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A dozen makerspaces win $1 million total in pilot competition

August 29, 2019
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The U.S. Small Business Administration has announced the winners of a $1 million competition designed to help makerspaces train the future workforce, focusing on addressing the job skills and placement gap faced by U.S. businesses. The 12 winners of the Makerspace Training, Collaboration and Hiring (MaTCH) Pilot Competition, will reap $1 million total in prize money across three tiers. Seed grants of up to $25,000 will be awarded to seed small workforce development programs, Proof of Principle grants of up to $100,000 will be awarded to grow programs with a proven history of training and/or workforce development, and Scale grants of up to $200,000 will be awarded for capacity building of successful existing programs with a strong history of training and/or workforce development, with graduated participants in at least two training cycles.

“Makerspaces are uniquely positioned to help innovate training for the workforces of today and tomorrow, and spur economic development across the country. Through the MaTCH competition, the winners will be able to directly support vocational education, develop apprenticeships, and cultivate access to entrepreneurship. In addition, I am pleased to note that multiple winners are located in Opportunity Zones where job creation and investments are moving forward to revitalize communities,” said SBA Acting Administrator Chris Pilkerton.

The competition winners, including SSTI member New Jersey Institute of Technology’s Makerspace, is listed below. More information on each of the winners and their programs is available here.

Seed Winners:

  • Forge Greensboro Community Makerspace (Greensboro, North Carolina) – Awarded $25,000
  • The Fab Lab Puerto Rico (Gurabo, Puerto Rico) – Awarded $25,000
  • Rightfully Sewn (Kansas, City, Missouri) – Awarded $25,000

Proof of Principle Winners:

  • Monadnock Art X Tech (MAxT) (Peterborough, New Hampshire) – Awarded $100,000
  • Net Positive, The Foundry (Buffalo, New York) – Awarded $100,000
  • RUCKUS Makerspace (Indianapolis, Indiana) – Awarded $100,000

Scale Winners:

  • Workshops for Warriors (San Diego, California) – Awarded $150,000
  • New Jersey Institute of Technology Makerspace (Newark, New Jersey) – Awarded $125,000
  • The Clubhouse Network (Roxbury, Massachusetts) – Awarded $100,000
  • NextFab (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) – Awarded $100,000
  • Vocademy (Riverside, California) – Awarded $100,000
  • Fab Lab Tulsa (Tulsa, Oklahoma) – Awarded $50,000
sba, awards