Our Community Impact Incubator provides capacity-building support and facilities to a cohort of nonprofit organizations during a 9-month incubator experience. This opportunity creates an environment for the participating organizations to develop their missions and further scale their service to children and families in Detroit’s Fitzgerald neighborhood.
Learn more about the inaugural cohort’s experience in the Cohort I Impact Report.
PROGRAM ELIGIBILITY
Participating organizations must meet the following requirements:
Be a 501(c)(3) registered non-profit organization or community-based organization headquartered in Detroit
Serve children and families in the Metro Detroit area
Can fully attend and participate in all program activities as laid out in the Programmatic Calendar
PROGRAM EXPERIENCE
Over a 9-month period, the Community Impact Incubator provides monthly intensive sessions with content experts, technical assistance, access to a network of professional consulting services, and opportunities for professional development.
Kickoff + Orientation: During the program kickoff and orientation, fellows will have the opportunity to meet each other, begin building community amongst the cohort, process and internalize the fellowship components and expectations, and also get their headshots taken in preparation for the cohort announcement.
Workshops: Workshops will take place on a monthly basis over the 9-month fellowship experience. Workshop content will address the core components of the Community Impact Incubator Fellowship Curriculum.
Fireside Chats: Fireside chats will feature an intimate, facilitated conversation with a local, regional, or national leader focused on one of the Four Pivots in Leadership discussed by Dr. Shawn Ginwright in his book, The Four Pivots: Reimagining Justice, Reimagining Ourselves.
Technical Assistance: Throughout the fellowship experience, incubator organizations will have access to differentiated technical assistance each month based on the needs of their organization. At the inception of the fellowship experience, fellows will complete a pre-assessment to gauge their organization’s strengths and opportunities as it relates to each technical assistance topic. The results of this pre-assessment will be used to develop a technical assistance roadmap to support the growth of each organization. See below for areas with technical assistance support.
Impact Showcase: As part of the culminating experience and graduation ceremony at the end of each year, all community impact incubator organizations will participate in SCP’s annual Impact Showcase in which organizations will showcase the impact their organization has made with and for the community. This is an opportunity for organizations to share the lessons they have learned along the way to support the development of other organizations and programs, expose local and national funders to their organization’s work, and network with local community leaders and organizations.
Quarterly Alumni Mixer: Each quarter, current fellows will have the opportunity to attend a social event along with other current participants and alumni of SCP equity initiative programs in order to build connections and create more authentic opportunities for collaboration between leaders across our network.
Mental Health Support: All fellows will have access to regular mental health support, including access to therapy at no cost for the duration of the fellowship experience.
Marketing & Fundraising Toolkits: Incubator Organizations will be supported in continuing to build their brand through support in grant-writing, fund development, and social media and branding technical assistance. All Incubator Organizations will walk away from the experience with marketing collateral that can be used for outreach and fundraising.
Access to Programming & Coworking Space: All Community Impact Incubator organizations will have access to the Strategic Community Partners Offices for weekly coworking, meeting, and programming space. Coworking, meeting, and programming space will be provided at no cost to organizations for the duration of the incubator experience, however, organizations must schedule to reserve the space ahead of time following the schedule below.
Coworking Logistics: Wednesday and Fridays weekly, 10:00 am - 4:00 pm
Conference room/main space bookings for meetings and programming:
Monday-Friday 5 pm - 10 pm
Wednesdays & Fridays - 9 am - 5 pm
Saturdays - 9 am - 8 pm
Sundays - 12 pm - 8 pm
Community Impact Incubator organizations can also use the SCP offices as their physical mailing address for the duration of the incubator experience if they so choose.
Each of the organization’s leaders will participate in a training program tailored specifically to their missions and the needs of the community they serve. These leaders identified several strategic areas in which they need support and, in response, SCP created a curriculum that will provide them with the specific resources and training needed to further scale their services. This tailored approach intends to strengthen nonprofit leaders of color while also providing key services to communities that may not normally have equitable access to them.
PROGRAM BENEFITS
Monthly convenings with a community of practice cohort to build capacity and scale organizations
Access to over 20 technical assistants to provide advice, guidance, and coaching
One-on-one mentor matching
Access to co-working + programming space at no cost
Previous Cohort
Cohort II [2022-2023]
The second Community Impact Incubator Cohort features eight Detroit-based nonprofits serving youth and families from across the city. With a proven track record of success in their respective areas of programming focus, each organization utilizes the Incubator experience as an opportunity to strengthen its internal structure, build their organization’s capacity, and deepen its impact in Detroit’s Fitzgerald neighborhood.
Additionally, all eight organizations in Cohort II were Black-founded and majority Black-operated. This creates a powerful cohort dynamic as the organizations’ leaders built upon shared personal and professional experiences as they uplift each other’s growth and progress.
At Bat
At Bat's mission is to increase the number of marginalized youth that participate in baseball and softball by providing free clinics and programs. Its vision is to increase and improve access to safe baseball and softball programs located within urban communities.
Class Act Detroit
Class Act Detroit empowers Detroit youth via music and arts education. It promotes equity racial healing and builds community for future generations via the elements of hip-hop (MCing, DJing, Dance, Graffiti, and Knowledge) as a tool for knowledge acquisition and liberation.
The Color of Autism
The Color of Autism is committed to serving people of color affected by Autism Spectrum Disorders. Its goal is to build efficacy and end the stigma of Autism Spectrum Disorders in communities of color and to help families identify the warning signs of autism early on. We can start to overturn these disparities by helping African-Americans with autism reach their full potential. It empowers families with information on autism that they can use to advocate for services for their child.
Developing Despite Distance
Developing Despite Distance supports young men of color, ages 10-18, currently impacted by parental incarceration. Through consistent letter writing and group counseling, its goal is to strengthen the parent-child relationship and to empower young men to identify their emotions and create healthy coping strategies. It is committed to increasing awareness that youth with incarcerated parents exist while helping to reduce the stigma associated with parental incarceration.
eleven24
eleven24 aims to reduce the prevalence of relationship abuse and sexual violence by enhancing the capacity of caring adults–both professional and personal–through capacity building and to provide young people with the necessary skills to have healthy relationships. Its programs use identity affirmation, storytelling, and media literacy to re-imagine prevention education.
Saving Our Lost Ones (SOLO)
SOLO gives marginalized youth and young adults ambition, tenacity, and freedom through verbal and written messages and specialized community programming. It ensures they have the resources they need to become positive adults, empower youths to shift from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset, and provides youth with the tools for Powerful Positive Thinking to improve their school attendance, behaviors, and academics.
She’s a Genius
She’s a Genius encourages, inspires, and empowers middle-school girls through mentorship and exposure to professional careers in the arts and entrepreneurship. It gives girls exposure and experiences in fine arts, liberal arts, literary arts, culinary arts, visual arts, and performing arts.
Take My Hand
Take My Hand aims to provide resources to individuals dealing with poverty, homelessness, personal struggles, illnesses by fulfilling everything from physical, mental health, education, employment, safety and the environment. Its mission is to unite and inspire individuals to improve the quality of life by providing services for individuals, youth, and families and supporting, assisting and motivating its communities.
Stay Connected
Interested in learning more about the Community Impact Incubator? Sign up for our newsletter to receive news from the program and get updates from the organizations as they continue on their 9-month journey.
