Start a Clinic

How to Start a Clinic: 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KnsiQvHeNO5rt9wQrYEkQKi144KgcHIff8TgXB7eLik/edit?usp=sharing

Jump-start your local repair initiative by leveraging hybrid in-person and online repair

Leverage Fixit Clinic's Global Fixers Server on Discord to start or promote repair in your community, or just help you and your neighbors fix stuff. As a local organizer you get access to resources to help you get your local community up and running and organized.

Feel free to join the Global Fixers Server to observe and see what all the excitement is about: follow the instructions in this Google Doc to join Discord: Global Fixers: https://bit.ly/joinglobalfixers

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(Below is information on starting in-person events)

(Let us know how this information can be improved; feedback is heartily encouraged)

Summary of Steps
1. Commit to holding Fixit Clinics as part of a regional initiative of ongoing events, not a one-time event exclusively for your community: think about deploying "always there repair" in your community.
2. Start recruiting Fixit Coaches ASAP to join that regional initiative
3. Identify and secure a venue, create a big tent of sponsors and spark community interest
4. Once you have recruited sufficient Fixit Coaches to add to the regional pool contact us to set a date (ideally many months in the future,)
5: Copy, fill out and share back the Fixit Clinic Event template.
6. Promote and hold your inaugural Fixit Clinic!
** DO NOT SCHEDULE FIXIT CLINICS UNTIL YOU HAVE RECRUITED FIXIT COACHES **

Starting Fixit Clinics in Your Community

Fixit Clinics are community-based educational workshops that build resilient communities through transferring critical thinking, disassembly and troubleshooting skills; we use people's broken items as the subject matter to transfer these skills, repair is a just a side effect.

At Fixit Clinic we expect "participants" to participate: i.e. participate in their own disassembly and troubleshooting. At an ideal Fixit Clinic everybody's helping everybody else out; we're promoting community and building local resilience alongside conveying skill.

You want to commit to hold ongoing Fixit Clinics, not a single Fixit Clinic event. Groundwork is key: you need to 1) be constantly recruiting and sustaining a healthy complement of "Fixit Coaches" and 2) to identify and get buy-in from sponsors and patrons with a broad regional perspective.

Steps to Starting a Fixit Clinic:

Step 1-Fixit Clinics are really gatherings of Fixit Coaches where the general public's invited to attend: the hope is that those members of the general public who attend will be assimilated into being Fixit Coaches at future Fixit Clinics and in their community in general. (At an ideal Fixit Clinic the roles of coach and participant blur together: many of our best Fixit Coaches initially attended as participants or observers.)

So don't gauge success by a large turnout of participants or the number of items fixed: gauge it by the number of Fixit Coaches (or potential Fixit Coach recruits) you attract. These people are critical as they'll be the influencers for broader change in the society at large around our relationship to consumption. (Think of your events as "Parties for Fixit Coaches that the general public's invited to try to crash.")

- Recruit local Fixit Coaches: people who are 1) enthusiastic about helping others repair their stuff and 2) have some tools they're willing to share. For example: local fraternal service organizations with a tradition of community service like Church organizations, the Lions Club and Rotary Club. Recruit local sewers as Fixit Coaches so you can repair fabric / textile items as well. Spread the word that you want to start holding Fixit Clinics through local libraries, schools, community centers, senior centers, city government, chamber of commerce, hardware stores, computer / electronics stores, bicycle stores, churches, etc. (Some communities have adopted Nextdoor strongly, I'd be curious to know if that works.)

We have a persistent web form expressly to recruit Fixit Coaches at bit.ly/newfixitcoach: you can use this URL in your recruiting efforts (also see this QR code that points to the form in the graphics folder https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B1NuRSQ-LsBfaDZkRmhTcWZ5LTA?resourcekey=0-HAoziIo5OW6lLe2OmqIfmA&usp=sharing.)

See this sample recruiting flyer, feel free to change the wording as you see fit (please share back with us): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_oq3sBCO7icL23H7uIquFzD3qb2OBT1ifQxHAOUXGVU/edit?usp=sharing Feel free to modify and localize as you see fit. (The link and QR code point to the Google Form http://bit.ly/newfixitcoach  (And have us add your location to the Fixit Coaches' recruiting form the flyer points to: bit.ly/newfixitcoach )

Here's an example on Reddit: https://redd.it/7r3ujv,
https://www.reddit.com/r/FortCollins/comments/7r3ujv/we_need_volunteers_we_are_trying_to_start_fix_it/

Here's another example of a Fixit Coaches' Recruiting Flyer:

And another example of a Fixit Coaches' Recruiting Flyer:

And yet another example of a Fixit Coaches' Recruiting Flyer in English and Spanish:

Lots of examples of recruiting and promotional flyers here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B1NuRSQ-LsBfdTZhOEszSkRvUzQ?resourcekey=0-K2L2MiWMjfjwNsBZkgZxKA&usp=sharing

Step 2-   A critical mass of coaches is hard to maintain from a single community or venue: you need to share the resource across multiple communities and locations. To help, recruit sponsors and patrons with a broader regional perspective (rather than a single library or town.)  For example: recruit throughout a library network rather than a single branch.

Step 3- Secure the venue(s): some sort of community space where you can hold the Fixit Clinic. We're preferential to libraries but we've held Fixit Clinics at community centers, maker spaces, museums, etc. (Also see the examples above of universities, high schools, middle schools.)

Schedule the Fixit Clinic for a block of time no longer than 3 or 4 hours. and have the room reserved for at least and hour before and an hour after the event is scheduled so you have time to set up and break down the Fixit Clinic. Try to get sponsorship from the venue to (at least) provide refreshments for the Fixit Coaches. See the Fixit Clinic Venue Selection document here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qGs2SIMUKHgToFd4d_DIcuQBdCcPjgAJVBNg9at7ID0/edit?usp=sharing

Step 4- Once you have 1) sufficient Fixit Coaches and 2) a venue: then think about a day and time; we've settled in to weekend dates (Saturday or Sunday) in a three-hour window between 11AM and 5PM. Ideally: reserve the room or venue for at least an hour before and an hour afterwards (two hours afterwards ideally) Contact us at fixitclinic@gmail.com before finalizing the date to be sure there are no conflicts.

Step 5- Make a copy of this Fixit Clinic Event Template Google Doc, fill in / edit the information as appropriate and share it back with edit access to fixitclinic@gmail.com: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1W8rSQdwgkWEigjKgdBUW927l1R4sOBZ1zbL3pz4xK0M/edit?usp=sharing
This will help us add your event to the sign-in forms and coordinate promotion.

Step 6 - Local promotion: keep recruiting Fixit Coaches up to the actual date and beyond (think about positioning your initial events as a combination Fixit Clinic and Fixit Coaches' recruiting social. See the wording on this flyer as an example: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1NuRSQ-LsBfU1FkV0I0TnhVcDdBZGdRSlR6a0g1N3d1ejZn/view?usp=sharing)

Other helpful documents/resources:

- Recommended tool and supplies list (note that you don't need to buy everything on this list to get started, the Fixit Coaches often have these tools already): https://docs.google.com/document/d/10QnLXYFM0BIl-ApDTNiF8QPcQbIMl5ft_LLkB_diDCs/edit

- Fixit Clinic logos, badge templates, and other graphics are downloadable from https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B1NuRSQ-LsBfaDZkRmhTcWZ5LTA?resourcekey=0-HAoziIo5OW6lLe2OmqIfmA&usp=sharing

Just make your own small signs with a color printer:

Eventually you may want to move up to large signage and banners: some pre-scaled graphics for large printing.

(I find it's more economical to order multiple images on 3x6 banners and cut them down. I use clear packing tape to attach them to 1/2-inch PVC on the top and bottom, making a "scroll banner" that's easy to hang and easy to roll up.)

- You're welcome to use any photos from previous events:
- Fixit Clinic's Album Archive: https://get.google.com/albumarchive/111525193946026734520
- Photo Album Catalog (Google Doc): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VzSRTDKVYkCKHwz8n8A4flL9otqH7XpzI5oJFAQ7Yvc/edit?usp=sharing )

Watch this video on starting a Fixit Clinic in your community (11 minutes): http://youtu.be/CyUf2fZ-zZI

In Summary (Again):

- Start Recruiting Fixit Coaches ASAP. (See all the examples of Fixit Coach recruiting flyers above.)
- When you’re ready to start actively recruiting Fixit Coaches let us know and we’ll add your location to the the pull down menu of specific locations actively recruiting Fixit Coaches on the form: http://bit.ly/newfixitcoach Then post liberally and share via email, on NextDoor, etc.
- Once we’ve identified a healthy complement of Fixit Coaches (5-15?) we should coordinate on setting a date.
- Make a copy of this Fixit Clinic Event Template Google Doc, fill in / edit the information as appropriate and share it back with edit access to fixitclinic@gmail.com: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1W8rSQdwgkWEigjKgdBUW927l1R4sOBZ1zbL3pz4xK0M/edit?usp=sharing
We'll add that Fixit Clinic to the:
-Fixit Coach sign-in page at: http://bit.ly/inpersoncoachsignup
-participant registration page at https://bit.ly/itemcheckin
-post-participation form at http://bit.ly/brokenitemreport
- When promoting: feel free to use any graphics from https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B1NuRSQ-LsBfaDZkRmhTcWZ5LTA?resourcekey=0-HAoziIo5OW6lLe2OmqIfmA&usp=sharing

Immediately below is an example of promotional text, I’m always tweaking the wording so feel free to modify it as you see fit and share any changes back with me:

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Fixit Clinic CDLIII (453) Tarea Hall Pittman South Branch Berkeley Public Library

Building resilient communities through conveying basic troubleshooting skills and celebrating repair, Fixit Clinics are do-it-together hands-on fix-n-learn community-based exploration and discovery workshops staffed by volunteer Fixit Coaches who generously share their time, tools and expertise to consult with you on the disassembly, troubleshooting, and repair of items.

So bring your broken, non-functioning things -- electronic gadgets, appliances, computers, toys, sewing machines, bicycles, fabric items, etc.-- for assessment, disassembly, and possible repair. Fixit Coaches (and helpful neighbors) will be available for consultation on broken items: we'll provide workspace, specialty tools, and guidance to help you disassemble and troubleshoot your item. Whether you fix it or not, you'll learn more about how it was manufactured and how it worked, ready to share your new-found confidence and insight with your friends, neighbors, and the community at large. (Hopefully you’ll be inspired to become a Fixit Coach yourself.)

- First-time Fixit Coaches and fixing families are always welcome; sign up at http://bit.ly/fixitcoachsignup

- Even if you can’t make it: report your broken item at http://bit.ly/brokenitemreport

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WHAT: Fixit Clinic CDLIII (453) 2019-08-03 Tarea Hall Pittman South Branch, Berkeley Public Library

WHEN: Saturday, August 3rd, Noon to 3PM

WHERE: Tarea Hall Pittman South Branch, Berkeley Public Library 1901 Russell St, Berkeley, CA 94703 https://www.berkeleypubliclibrary.org/locations/tarea-hall-pittman-south-branch

HOW: Register at http://bit.ly/fixitcheckin then

- Bring your broken item with all parts necessary to recreate the symptoms (carry-in only: no oversize items)

- Bring any parts and tools you already own that might be helpful (e.g. hand tools, sewing supplies)

- Come ready to describe what’s wrong and what you’ve tried

- Come ready to learn and to share your knowledge with others

WHO: All ages welcome: a family-friendly event: accompanied children are heartily invited!

COST: Free!

WHY: To make friends, learn and teach how to fix things, and have fun!

Sponsored by Berkeley Public Library and Stopwaste www.stopwaste.org

More on Fixit Clinic at www.fixitclinic.org, www.facebook.com/FixitClinic/

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Questions? Email fixitclinic@gmail.com.


Partnership / Big Tent Examples:

Example 1: In Alameda County, California, a county-wide joint powers authority StopWaste www.stopwaste.org sponsors regular Fixit Clinics rotating through the branch libraries of the county-wide Alameda County Library System http://www.aclibrary.org/
At the individual branch libraries additional support is provided by more locally-oriented entities: for example: at the Castro Valley branch the Castro Valley Sanitary District http://www.cvsan.org/ is an additional sponsor. The Fixit Coaches come from all over Alameda County and beyond and do not just attend the events a their local library (Not every Fixit Coach attends every event, but there are sufficient numbers that we can get good coverage at any given event across the county.)

Example 2: The San Mateo County Office of Sustainability https://www.smcsustainability.org/ sponsors regular Fixit Clinics rotating through the branch libraries of the county-wide Peninsula Library System http://www.plsinfo.org/ and San Mateo County Library System https://smcl.org/. The Fixit Coaches come from San Mateo County, San Francisco County, Santa Clara County and Alameda County. (Not every Fixit Coach attends every event, but there are sufficient numbers that we can get good coverage at any given event across the county.)

Example 3: Fixit Clinics are being held regularly at the Cabot Science Library at Harvard University. More and more colleges and universities are teaching leading with "design thinking", they want to teach designing for sustainability (durability, serviceability, maintainability, repairability) alongside Design for Manufacturing. Thus we've held Fixit Clinics at Harvard, MIT, USF, and University of Colorado Boulder with more schools coming. Maybe your local college or university is interested in sponsoring Fixit Clinics as part of their design program or engineering program?

Example 4: Does your High School or Middle School have a student environmental or recycling organization? We'd like to hold more Fixit Clinics rotating through school systems.