iCAN INCUBATOR
INNOVATION FOR COMMUNITY ADVANCEMENT AND NAVIGATION (iCAN) INCUBATOR
The iCAN Incubator focuses on Black and Brown boys and young men in grades 8-12. The Incubator is an 8-month entrepreneurship initiative that allows participants to use STEM/STEAM pedagogies through a social-justice-based format to develop businesses and startups to address social issues affecting schools and communities.
OBJECTIVES
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The incubator allows participants to examine and question the historical approaches to traditional security and well-being in communities. Participants analyze preventive strategies and approaches that have emerged in communities across New York City that engage communities, schools, families, and local organizations. In addition, participants envision new approaches to insecurity and disruption in neighborhoods and suggest solutions that build capacity in families, neighborhoods, and communities. Some focal points include inequality, climate change, housing shortages, and migration.
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The incubator focuses on social entrepreneurship and community innovation to solve social issues affecting our participants' schools and communities.
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THE INCUBATOR ENABLES PARTICIPANTS TO:
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Develop and implement startups/businesses addressing social issues affecting schools/communities.
Develop an understanding and appreciation for social entrepreneurship and community innovation.
Receive financial literacy training and education.
Develop critical thinking and analaytic reasoning.
Engage with business and community leaders for networking and investment opportunities.
Become innovators, entrepreneurs, and community advocates.
INCUBATOR OUTCOMES
The incubator is an interdisciplinary learning experience that provides a historical context for innovation, specifically focusing on community-driven or grassroots innovations. The aim is for participants to get a historical perspective of the social impact movement, understand its modern influence on the public and private sectors, and collaborate with fellow participants to design community-driven business models that solve our most pressing social problems.
iCAN PITCH COMPETITION
At the end of the incubator, participants engage in a pitch competition to solicit investments for their business models. For each school cohort, three business models are selected for seed funding, mentorship, and training from community leaders and investors.
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ENROLL
The incubator is open to New York City Public Schools. Students interested in enrolling may complete our open enrollment form.
If you are a school or community organization interested in offering the incubator to your students, please complete our partnership form or email partnership@blackboysleadership.org
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