My, How We've Grown!
We want to hear from you!
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Hi members of the Decatur Makers Community,
As you probably know, we have been growing a lot over the past couple years. It is exciting to welcome so many new members from so many diverse backgrounds who are working on so many cool projects! It's a great time to be a Decatur Maker.
We are now at over 500 members and still growing steadily, which naturally poses some looming challenges. Our Board of Directors has formed a Working Group which includes board members, founders, staff, area stewards, other members, and even some outside expertise. The group has met and begun:
- Revisiting the growth plans which were discussed pre-pandemic (yes, we know that the woodshop is one of the most heavily used areas!)
- Brainstorming new ideas which take into account post-pandemic conditions
- Reviewing data we have gathered
- Doing a feasibility study to get a better idea of pros, cons, and costs of various options
This is an excellent time for us to all take stock of where we are and what we would like Decatur Makers to be in the future.
As one of the largest, most active, and most diverse makerspaces in the Southeastern US, we have no doubt that there will be a lot of opinions, and we know that we won't have the resources to do everything that everyone wants. That said, we are still committed to hearing ideas from the larger community to guide the Working Group and help the Board of Directors, who will make the final major decisions.
Here are two specific asks of you as a member:
- Please spend a few minutes providing feedback to the Working Group by completing this short survey where you can share ideas freely. The deadline is Friday, October 7th @ Midnight. We will use this data to inform our discussions, and we will summarize the survey results and report back to the larger membership at a future date.
- Participate in future cleanup events. We believe that there is actually a lot of opportunity to make better use of our current facility. The first step toward doing that is to organize what we have, and eliminate junk which is not being used. The staff will take the lead on this effort, but they will need help from area stewards and many others.
We really appreciate you. Thanks for all you do for Decatur Makers!
On behalf of the Working Group,
Lew Lefton, Founding Director
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