The California Community Colleges Workforce & Economic Development Division in partnership with the California Council on Science & Technology (CCST) has announced a $10M  INNOVATIONMAKER Investment 3 Solicitation of Interest to identify and network together 10+ colleges, including one lead for the community-of-practice, committed to exploring, setting up, and/or building out their connections to the Maker movement.  A requirement to participate is campus championship by a team consisting minimally of STEM/STEAM faculty paired with CTE faculty in order to benefit from inter-disciplinary collaboration.

• The U.S. Department of Education (ED) is launching the Career and Technical Education (CTE) Makeover Challenge to encourage the creation of more makerspaces in American high schools. The new challenge will invite high schools to innovatively create more "makerspaces" where students have the tools, space, and mentors to design, build, and innovate. With a prize pool of $200,000 that will be divided equally among as many as 10 prize recipients, the challenge calls upon eligible high schools to design models of "makerspaces." These can be facilities such as classrooms, libraries, or mobile spaces equipped with the appropriate tools and CTE-trained educators.  The winners will be showcased to the broader CTE community as potential models for replication, particularly in schools that serve high proportions of low-income students. Participating schools will have access to a suite of resources that enable them to empower students to be makers of things, not just consumers of things. 

• The White House, along with federal agencies and the broader community, will celebrate a National Week of Making: In line with the anniversary of the first-ever White House Maker Faire, the White House will participate in a National Week of Making this June 17-23, 2016. The week will coincide with the National Maker Faire in Washington, D.C. on June 18-19, featuring makers from across the country and will include participation of the Department of Education, National Science Foundation, U.S. Agency for International Development, U.S. Small Business Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Endowment of the Arts, Institute of Museum and Library Services, National Institute of Standards and Technology, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Corporation for National and Community Service, and the Smithsonian Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Additional agency activities include the Department of Energy featured at the Bay Area Maker Faire with the "Make: ENERGY - From Discovery to Innovation" pavilion highlighting science and technology innovations at the National Laboratories, and the U.S. Navy expanding its current maker program to multiple regional centers through creation of mobile Fab Lab trailers.