makerspace leaders like Morrison from across the country about all the ways they’ve seen their spaces affect people’s lives.

Click here to listen to the podcast and learn why makerspaces are community spaces, too. (New episodes every week from now until the end of February!)

A lot of the voices you’ll hear in “Making Space” have been involved with Mechanism in another important makerspace program.

From March to October 2025, Mechanism brought together makerspace leaders to help our friends at Westside Makerspace in Dayton, Ohio, as they prepared to move into a new space and build a development strategy. “It definitely gave me more confidence that we can find what works for our community,” Alvin Wilkerson, one of the makerspace’s founders, told us about our program’s impact.

Learn more about how we worked with Wilkerson and his team at our Westside Makerspace project page.

We hope 2026 is starting off great for all of you. Can’t wait to share everything we have in store this year – including updates on our National Gathering this May in Philadelphia. (Ticket announcement very soon!)

Mechanism Podcast Season 2 “Making Space” available now

The Mechanism Podcast Season 2, “Making Space”, is available now! Listen anywhere you get your podcasts.

This season, Mechanism’s Andrew Dahlgren and Laura Masulis interview makerspace leaders across the country about what makes these spaces pillars in their communities.

Listen to The Mechanism Podcast here.

Mechanism Featured in Nonprofit Quarterly

Federal funding cuts have had a major impact on service organizations across the U.S., forcing nonprofits to get creative with ways to fill funding gaps and sustain their services.

Mechanism was featured in this Nonprofit Quarterly article that breaks down what the impact has been and how some nonprofits are responding.

“Shifting our work to think about local production ecosystems feels like meeting the current moment,” Mechanism’s Co-Executive Director Katy Stanton said to NPQ. “We are examining what this means for owners, workers, their communities, and supply chains.”

Thanks to Vicki Pozzebon of Prospera Partners for including us!

Read the NPQ article here.