A group of Greater New Haven high school students spent the summer pitching future business ideas instead of baking in the sun at the beach.
A total of 15 students participated in Collab New Haven’s inaugural summer Youth Accelerator program. The eight-week program wrapped up last month, with a graduation ceremony to celebrate the students’ achievements.
Collab Executive Director Dawn Leaks said she was thrilled by the outcome of the inaugural youth program and is excited to keep in close contact with the graduates to find ways to continue to support their business ideas throughout the school year.
“Throughout the summer, it was inspiring to see these youth entrepreneurs dream up innovative business ideas for their communities,” Leaks said. “At Collab, we are proud to play a role in supporting the next generation of builders, innovators and entrepreneurs in Greater New Haven.”
Collab is an early-stage accelerator that supports individuals in using entrepreneurship to build wealth for themselves and their families, create local jobs, build economic power and shape their communities with a focus on people of color and women entrepreneurs.
Its summer Youth Accelerator program is an offshoot of its successful flagship program, the Accelerator, which has helped hundreds of area entrepreneurs kickstart their small businesses.
Students over the course of the program learned how to develop their entrepreneurial skills, received one-on-one coaching sessions with Collab staff, took weekly field trips to various Greater New Haven businesses and organizations, shadowed former Collab graduates who are now small business owners, and participated in a graduation ceremony where they were able to showcase the unique ideas they came up with for potential businesses.
Collab did not provide names of the students who participated, citing privacy permissions.
One of the students aimed to start a business called Sweet Music Alley, a business dedicated to building opportunities for disadvantaged youth through drumming. Her goal was to showcase drumming as a fun and stimulating activity for youth, with the goal of instilling resilience in youth while connecting them with other talented local musicians. During the graduation ceremony, the student brought a drum to showcase her talent and illustrate the power of her business idea, according to Collab.
Another student pitched an idea to create an online magazine platform to increase representation of plus-sized clothing for men, women and others, while another student came up with an idea to create an affordable and accessible math tutoring service aimed at New Haven public school students. Another student wants to create a fundraising organization to support immigrants, particularly undocumented residents, and individuals experiencing poverty.
For more information about Collab visit them at www.collabnewhaven.org.
