Venture For America
Website: ventureforamerica.org
About: Venture for America is a nonprofit fellowship program empowering recent college graduates to launch their careers as entrepreneurs and revitalize American cities. After five weeks of training, VFA Fellows spend two years working for a startup in a U.S. city with an emerging startup ecosystem. Throughout the fellowship, they learn how to contribute to a high-growth business and gain access to mentorship, training, and the VFA community. When Fellows and alumni are ready to build their own companies, VFA provides the resources they need to succeed.
VFA focuses on cities that typically struggle to attract top talent, but have a commitment to revitalizing the regional economy through entrepreneurship. They partner with growth companies looking to hire talented young people, fostering a new wave of future startup builders in each city. With VFA, all parties benefit: graduates who crave development, the startup companies that need talent, and the regions searching for the next sources of job growth and innovation.
VFA launched in Baltimore in 2013 with the support of the Abell Foundation and have since placed 59 Fellows in the city. The Baltimore cohort has been one of the most successful in the program. 80% of Fellows remain in Baltimore after their Fellowship to launch their own businesses or continue contributing to a high-growth company.
Baltimore Corps Fellow:
