Crowd Funded 3D Printing Demos for Disadvantaged Youth

Not only is 3D printing exacting, painstaking and complex to master successfully, but it is also hugely inspirational and aspirational. The idea that we have a process by which you can hold in your hand something that was a mere thought a few hours before will be the driver for new breakthroughs in many different areas of our lives.

But this can only happen if we get it into the hands of enough young people to make a difference.

The Youngmakers team are a group that want to do just that in their home town of Ottawa, Canada and to achieve this aim they ran an Indiegogo campaign over the last month or so. In case you don’t know Indiegogo is a platform using the power of crowdfunding to raise money for creative, business — or charitable —campaigns.

The Youngmakers motivation is clear:

“We believe there are very limited (or non-existent) opportunities for Ottawa and Valley youth in most disadvantaged communities to see or use [3D printing] technology whether at school, home or neighborhood community centre.  

Our hope for this project is two-fold. First, by bringing the 3D printer directly into communities we hope to introduce local youth to the incredible potential of this technology and the global community that supports it. Second, we hope to be able to create more permanent community spaces equipped with 21st century tools of innovation and creativity such as 3D printing.”

The goal was to buy a MakerBot Replicator 2 3D printer together some printing supplies and accessories. This would then be used to train youth mentors who would go on to be able to demo 3D printing at pop-up events in libraries, schools, community centres and community events. The hope being that these efforts will help empower the young audience to; ”discover their inner talents that can open new pathways to education and employment. Develop self-confidence in their ability to learn-by-doing and learn-by-sharing. Activate their potential to be creative and transform ideas into reality and become part of a supportive and welcoming community of ‘makers’ in Ottawa and around the world.”

By far one of the most noblest things to do with a single 3D printer.

And did they succeed?

Well of course they did, collecting more than their initial goal. This technology is becoming more and more key to creative endeavour and projects like these mean young eager minds can begin to imagine a world we can only dream of.

Check out their (now completed) page on Indiegogo here, if you’ve been inspired by this story — there are sure to be ways that you can still help. Or maybe take a look for inspiration to do something similar?