Jim Correll, director Fab Lab ICC at Independence Community College, Independence Kansas 

I recently had the opportunity to present a program at the Independence Optimist club. They had asked me for an overall status and to know what’s new. In today’s column, I thought I’d present a kind of state of the Fab Lab report as an update of our activities and a look forward into this new year in a new decade. 

Last Year’s Birthday 

Our fifth birthday came and went on October 1, 2019 and we were so busy we didn’t celebrate. Our opening and first 5-years of operation were characterized by many, many great opportunities and a kind of seat-of-the-pants management style. As with many start-ups we’d like for 2020 to be a year of process and planning. We want to document more of our processes and do more planning, turning many of our projects into work plans with the tasks lined out, each assigned to someone. Even though we want to do more planning, we know that things rarely turn out as planned and we will always be flexible and on the look-out for new opportunities whether they were in our plans or not. Starting this year, we want to share some of our plans and dreams and have a Wishlist on our web site. The Wishlist shows the things we’d like to acquire and the initiatives we’d like to launch. For some, we have the resources we need. For others, we are waiting for resources to become available. To review, go to www.fablabicc.org and look for the Wishlist link. 

New Building, Welding and Paint Booth 

The new building construction is pretty much done except for a few items on the punch list. The request for quote for the welding equipment has been approved by the Economic Development Administration and will soon go out to area suppliers for bid. I’m working on the specs for the paint booth so the bids for it can go through the same process. 

Greenbush Programs and Camps Will Continue 

The Greenbush Gifted and Robotics programs continue with students coming to the lab every Wednesday to work on their project-based learning. For the third year, we’ll collaborate with Greenbush to host a series of week-long morning boot camps this summer. In addition, the Greenbush teachers that live and work in this area have office space for planning their activities. 

STEM Camp Renewed 

The Verizon Foundation grant that financed the girls STEM Camp and follow-up learning sessions had been renewed. People sometimes ask why we don’t do a STEM Camp for boys and the answer is resources. Although Verizon sponsors some boys’ initiatives in urban areas, at the moment Verizon support to us is limited to the girl’s camp. We’ve added an initiative to our Wishlist at www.fablabicc.org for a boy’s camp awaiting the resources to make it happen. 

Fab Lab Blab Newsletter Returns 

A temporary casualty of our busy year in 2019 was the popular “Fab Lab Blab” newsletter. Thanks to Joanne Smith and her Fab Creative Services, we are expecting our first issue since the end of 2018 to come out very soon. 

Membership Grows 

Even while maker spaces in the big cities routinely charge members $60 to $70 per month, we will leave our individual membership at $125 for per year. Here is a partial breakdown of our 258 current members. Through individual memberships, 95; family, 23; corporate, 11; ICC students (no charge), 30 and Adult Basic Education students (no charge), 32. We have a tax deductible “Sustaining” membership for those who want to support us but do not have time to use the Lab. 

Business Development Continues 

In a previous column, I covered our relationship with Montgomery County E-Community and the services we provide to entrepreneurs and small businesses within the county. Besides providing nearly $1M in gap financing loans since 2009, E-Community provides for other kinds of programming too. One such program is the upcoming “New Rules of Business Success” by destination business expert Jon Schallert. He will be in Independence on March 11 and 12. Rarely have I seen strategies as beneficial to small businesses as those of Jon Schallert. Follow the links at www.fablabicc.org for more information. 

 Volunteer Growth Continues 

We have to rely on volunteers to get all of this done and we could always use more. You don’t have to be an expert on all machines, or any machines, to volunteer and help share your enthusiasm and knowledge with our members. We need volunteers in other areas too, like bookkeeping and help with a variety of Fab Lab projects. Contact me if you’d like to know more. 

The year 2020 will be as busy for us as any of the previous five years. Our mission remains to build people’s self-confidence, in a variety of ways, in their personal, academic and professional lives by helping them do things they never thought they could do. 

Jim Correll is the director of Fab Lab ICC at the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship on the campus of Independence Community College. He can be reached at (620) 252-5349, by email at jcorrell@indycc.edu or Twitter @jimcorrellks. Archive columns and podcast at jimcorrell.com.