Community Makerspace
Visit here for makerspace use for entreprenurial use
and membership information
 

 Maker Empowerment Method

​

At the heart of the Makerspace Community is a powerful, human-centered framework created by Amy Zell: the Maker Empowerment Method. This approach invites individuals and communities to rediscover agency, creativity, and resilience—especially in the face of grief, transition, or disempowerment.

What Is the Maker Empowerment Method?

The Maker Empowerment Method is a process that uses hands-on creativity and collaborative design to help individuals:

• Make meaning from personal or collective experiences

• Reclaim voice and agency in spaces where they may have felt silenced

• Transform pain into purpose through the act of creating

• Connect with community through shared making and storytelling

It’s not just about making things—it’s about making change.

​

Who Is It For?

This method is particularly powerful for:

• Individuals navigating grief, trauma, or transition

• Youth and marginalized communities seeking expression and validation

• Educators, therapists, and community leaders looking for new tools

• Makerspace coordinators seeking to build community through healing-centered practice

No prior experience in art, tech, or making is required—just a willingness to explore.

​

Core Principles

Amy Zell’s Maker Empowerment Method is guided by five foundational principles:

1. Agency through Making
   Everyone is a maker, and making is a way to reclaim control over your story.

2. Process over Product
   The act of creating is more important than the final outcome.

3. Grief-Informed Practice
   Creativity can hold complexity—making can be a companion to loss, not an escape from it.

4. Relational Repair
   Collaborative making fosters trust, empathy, and connection between people.

5. Situated Empowerment
   Change happens not just in individuals but in the ecosystems around them—families, schools, communities.

How It Works

Workshops and sessions that follow the Maker Empowerment Method usually include:

• Creative prompts (journaling, building, art, electronics, etc.)

• Reflective storytelling and dialogue

• Collaborative projects that invite shared meaning-making

• Intentional spaces that allow emotions to coexist with innovation

• Multiple iterations of design projects focusing individuals on the lesson that failure is a part of the learning process.

These elements can be adapted for schools, libraries, community centers, and therapeutic settings.

​

Get Involved

Whether you’re a facilitator, participant, or simply curious, you’re welcome here.

👉 Join a Workshop
👉 Download the Toolkit
👉 Become a Certified Facilitator
👉 Share Your Story

​

Together, we build—not just objects, but lives worth living.

Created by Amy Zell
Part of the [Maker:grief & Maker Empowerment Project]
Learn more about our approach to community-powered transformation.