Jim Sweeney became Executive Director of the Franklinton Development Association Community Development Corporation in 2002, one year before the completion of the Franklinton floodwall. In his 14 years in that role Jim led the effort to revitalize Franklinton through creation of over 150 affordable housing units, various community building activities including founding the Franklinton Arts District, and aggressive neighborhood advocacy on all levels, earning the FDA the award of Ohio CDC of the Year in 2009. Jim moved Franklinton, aka “The Bottoms”, to the center of the discussion about central-Ohio development. He built consensus around the revitalization of East Franklinton as an arts destination, led the creation of the ULI and APA award-winning East Franklinton Creative Community Plan (link), an initiative which gained support of city hall and has now attracted over $500M investment to the neighborhood. He recently launched Sweeney & Associates, a neighborhood revitalization/creative community consultancy that draws on the talents that established Franklinton as an arts destination
Dr. Alex Bandar is an engineer by training and an entrepreneur by accident. Having worked for a decade in the field of manufacturing software, with clients from GE to Apple to Toyota, he wanted an opportunity to get his hands dirty actually making physical things. He founded the Columbus Idea Foundry in 2008, one of the earliest "makerspaces" in the United States, which began in a small garage and ultimately resulted in the purchase and renovation of a 65,000 square foot factory in Franklinton, OH. The Idea Foundry houses tools from blacksmithing to 3D printing, teaches classes on design, fabrication, entrepreneurship and more, and sells memberships to anyone who wishes to use the workshop as if it were their own. With 700+ monthly members (of whom approximately half entrepreneurs), the Columbus Idea Foundry is one of the largest and most active makerspaces on the planet, has won numerous international awards in the maker movement arena, and is quickly finding a place in the creative, educational, technological and business ecosystems of Central Ohio and beyond. From Los Angeles to Barcelona to Dubai, Alex speaks and consults regularly about the exciting new culture of “innovation neighborhoods”.