Happy first hump day of 2023, Baltimore. I promise to stop referring to the start of a new year as soon as I'm done with all the firsts (which, fair warning, might not be for another three weeks). 

 

Below, you'll see a story about the Innovators of Progress program, a pre-accelerator for college, community college and vocational school students that want to be entrepreneurs. If you know students who might be eligible and interested, do them (and your whole industry, honestly) a huge favor and send the article along — especially if they attend an HBCU or a Maryland-based community college or vocational institution, for which there are earmarked slots. They've got less than a week to apply.

 

In writing about this program, I was reminded of the myriad appeals for coverage or promotion that many of you who run accelerators, incubators or related programs frequently send me. Often, this outreach comes with a note like, "Could you please help us get the word out? The deadline's coming up soon!"

 

While my colleagues and I aim to cover these programs as much as possible (and would love to cover more without falling into a promotional vehicle-type role better suited for sponsored content — which Technical.ly also offers through a separate process!), we also know that we aren't your only channel to get the word out. To that end, I ask all of you that oversee such programs: Where are you promoting them? What avenues have led to the most applications? Are you seeing applications decrease or increase ahead of this potential recession? And what're you doing to ensure you select the most diverse and equitable cohorts possible?

 

Let us know by emailing baltimore@technical.ly, and feel free to keep in touch about your own impending deadlines and cohort updates — I aim to cover them more in 2023!