About Our Organization
Founded on deep industry expertise and a commitment to community empowerment, Atlanta Digital Fabrication & Printing Skills Initiative brings practical digital manufacturing education to everyone.
Leadership
Zhiwei Liu
Founder & Executive Director
Industry Expertise
Zhiwei Liu brings over 10 years of hands-on experience in digital printing, UV inkjet technology, and digital fabrication. During his career in China, he worked extensively with digital printing equipment, commercial printing solutions, and manufacturing technologies. His experience spans equipment selection, production process optimization, operator training, and technical consulting for diverse industries including advertising, crafts, toys, textiles, and custom manufacturing.
Why This Mission
After immigrating to the United States, Zhiwei observed a critical gap: thousands of new immigrants, career changers, and community members face significant barriers to entering manufacturing and technical fields. High skill requirements, expensive training programs, and limited practical opportunities create obstacles to economic advancement. Recognizing both the urgent need for digital manufacturing workers and the untapped potential in underserved communities, Zhiwei founded this organization to create affordable, practice-based pathways to stable employment.
Education
Bachelor's degree in Language and Cross-Cultural Communication, with extensive professional experience in technical and international business operations.
Vision
"Through affordable, practice-based, employment-focused digital manufacturing education, we help new immigrants and community members master real, usable skills and build pathways to stable work."
Our Core Values
Practical Excellence
We teach real skills that lead to real jobs. Every program is grounded in industry needs and hands-on practice, not theory alone.
Community First
We exist to serve those most in need—new immigrants, unemployed workers, and underserved communities. No barriers. No prerequisites. No fees.
Innovation in Access
We pioneer new approaches to technical education, teaching skills that traditional institutions have not yet recognized as essential.
National Impact
We address America's manufacturing skills crisis by training the next generation of digital manufacturing workers.
Our Story
Atlanta Digital Fabrication & Printing Skills Initiative was founded on a simple observation: America has a critical shortage of digital manufacturing workers, yet thousands of people—especially new immigrants and disadvantaged communities—lack access to the training they need to fill these jobs.
Our founder, Zhiwei Liu, brought over a decade of hands-on experience in digital printing technology and manufacturing. After immigrating to the United States, he recognized that the barriers facing new immigrants and low-income workers were not just about opportunity, but about access to practical, affordable training in the skills that employers desperately need.
Rather than accept this gap, we decided to fill it. We created a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing free, community-based training in digital manufacturing technologies—UV printing, DTF printing, laser engraving, and digital fabrication. Our model is simple: partner with community institutions, teach real skills, and create pathways to economic self-sufficiency.
We believe that technical skills should not be a privilege reserved for those who can afford expensive training programs. We believe that new immigrants bring valuable potential that deserves investment. We believe that America's manufacturing future depends on training the next generation of skilled workers. And we believe that community-based education can be a powerful force for economic opportunity and social mobility.
Join Our Community
Whether you are seeking training, interested in partnership, or want to support our mission, we invite you to be part of building a more equitable future through technical education.
Get in Touch