Skip to main content

Partners

Partner with MakeHaven

MakeHaven works with schools, colleges, community organizations, agencies and companies in three ways:

  • Host your class or group here. Your instructor or leader brings a group; MakeHaven provides the space, the tools and badged facilitators. Gateway Community College runs a full-semester course this way.
  • Run one of our programs for your people. A program built for the public, delivered for your participants on your schedule: The Art of Sewing for New Haven Public Schools families, badging days for New Haven Adult Education.
  • Build something new together. A new curriculum, a shared piece of equipment, a pilot for a population you serve.

What MakeHaven brings: a 24/7 community workshop on the bus line at 770 Chapel Street, tool training and badges, curriculum and instructors, and memberships as a completion benefit for participants.

Start a conversation →

Programs available to organizations

  • Pathway to Trades: a 12-week pre-apprentice program in woodworking and metalworking. Developed with CT TEAM Pathways; three cohorts so far.
  • The Art of Sewing: a multi-week clothing-creation course, in English or Spanish. First delivered for New Haven Public Schools families.
  • GEMS: a ten-week guided introduction to the makerspace, also run as a closed cohort for a partner's group.
  • Badging days: a presentation and a hands-on training session on one area of the shop, so a group earns the badges to use those tools. Run each term for New Haven Adult Education.

Partner stories

New Haven Public Schools — Fair Haven & Hill Central

El Arte de Costura class at MakeHaven

Since 2022 MakeHaven has offered an eight-week sewing course for parents of New Haven public school students, teaching practical skills for clothing repair and alterations. Taught by Ceresa Newsome of Endangered Stitches, the curriculum runs in four two-week segments: hand sewing, machine sewing, textile materials, and putting it together for basic garment repairs. El Arte de Costura was provided at no cost to parents in Fair Haven's after-school programs, with a two-month MakeHaven membership, an extra month on completion, and a refurbished sewing machine for graduates. Most participants are Spanish-speaking, so a translator is in the room each class. The course is now offered as The Art of Sewing to any organization.

New Haven Adult Education

New Haven Adult Education students at a badging session

Since spring 2023 MakeHaven has run training programs each fall and spring for New Haven Adult Education students aged 18 and over. Group badging events introduce a different area of the facility each time: a presentation, then a hands-on training session led by seasoned instructors, after which students earn the badges that let them use those tools on their own. The sessions demystify disciplines from CNC embroidery and textiles to casting and molding, and expose participants to trades and opportunities they may not have considered.

Gateway / CT State Community College

Gateway Community College students at MakeHaven

Since spring 2023 a Gateway faculty member, who also holds a MakeHaven membership and is certified to facilitator level, leads students through the tools and techniques of modern making over a full semester at MakeHaven. Students earn the micro-credentials to operate tools independently, and a four-month membership lets them join additional badging sessions and group training events.

Our partners

Organizations we have a working relationship with, current and past. Most are formalized in a memorandum of understanding or a service agreement; those documents are on file with the executive director.

Current

  • ClimateHaven — climate-tech incubator; mutual MOUs.
  • RoboDominators — FIRST Robotics team; MakeHaven is their build space.
  • NXTHVN — arts incubator; MOU.
  • Forge — MOU.
  • CT TEAM Pathways — workforce pathways; partner on Pathway to Trades.
  • Children's Community Programs — partner organization.
  • New Haven Public Schools — The Art of Sewing for Fair Haven and Hill Central families.
  • New Haven Adult Education — badging days each term.
  • Gateway / CT State Community College — semester course hosted at MakeHaven.
  • Connecticut Partnership for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CPEN) and the Errera VA Clinic — agreements in progress.

Past

  • CT Next — grant award and lead partner in MakeHaven's early years.
  • New Haven Innovation Collaborative — service agreements.
  • Turnbridge, District New Haven, Notre Dame High School, Believe in ME Empowerment Corporation, Tinaliah ("the One who perseveres"), City of New Haven Parking and Transportation — MOUs.
  • Mill Street Art Show — fiduciary agreement.
  • Creative Arts Workshop and the other makerspaces in Connecticut — mutual member discounts.

Sponsors, the organizations that fund MakeHaven's work, are thanked separately on the Sponsors page.