About Mid-Cities Makers

Hi! We’re Jeff and Kerri Miller, founders of Mid-Cities Makers. First off, we LOVE chatting with our customers and fellow makers, so feel free to message us any time. We’d also love to see you at a craft fair or an event at Hank & Ellie. 😊

Mid-Cities Makers is a dream inspired by our son Simon, who has Down syndrome. It can be hard for people with disabilities to find meaningful work with reasonable pay, and we want to do our part to make that better. We take our cue from Bitty & Beau’s, a coffee shop staffed almost entirely by people with Down syndrome, autism, and other disabilities.

Our vision is to eventually open our own shop and makerspace where people of all abilities can be welcome, have fun, make things, work, and enjoy the maker community. We plan to recruit other makers who are neurodivergent or have another disability to display and sell their creations. We also want to have a huge workspace with areas for 3D printing, soap making, t-shirt pressing, laser engraving, and whatever other fun things we manage to collect. Then we’ll host workshops and rent out time on our machines for a reasonable price so that people who aren’t ready to invest in their own equipment can complete small jobs or learn a new craft. We’ll also seek partnerships with local schools, scouting troops, youth groups, and other organizations to provide fun educational experiences.

In a shop/makerspace like that, there are lots of jobs to be done, big and small, and that’s where we plan to offer internships and jobs for people with Down syndrome and other disabilities. Each intern/worker would receive on-the-job training for their assigned tasks, as well as help with soft skills like communicating with customers and asking for help with an unfamiliar or difficult task. We plan to foster relationships with organizations like the Down Syndrome Partnership of North Texas and the Texas Workforce Commission so that we can fit our internships and jobs into a larger job development plan for each individual.