HatchSpace Year End Highlights
We’re entering the final month of the year with incredible momentum and support for the critical work we’re leading in Brattleboro and beyond.
This year alone, we’ve:
Offered more than 90 Classes to over 360 students in 2024. Classes have ranged from Japanese Joinery to table making and woodturning. And our lineup only continues to strengthen!
Served as Southern Vermont’s First Provider for Trailblazers Trades Training, a seven week pre-apprenticeship course developed by our partners, Vermont Works for Women, that is offered specifically for women and gender expansive individuals. We graduated our first cohort of 12 students in September, and are poised to bring the program back in 2025.
Supported over 150 members through our Community Workshop, providing the resources, tools and space for just about anyone to build what they love. We’ve also enhanced our community programs, continuing to grow our weekly BIPOC Maker Nights in collaboration with The Root Social Justice Center, and launching our first ever monthly Meet Up Nights and Lunchtime Tool Talks to share projects, best practices and tool tips.
Completed our first ever Recovery Boards program, a six week woodworking course for individuals in active recovery with the final class taking place tonight at HatchSpace. Recovery Boards is offered in partnership with Turning Point Recovery & Wellness Center and J.K. Adams who donated the course materials of cutting board factory seconds. Participants have learned how to take a cutting board with imperfections and rework it into a beautiful, finished board using a variety of woodworking tools and techniques. They’ve also participated in a mentor meet up night, which we organized with Helm Construction Solutions who helped us identify special guest mentors in long term recovery and working in the trades to share their stories of resilience gained through hands-on disciplines. You can learn more about the program and Tom Bodett’s original vision in Stratton Magazine’s article here.
Enrolled more than 30 Youth in STEM & Empowerment Summer Camps, including our Rosie’s Girls Summer Camp for middle school girls and gender expansive individuals offered in partnership with Vermont Works for Women, as well as our Build Your Own Skateboard Camp in partnership with the Boys & Girls Club of Brattleboro. Both camps afford invaluable opportunity to build construction-based skills in a professional woodshop, hone problem-solving abilities, and gain exposure to the trades and industrial arts all while having fun in what are two truly unique, summer camps.
As we turn our attention to 2025, we are building momentum to:
Establish HatchSpace as Hub for Workforce Development for Our Region by expanding and creating new workforce development, trades exposure, and intensive woodworking offerings for youth through adult audiences in a purpose-specific, devoted classroom space.
Extend Life Changing Access for those Impacted by Substance Use Disorder by making the Recovery Boards Woodworking Training Program a mainstay offering at HatchSpace, strengthening our partnership with Turning Point Recovery Center and serving people in recovery throughout the year.
Sustain Our Impact & Access for Local Makers of Every Age and Background by continuing to offer our Community Workshop & Membership program at accessible rates and growing our free and public programs for informal learning.
Spur & Inspire National Awareness for the Return of the Industrial Arts by creating a platform for HatchSpace and giving a megaphone to our founder, Tom Bodett, to host meaningful and entertaining discussions on rural renewal and the relevance of the trades and industrial arts through media channels.
Join Our Movement Today.
Ways to invest with HatchSpace include:
Become a Sustaining Supporter, and commit to a monthly recurring gift for 12 months.
Place A Bid To Name a Tool at HatchSpace. Today, and through Thursday, December 26, we invite you to place a bid on a chance to Name a Tool for the year in honor of yourself, your favorite maker, HatchSpace member, instructor, staffer, or another namesake worthy of gracing our HatchSpace Tools. From jointers, bandsaws, and router tables, to coping saws, hand planes and chisels, there’s something for everyone! Auction will close on Thursday, December 26 at midnight. Place your bid today!
Sincerely,
Shelton Walker
Executive Director
HatchSpace