WILL MARK CAPOTE"S SECOND MEETING WITH PRESIDENT OBAMA
ABOVE VIDEO: A preview of the Whitehouse Maker Faire, which will include Palm Bay Mayor William Capote
ABOVE VIDEO:LIVE STREAM OF WHITE HOUSE MAKER FAIRE
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Palm Bay Mayor William Capote is one of only 20 mayors across the nation invited to join the president on June 18th for the first-ever Maker Faire to be held at the White House. Mayor Capote will also join a policy discussion with senior administration officials to discuss support for manufacturing communities on economic, infrastructure and community revitalization.
Mayor William Capote will meet with the president and key members of his cabinet this week for a policy discussion on key issues facing Palm Bay and many of America’s cities. (City of Palm Bay image)
Mayor Capote will use this June 18th event to help boost advanced manufacturing, innovative technology, and the “Maker Movement” in Palm Bay, Florida. The manufacturing sector is coming back in America and in communities like Palm Bay, Central Florida’s second-largest city it remains a source of good jobs and economic innovation. Brevard County is ranked #2 for highest concentration of high-tech manufacturing jobs in the U.S. (Brookings Institute, 2012). Brevard’s manufacturing gross domestic product is $3 billion, or more than 17 percent of the county’s overall GDP.
In 2013, I.O. Inc., a firearms manufacturing company, relocated to Palm Bay adding jobs and investing in real estate. Currently, Palm Bay leaders are in negotiation with a high-tech dental laboratory that is working on expanding into the city with new jobs and a new facility. Brevard County also has a “Made in Brevard” directory that assists businesses when trying to locate local manufacturers. The program is administered by the EDC of Florida Space Coast in conjunction with Brevard County’s four primary Chambers of commerce and can be found on the web at www.MadeInBrevardFL.com.
The commitment to growing manufacturing and the Maker Movement in Palm Bay has caught the attention of the current administration which is promoting manufacturing growth, the Maker Movement, and local community revitalization through policies and resources. That is why the president is hosting the mayors, private sector leaders, educational and non-profit officials, and technology entrepreneurs at the first-ever White House Maker Faire.
William Capote
“I am honored to be collaborating with the president’s senior policy officials as well as with mayors from around the country to support local manufacturing,” Mayor Capote said. “Brevard County is a focal point for innovation in manufacturing and I am honored to represent our community in Washington, D.C.”
The day’s events will also include a policy discussion among the mayors with senior administration officials including Jeffrey Zients, Director of the National Economic Council and Assistant to the President for Economic Policy; John Holdren, Director of the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy; Jay Williams, Assistant Secretary for Commerce for Economic Development; David Agnew, White House Director of Intergovernmental Relations; and Jason Miller, Senior Advisor to the President on Manufacturing.
The mayors that were invited to Wednesday’s event at the White House are part of a group of over 80 mayors nationwide who took part in the “Mayors Maker Challenge”, an effort to recruit innovative mayors to take new actions to boost the Maker Movement in their own communities. This Challenge is led by a national coalition of local officials called the Manufacturing Alliance of Communities (MAC), which seeks to boost national policies and resources to support manufacturing communities.
Image courtesy of madeinbrevard.com
MAC has issued a new “Maker Mayors Action Report” that describes the efforts of mayors and local communities to use the Maker Movement to boost innovation and entrepreneurship in technology and advanced manufacturing, in the same way that the Internet and cloud computing lowered the barriers to entry for digital startups.
For more information on the White House Maker Faire and the National Day of Making, visit www.WhiteHouse.gov/makerfaire and follow #NationOfMakers on Twitter.
