Halcyon welcomes 10 local entrepreneurs for its Opportunity Intensive program

Georgetown-based Halcyon Incubator launched a new program just for D.C. startups.

This week, Halcyon welcomed 10 local social entrepreneurs into its Opportunity Intensive fellowship program, which is a tailored version of the nonprofit’s prominent 18-month incubator program. Opportunity Intensive is presented by Halcyon in partnership with Capital One and Amazon Web Services, with additional support from Bracewell, Deloitte, and Lyft, a press release states.

Accepted fellows are spending this week living at Halcyon to receive mentorship and access to networks, and to start building skills for any part of their businesses they need assistance with. Outside of this week, the fellows will visit Halcyon for another weeklong residency later this year, as well as participate in monthly learning sessions.

“We’re cramming a lot of great content into this week, but adding sessions over the course of the year will allow us to do a deeper dive into everything from marketing and branding to producing documents and financials for prospective investors,” Halcyon CEO and cofounder Kate Goodall told Technical.ly. “It also allows us to tap into our network and ensure they meet with as many prospective mentors, partners and investors as possible.”

The social entrepreneurs selected for the inaugural Opportunity Intensive class are:

• Amir Browder from HOMME DC
• Anika Hobbs from Nubian Hueman
• Candy Schibli from Southeastern Roast and Brewery
• Fonta Gilliam from Invest Sou Sou
• Kimberly Moore from Go Together
• Lina Zdruli from Dafero
• Stephanie and Rashad Cummings from Please Assist Me
• Tami Garcia from Mully Lingua
• Yasmine Arrington from IncarciCare

Participating fellows were selected in partnership with 1863 Ventures and Black Girl Ventures. Uniquely, all 10 startups in the program either serve or are based in designated Opportunity Zones, which is part of a federal program that provides tax incentives for investments in new businesses and commercial projects in low-income communities. This is a main reason all fellows were selected for the program.

“We launched the Incubator Intensives to find ways to condense that methodology for more audiences,” Gooddall added. “While ventures have come from all over the world to participate in our Incubator program, this intensive is special because it allows us to focus on businesses based right here in D.C.”

The program will culminate in a showcase in December where the fellows get to pitch their ventures to the Halcyon community. Goodall said that despite being a part of this program, the fellows will be eligible to apply to the larger incubator program as well.