America Makes weekend to showcase Valley's manufacturing talent

YOUNGSTOWN

Because when “America makes, America works.”

That sentiment was at the end of America Makes founding

director Ralph Resnik’s speech at the kickoff reception and open house for the four-day Youngstown Maker City Initiative.

“Today and this weekend we are going to be celebrating yet another request and that is to be a Maker City, and where else to take that initiative than here in Youngstown?” Resnik said tonight. “Making and manufacturing is in the DNA of this

region.”

The first request Resnik alluded to was the establishment of America Makes, formerly the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute, two years ago as the first additive manufacturing hub in response to the request for the hubs by the President Barack Obama administration.

“As the president said in his state of the union

[address], we turned this once-abandoned warehouse in 37 days into this innovation factory,” Resnik said.

“We are doing, advancing and accelerating additive manufacturing and 3-D printing around the country so we can use this technology to be competitive,” Resnik said.

Tonight’s event was a showing of local business owners, community leaders, America Makes representatives, Make: magazine editors, public officials and others.

Altogether, an estimated 100 people attended tonight’s event, with more expected at the public event from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday.

Read more about tonight's and the weekend's events in Friday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.