Institute For The Future

Tinkering at the White House: Obama Promotes Marc Roth & The Learning Shelter

Today was not your typical day at the White House. Five years after one of the worst economic crises of our lifetimes, DIY is in full force on the Rose Lawn for the first-ever White House Maker Faire (#NationofMakers). By building and tinkering, the Maker movement is changing the face of work and manufacturing across America, and the President is on board.

Marc Roth and The Learning Shelter—fiscally sponsored by the Institute for the Future—are part of this inventive economic transformation. His is not your traditional job-placement program or story; The Learning Shelter is prototyping new forms of opportunity, bridging the gap between modern technology and homelessness.

President Obama said today that DIY and maker activities give us the sense that “we are at the dawn of something big.” And that “as a country we ought to be doing what … Marc is doing every day …. making sure that more Americans have the skills and opportunities to land a job in a growing industry or to create entirely new industries.”

As an entrepreneur who was formerly homeless just a couple years ago, Marc Roth founded The Learning Shelter to provide others with the same opportunity for skills development that he was presented when he first set foot in TechShop as a homeless man in San Francisco. TechShop is a space with cutting edge maker-tools that anybody with a membership can access. It is a place where you learn innovative, mind-blowing things every day simply by being present at the space. Everybody is encouraged to take as many classes as they can, which range from 3D-modeling, laser-cutting, and 3D printing, all the way to water-jet operation.

The Learning Shelter will feed and house its cohorts for the duration of a 90-day program to learn new manufacturing and design skills. After an immersion in TechShop courses, the curriculum will become more fluid, allowing participants to put their newly-acquired skills to practical use—building from all the tools and machines that are accessible. Currently, the project is in its pilot phase. If proven to be a successful venture, it could validate city officials and other decision makers' belief in the benefits of breaking free from traditional pathways for workforce development, and promoting innovative workforce growth.

At IFTF, our research on the future of work, learning, and maker cities all point to the urgent need for foresight and continued reinvention of these traditional infrastructures. We know that makers are pushing the boundaries of the economic and civic challenges we face—offering new and alternative solutions.

As Obama said today, as he launched a National Day of Making, “when we tap the potential of every American, all of us are better off.” TLS and Marc plan to help ensure the maker part of our human and collective potential goes unwasted.