Boston nonprofit starts youth venture program tied to 2026 milestones
Next Leadership Development’s six-week NextRise program blends venture-building, AI tools, storytelling and resilience education for Boston residents ages 14 to 24.
By Daniel Okafor · Business Editor
3 min read
Next Leadership Development has launched a six-week summer program in Boston that asks young residents to design businesses, social enterprises or nonprofits from the ground up. The program matters for local nonprofit entrepreneurship because it pairs venture-building with digital storytelling, AI tools and lessons on resilience tied to Black history and upcoming U.S. anniversary milestones.
The 2026 NextRise Summer session began Monday with 12 youth and two young adults, ages 14 to 24, who live in the City of Boston. The nonprofit is running the program with Icanpreneur, the Museum of African American History, New Generation Consultants & Associates, Tayla Made, Boston EMS and All Aces, Inc.
Participants will work on purpose-driven organizational ideas while studying three resilience pillars: health, wealth and culture. The curriculum includes identifying who a venture would serve, defining the problem it would address and developing a brand and organizational strategy.
Organizers are tying the program to 2026, which they describe as both the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence and the 500th year of Black people in the United States, along with the first recorded rebellion on American soil. Within that frame, participants will use AI-integrated technology and digital storytelling to connect history with current community needs.
Youth entrepreneurship programs often end with a pitch or showcase, but NextRise is structured around both business planning and community research. Participants are expected to interview professionals, collect primary information and use those findings to shape their final project.
Vesko Kolev, founder and chief executive of Icanpreneur, said the program is meant to help participants apply startup discipline, including deciding what is worth building, who should benefit and how evidence should guide decisions. Icanpreneur is described as an AI co-founder platform for product and go-to-market planning.
Dr. Atyia Martin, executive director of Next Leadership Development and chief executive of All Aces, Inc., said the young participants will examine how history affects the present and how institutional design can support community health and wealth. The program also includes personal financial literacy and basic organizational financial planning.
Tayla Andre of Thumbprint Realty and Tayla Made is also involved, with a focus on homeownership and wealth creation. The partner group gives participants access to local business and community leaders as they refine their ideas.
The session will end with a youth-led showcase for family members, friends and community stakeholders. Participants are expected to present their strategies and data-based narratives, showing how their proposed ventures would respond to needs they identified through interviews and research.
The nonprofit’s Boston youth venture-building summer program adds to a broader field of local efforts that use entrepreneurship training as a civic and workforce development tool. In this case, the model links startup basics with cultural history, resilience education and applied technology.