1909 Foundation

Business education programs: we offered a 6-month, application-based business accelerator and mentorship program designed to help founders develop their ideas into successful businesses. We also offer an 8 week ideator program to help entrepreneurs get a new business off the ground. We supported 44 new entrepreneurs through these programs. We offer business courses to help founders turn their ideas into real businesses. Our programs are based on collaborative learning, which is the educational approach of using groups to enhance learning through working together. This style of learning is proven to help participants develop social skills, learn from peers with different skills, build trust, become more engaged, and build confidence and leadership skills.

Events & programming: 1909 offers year-round events for our members and the greater community. These events included mastermind group gatherings, industry specific meetups and training, personal development and connection events, mentorship gatherings, college student intros, co-lab, and networking opportunities. We hosted our gala to recognize our founders and raise funds to support our programming efforts.

Mentorship: we connect founders and mentors across our community, encouraging knowledge sharing to help founders achieve their goals efficiently and effectively. We recruited 28 new mentors in 2024.

Project 1909: a micro-grant initiative that allows us to pair skilled freelancers with small local businesses in need to complete projects to help the business grow.