Impact & Data: Addressing America's Skills Crisis
Understanding the scale of America's manufacturing skills gap and how our work directly addresses this national challenge.
America's Manufacturing Skills Crisis
Manufacturing positions projected to remain unfilled between 2018 and 2028
Of current manufacturing workers need additional training by 2030
American vocational schools teaching UV printing, DTF, or laser engraving
The United States faces an unprecedented crisis in manufacturing workforce development. While millions of well-paying technical jobs go unfilled, millions of Americans lack access to the training needed to fill these positions. The gap between labor demand and educational supply is widening, threatening American manufacturing competitiveness.
Digital manufacturing technologies—UV printing, Direct-to-Film (DTF) printing, laser engraving, and digital fabrication—represent the fastest-growing, highest-value sectors of modern manufacturing. Yet not a single American vocational institution teaches these essential skills. This educational gap leaves both workers and employers in crisis.
The Digital Manufacturing Opportunity
Rapid Industry Growth
Digital printing and fabrication technologies are among the fastest-growing sectors in manufacturing, with demand significantly outpacing supply of trained workers.
High-Value Positions
Digital manufacturing technicians command competitive salaries and benefits. These are skilled, well-paying positions that support middle-class livelihoods.
Entrepreneurship Potential
Low startup costs for digital printing and fabrication businesses enable entrepreneurship. Graduates can launch home-based businesses with modest capital investment.
Career Advancement
Digital manufacturing skills provide pathways to career advancement, supervisory roles, and technical specialization in growing industries.
Our Direct Impact on National Needs
Empowering Disadvantaged Workers
Target Population: Unemployed workers, new immigrants, refugees, and low-income individuals
Impact: Providing free access to high-value skills training that leads directly to employment or entrepreneurship
Outcome: Economic self-sufficiency and reduced dependence on social services
Addressing Manufacturing Skills Gap
National Need: 2.4 million unfilled manufacturing positions
Our Solution: Training skilled workers in high-demand digital manufacturing technologies
Impact: Directly reducing the workforce shortage and strengthening American manufacturing
Creating Economic Opportunity
Employment Pathway: Graduates secure positions in digital printing and fabrication industries
Entrepreneurship Pathway: Graduates launch home-based digital printing or fabrication businesses
Economic Impact: Increased earnings, reduced poverty, stronger local economies
Supporting American Competitiveness
Global Challenge: American manufacturing faces global competition
Our Contribution: Training the skilled workforce needed for advanced manufacturing
National Benefit: Strengthening American manufacturing capacity and economic strength
How We Measure Success
Participant Outcomes
We track the number of individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds who complete our training, and measure their employment or entrepreneurship outcomes. Success means participants achieve economic self-sufficiency through skills they learned with us.
Community Reach
We measure our success by how effectively we reach underserved populations—unemployed workers, new immigrants, refugees, low-income individuals—and by expanding our partnerships with community institutions that serve these populations.
Economic Impact
We track the economic outcomes of our graduates: employment in manufacturing, successful business launches, increased earnings, and reduced dependence on social services. These metrics demonstrate our contribution to economic opportunity and national competitiveness.
Scalability
We measure our potential for national impact by documenting our model's replicability. Our approach can be expanded to communities across America, creating a distributed network of community-based technical education that addresses the nationwide skills gap.
Join Us in Addressing America's Skills Crisis
Whether you are seeking training, interested in partnership, or want to support our mission, we invite you to be part of the solution to America's manufacturing skills gap.
Get Involved