Talent Maker City

Education Programming:In our educational programs, 587 students participated in laser engraving, ceramics, robotics, sewing, screenprinting, video production, coding, carpentry courses, and more! These in-school and summer programs help foster children's creativity and a sense of self-esteem. We worked with youth impacted by the Almeda fire and supported recovery efforts by converting a school bus into transitional housing, building beds and planters boxes. While our programs serve all youth in elementary to high school, we especially enjoyed our continued skill-building work with incarcerated youth and those in Phoenix-Talent Schools' Migrant Education program. Through strong community partnerships, we added successful new programming for students experiencing disabilities and students facing homelessness, a great step towards our continued mission of a diverse and inclusive makerspace. In addition, we provided professional development opportunities for over a hundred educators and presented at several statewide events.

Small Business Support:TMC hosted eleven local businesses that took advantage of our space to create marketing materials, signage, and merchandise including those working on rebuilding after the fire.

Community Programs and Events:We engaged meaningfully on 29 community partner projects increasing our reach by over 100% from the year before.These projects ranged from screenprinting staff shirts to ceramics as a teambuilding activity with nonprofit partners. Our community reach extended further with our popular and highly attended Dia de los Muertos event where over 100 community members experienced cultural and traditional activities. Our Lights on Bikes event in December had over 100 attendees and at the accompanying workshop, we hosted over 50 families as they decorated their bikes with holiday lights to experience the fun.