i3 Detroit V2.0

There is always a learning curve any time you take on a new project, start a new business or experiment with something new. The same is true for our experience with getting i3 Detroit off the ground here in Metro Detroit. Originally we had 10 of us who put up the money and started i3 Detroit.  All agreed to pay dues of $100 per month while meeting at the local coffee shop so we could build up our bankroll.  This would hopefully lead us to eventually opening our community space. We were all pumped to get to the point of having a physical space sooner as opposed to later.  Therefore, we quickly began our hunt for spaces throughout the Metro Detroit area.  We had done some research on spaces that we liked. And we started to crunch the numbers to see what we could really afford.  After all, our goal was to build a sustainable community.

And then this brings us to today…

We have been open for 6 months and we have had some great classes with some support from the local community. We have even had some decent accomplishments because of the help from our members and other local groups. We have been named the ‘Hack of Honor’ this year for Penguicon. We participated in the Detroit Urban Craft Fair with Handmade Detroit last year.  We have had write-ups in publications such as the Metro Times, Model D, and Metro Mode. We have been committed to growing the organization: with the desire to provide bigger and better tools, services, and classes.  All with the hope of continuing to grow our space for larger projects and more dedicated classrooms.

We would like to announce some exciting, new changes within our organization.

First of all, we are offering a much lower pricing structure for new members:

• Core Member – $89/month, key w/ unlimited 24/7 access to the space and tools, voting rights to have input on how the organization operates.
• Crafter/Coder Member – $39/month, key w/ unlimited 24/7 access to the space, limited heavy tool usage, no voting right.
• Starving Hacker Member (Intended for Students) – $39.00/month, key w/ unlimited 24/7 access to the space, no voting right.
• Supporting Member – Name your own price/month, no key, no voting rights, can use the space anytime the space is open or another member is in the space with you.

Hours of operation: 24/7 for all paying/keyed members in good standing.

Each member that gets unlimited 24/7 access to the space will be provided with an RFID key and a pin code to allow you access to the space. Keys are $5 per member.

We have also streamlined our membership into a simple process. And as always we continue to have a very open guest policy and all are welcome any time.

We continue to grow and will always continue to provide as much as we can for our members and community. We are moving into a new growth phase that we are calling i3 Detroit v. 2.0. We are holding an Open Shop/ Brainstorming session this Friday February 26^th, 2010 starting at 7:00 PM. We would like to invite everyone out for pizza and beer. We would love to hear your ideas and desires for the next phase of i3 Detroit. If you have a project that you are working on please bring it along!  Bring a family member, a friend, heck bring your dog!  We would like to say Thank You to everyone who has supported us and we look forward to many years of supporting our local community.