Built by students.
Funded by belief.

Bridging the economic divide starts with social capital. The Net Gala brought together 100 students from across NYC and 50 healthcare professionals for an evening of meaningful dialogue, incredible food, and the laying of foundations for sustained, impactful relationships.

This wasn't a career fair with folding tables. It was a gala — intentionally designed to give young people from historically marginalized communities access to the rooms and relationships that change trajectories. General practitioners, anesthesiologists, medical administrators, psychiatrists, and surgeons all showed up to engage with remarkable high school students.

The Net Gala offered a platform to showcase available internships and mentorship programs, fostering the next generation of healthcare leaders — not through lectures, but through real connection over a real evening.

ProspHER is an interactive festival designed to educate and empower young women by exposing them to financial literacy and alternative educational pathways. Unlike traditional workshops, ProspHER fosters an engaging, hands-on learning environment where participants actively explore various trades and licenses.

From styling hair at the cosmetology station to constructing models at the building station or designing websites at the web development station — students gained real-time experience guided by professionals. Partnering with organizations like 914United, ProspHER ensured that students didn't just learn about career paths — they experienced them firsthand.

This wasn't a panel discussion about opportunity. It was opportunity — built into every station, every conversation, every moment.

Roots and Routes was born from a simple observation: students are already learning — they're launching businesses, building products, pursuing passions. The problem isn't disengagement. It's that no one is funding or celebrating the learning students are doing on their own.

So Cohort 3 built a project accelerator. They funded 10 student ventures — from cookie businesses to eyelash enterprises, from creating a custom prom dress to engineering a voice-activated drone, to organizing a mini marathon exclusively for teenagers.

The culmination was a block party — a public celebration of student-driven learning. Not a science fair. Not a presentation night. A party. Because when young people build something real, it deserves to be celebrated like something real.