Launchspace Inc.

LaunchSpace has created a makerspace offering a three-tiered approach to community engagement, workforce development and education, and business creation. Taken together, the three-tiered structure forms a replicable approach to economic revitalization within semi-rural, post-industrial communities, which tend to have the highest rates of unemployment and poverty and typically experience limited access to economic opportunity. LaunchSpace has rebuilt a 13,000 square foot space in an historic manufacturing building that now is also home to the Orange Innovation Center, a dynamic collection of small office spaces, a café, craft brewery, gym and other amenities located just west of the center of Orange. We have also leased an unused 24,000 square foot elementary school building in neighboring Athol, thereby gaining access to large classrooms and a commercial kitchen. This solidifies our presence in the two most economically challenged towns in Massachusetts, as well as straddling the boundary between two counties, Franklin and Worcester. The New Hampshire and Vermont borders are just a few miles to the north. The North Quabbin region is comprised of a group of nine towns, cut off from the rest of the state when the Quabbin Reservoir was created to supply Boston with a clean and reliable source of high quality water. However, this region has a history of innovation and making that goes back centuries. The Town of Orange, for instance, was initially an agrarian community beginning in the early 18th century. But in the latter part of that century a dam was constructed on the Millers River and the industrial and making era was begun. Other towns in the North Quabbin region have similar histories, including Athol, which is still home to the firm making some of the finest measuring tools in the world, the L.S. Starrett Company. However, these large manufacturing firms are almost all gone now, and one of the last, Rodney Hunt, has recently left town. The loss of this foundry firm means that 200 jobs are lost to this community. Despite this, there is excellent potential for small skill-based and arts-based businesses to emerge and to help revitalize the region. The proposed makerspace is designed to serve as an incubator and facilitator for these new initiatives. At this time, it appears that the regional economic situation may be on the brink of improvement. A large shopping mall was recently constructed at the western edge of the Town of Athol, anchored by a significant local grocery chain and including the usual array of chain stores that tend to pop up in such locations. If economic opportunity is indeed arriving in the North Quabbin region, it is LaunchSpace’s mission to help our communities and their residence be prepared for a new path to prosperity. Regional Economic Engagement As post-industrial regions supporting people who have retained their making skills, the central part of Massachusetts as well as the southern parts of New Hampshire and Vermont are home to a number of people and small enterprises involved in innovative making and a creative economy that is becoming more accessible due to internet connectivity. Some of these enterprises would like to grow, and some people would like to start their own small technical and/or manufacturing businesses. Often, people who would like to start their own businesses do not have the financial capacity to build their own shops and get started, and businesses can't find employees ready to join them with even rudimentary skills. LaunchSpace, as a deliberate business incubator and with its educational, programmatic and business acceleration partners, is specifically designed to address these challenges. Our makerspace contributes to local and regional innovation ecosystems in terms of social and economic contributions to the community as it provides opportunities for learning and social interaction in a creative environment. There is no more important metric of life and economic success than solid, supportive and well-connected community structures. Working side by side engaged in making things and creatively overcoming problems effectively generates respect among people and help establish comfort and connection within a community. Strong communities are mutually supportive, and are excellent places to live, work and establish businesses. Engagement with Industry Discussions with firms engaged in the revitalization of manufacturing in Massachusetts reveals that re-shoring of manufacturing has encountered some obstacles. Given the approximately two-decade gap during which many manufacturing firm moved overseas, training of people to enter the manufacturing fields came to a grinding halt. Now, those jobs are coming back, but the manufacturers are having a very difficult time finding employees trained to work in the new higher-tech world of modern manufacturing. Further, they identify an employee age gap in the form of older employees with solid skills but close to retirement, and younger workers needing to develop those skills, but few people in between and little effective communication between the two groups. Leaders of manufacturing firms in Massachusetts and adjacent states are calling for a "stackable learning" model of training entry and mid-level employees. These are courses that give their attendees incrementally greater capacity and certification to fill increasingly sophisticated positions. LaunchSpace will offer these "stackable" courses in partnership with Greenfield Community College, Mount Wachusett Community College, UMass and other institutions specializing in workforce development and education.