The Charles D. Close School of Entrepreneurship recently celebrated a major milestone in local economic empowerment with the completion of Phase One of Dragon Launch Philly. Operating under the national Urban Poverty and Business Initiative (UPBI) and backed by a milestone partnership with The Coca-Cola Company in North America, this intensive, bootcamp-style program brought rigorous, practical business training directly to 44 grassroots founders across the Philadelphia area, helping them build the foundations for long-term economic self-sufficiency.

The journey doesn’t stop here. This summer, the program transitions into Phase Two, an individualized mentorship phase where participants are paired one-on-one with seasoned executives from our local SCORE chapter, including several dedicated Drexel University alumni returning to campus to invest their expertise in the next generation. As the cohort prepares for advanced project consulting this fall, they are proving that community-driven innovation can create lasting impact well beyond the classroom.

Read the full feature HERE. Discover what our entrepreneurs learned, and see how this initiative is shaping the economic future of Philadelphia!