[United States Statutes at Large, Volume 130, 114th Congress, 2nd Session]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

 
Proclamation 9463 of June 16, 2016

National Week of Making, 2016

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

The same American spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship that has
steered our Nation through the industrial and digital revolutions--and
led our people to explore the depths of the oceans and the distant
planets in our solar system--has enabled us to reimagine our world
through new ideas and discoveries. Since our earliest days, makers,
artists, and inventors have driven our economy and transformed how we
live by taking risks, collaborating, and drawing on their talents and
imaginations to make our Nation more dynamic and interconnected. During
National Week of Making, we recommit to sparking the creative confidence
of all Americans and to giving them the skills, mentors, and resources
they need to harness their passion and tackle some of our planet's
greatest challenges.
Today, Americans of all ages have the ability to connect and showcase
their creativity through a growing maker movement. Technologies like 3D
printing and desktop machine tools are rapidly lowering the costs of
production; additional sources of capital such as crowdfunding are
reducing barriers to getting started; and the democratization of
technology is empowering more makers, helping to boost entrepreneurship
and stimulate American manufacturing. Over the last 6 years, we have
added over 800,000 manufacturing jobs and introduced next-generation
manufacturing hubs. Just as the personal computer and the Internet

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transformed our Nation over the last several decades, these new
opportunities can inspire the next generation of students, innovators,
and entrepreneurs to carry forward our legacy of ingenuity.
In 2014, I launched the Nation of Makers initiative to ensure more
Americans of all ages and backgrounds have greater opportunities to
design, build, and manufacture. My Administration is taking steps to
foster ``maker mindsets'' by promoting skills like creative problem-
solving, and to support the development of collaborative maker spaces so
aspiring makers and manufacturers can turn their bold ideas into
realities. I am proud that so many people across our country have
already joined in this effort. Mayors have hosted maker roundtables and
town halls; Federal agencies have worked with schools, libraries,
recreation centers, and museums to create maker spaces, curricula, and
tools to help students learn the design process; and private businesses
and other local collaborators have empowered individuals with the
entrepreneurial resources and skills they need to launch companies and
sell their products.
Together we must continue to expand opportunity for generations to come
by working to eliminate the digital divide and reduce existing skill and
confidence gaps. We must prepare young people for the jobs of the future
by equipping them with the analytical skills needed to solve problems
and the computer science and hardware development skills required to
power our innovation economy. It is critical that we support the types
of hands-on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) learning
experiences--in both formal and informal environments--that students
encounter through making, which can help unlock their full potential and
ignite their enthusiasm for the careers of tomorrow. That is why we are
prioritizing investment in STEM teaching and active learning, expanding
access to rigorous STEM courses like computer science, encouraging more
opportunities in communities of greatest need, and working to get
underrepresented students, including women and minorities, involved to
increase diversity in STEM fields.
Across our country, Americans are attending all types of maker events
and workshops--from studios in small towns to the streets of our
Nation's capital--to share their incredible inventions and ideas with
others and to inspire all of us to join in the creative process. As we
celebrate the power of American ingenuity, I invite communities to build
on this progress by encouraging citizens to be creators and by working
together to ensure that spaces for making are available anywhere
Americans live, work, play, and learn. This week, let us turn today's
sketches and dreams into tomorrow's ``Made in America'' labels, and let
us embrace the audacious spirit of human curiosity that is embedded in
our DNA.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of
America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and
the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 17 through June
23, 2016, as National Week of Making. I call upon all Americans to
observe this week with programs, ceremonies, celebrations, and
activities that encourage a new generation of makers and manufacturers
to share their talents, solutions, and skills.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this sixteenth day of
June, in the year of our Lord two thousand sixteen, and of the

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Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and
fortieth.
BARACK OBAMA