4.0

This year, 118 education entrepreneurs joined our Tiny Fellowship with ideas they believed could change how students learn.

Three months later, here's what they built together.

101 new education ventures. 2,723 students reached. 871 hours of programming delivered. 32 states.

These aren't hypothetical business plans sitting in a drawer - they're afterschool programs running in community centers. Microschools opening their doors, apps being tested by real students, workshops where parents are showing up.

The Tiny Fellowship gives early-stage founders $5,000, a coach, and a community of peers.

What makes it work is the constraint: three months to move from idea to pilot. You can't overthink when the clock is running!

We're proud of what this cohort built. Even more proud of where they're headed next.

Full impact report with fellow stories and pilot results 👇 https://www.4pt0.org/post/tiny-fellowship-2025-impact-report

PS. The Tiny Fellowship 2026 recruitment season kicks off this soon!

$5,000 in seed funding was provided to every Tiny Fellow to design, launch, and test their venture — because meaningful innovation starts with giving early-stage leaders the room to build, experiment, and iterate. 🚀

Nurturing Holistic Success in Education — Meet Felicia Freeman

A proud alum of our 2020 Essentials Fellowship, Felicia Freeman has committed her work to empowering young learners with the tools, values, and agency they need to thrive in school and beyond.

As Founder of Jesus Reigns STEMSSORI Academy, Felicia designed a learner-centered model that blends STEM and Montessori principles within a Christ-centered framework. Her vision equips students with academic excellence, responsibility, and spiritual grounding while fostering autonomy and purpose in every child’s learning journey.

💛 Today, Felicia continues to lead with innovation and faith, building an environment where students are encouraged to discover their unique gifts and prepare for lifelong success — academically, personally, and spiritually.

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💡If you or someone you know is ready to turn an idea into reality, applications are now open for the 2026 Texas Essentials Fellowship: Early Childhood Innovation Initiative — a one-day, hands-on experience this coming January 24 and January 31, 2026 in Austin and Houston, in partnership with the Powell Foundation.

🔗Apply here: https://form.typeform.com/to/mj9YuQF8?typeform-source=us2.campaign-archive.com
Nominate someone here: https://form.typeform.com/to/mj9YuQF8?typeform-source=us2.campaign-

💡 Let's kick-off this new year with this Opportunity from Berkeley Haas

👉🏻 Student Entrepreneurship Program (StEP)
StEP is a 10-week startup incubator that brings together UC Berkeley community members with complementary skills to help turn bold ideas into real ventures. While UC Berkeley leads globally in the number of VC-backed startups, data shows that many aspiring founders still struggle to access accelerators, pre-seed funding, and the right support. After investigating these gaps, StEP identified three key barriers: lack of core startup competencies, siloed collaboration across campus, and an underdeveloped entrepreneur-investor ecosystem. StEP is designed to address these challenges and empower undergraduates, graduate students, PhDs, postdocs, faculty, and alumni to launch and grow their own startups.

🔗 Apply or learn more: https://www.eshub.org/opportunities/berkeley-haas-student-entrepreneurship-program

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👀 Looking for even more funding, fellowships, and events like these?
Explore the Entrepreneurial Support Hub, a collaboration between 4.0, Camelback Ventures, Echoing Green, NewSchools, and Moonshot, offering 100+ active opportunities to help you bring bold ideas to life. 🔗 www.eshub.org

💡 Know someone who could benefit? Tag them! Have an upcoming business, education, or community event? Send us your details, and we might feature it next! Don’t forget to follow us for more weekly updates on funding, grants, and programs.

This season, we’re celebrating all the creators, educators, alumni, funders and fellows who turned ideas into impact in 2025. 🎁✨

Your work is the reason millions of students experience learning differently today.

We’re taking a short break to rest, recharge, and prepare for an even bigger year ahead. 4.0 will be back in January 2026 — ready to support the next wave of education innovators.

Happy Holidays from all of us at 4.0! 🎄🌟

And just like that, The Sparkyard: Middle School & High School 2025 has officially wrapped! What an incredible journey it’s been. From wildly inventive ideas to thoughtful solutions rooted in real-world needs, your students showed up with courage, curiosity, and so much creativity. They truly brought the spark — and then some. ✨

A huge thank you to every parent, teacher, and guardian who encouraged their young innovators to jump in, take a chance, and share something bold. Your support made all the difference.

We’re already excited for next year… and we can’t wait to see what sparks next. ⚡

🏆 The Sparkyard: High School Edition | Week 5 Winner
Theme: “Shape the Future” – If you could invent a new one from scratch, What would it look like? Deam big and share your boldest vision for the future of learning.

💡 Emily from Arizona, 9th Grade
The Four-Day Week with Fridays for Passion: Built-In Balance
My big idea helps students by solving burnout and the lack of time for personal interests. I imagine four regular school days, with Fridays dedicated to passion projects, internships, community service, or rest. This would make school better by giving students balance, choice, and real-world learning.

Expanding Access to Higher Education — Meet Shaquita Murphy Basileo

A proud alum of our 2022 Essentials Fellowship, Shaquita Murphy Basileo has made it her mission to ensure that underrepresented students in West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle have the support they need to reach college and beyond.

As Founder and Lead Consultant of Beacon Education Group, Shaquita has guided students and families through the complexities of applications, scholarships, and post-secondary planning — eliminating barriers and opening doors to opportunity. Her leadership has helped secure hundreds of thousands of dollars in scholarships and admissions to some of the nation’s top universities, ensuring that more young people can pursue degrees with confidence and financial support.

💛 Today, Shaquita continues to champion equity in education by providing one-on-one coaching, building donor partnerships for micro-scholarships, and advocating for students who are too often overlooked in the higher education pipeline. Her work stands as a beacon of possibility for families and communities alike.

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💡If you or someone you know is ready to turn an idea into reality, applications are now open for the 2026 Texas Essentials Fellowship: Early Childhood Innovation Initiative — a one-day, hands-on experience on both January 24 and January 31, 2026 in Austin and Houston, in partnership with the Powell Foundation.

🔗Apply here: https://form.typeform.com/to/mj9YuQF8?typeform-source=us2.campaign-archive.com
Nominate someone here: https://form.typeform.com/to/mj9YuQF8?typeform-source=us2.campaign-

90% of Tiny Founders improved their ability to assess and analyze effectiveness.

When early-stage builders gain the tools to measure what’s working — and what’s not — they’re able to refine, iterate, and scale with confidence. This is the power of investing in people from day one: stronger decisions, stronger programs, stronger impact.

PS. The Tiny Fellowship 2026 recruitment season kicks off this January 2026!

💡 Check-out this Opportunity from Gary Community Ventures

👉🏻 Mid-Career Fellowship
The Mid-Career Cohort is open to leaders with 10+ years of experience who are interested in joining a powerful network of community members as they learn and progress on their leadership journeys. Fellows will deeply engage in individual and collective work that centers personal and professional development, human centered systems awareness, racial equity, expanded social capital, knowledge and understanding of key issues faced by communities throughout metro Denver.

🔗 Apply or learn more: https://www.eshub.org/opportunities/gary-community-ventures-fellowship-mid-career

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👀 Looking for even more funding, fellowships, and events like these?
Explore the Entrepreneurial Support Hub, a collaboration between 4.0, Camelback Ventures, Echoing Green, NewSchools, and Moonshot, offering 100+ active opportunities to help you bring bold ideas to life. 🔗 www.eshub.org

💡 Know someone who could benefit? Tag them! Have an upcoming business, education, or community event? Send us your details, and we might feature it next! Don’t forget to follow us for more weekly updates on funding, grants, and programs.

The Sparkyard: High School Edition | Week 4 Winner
Theme: "Build a community” – How could the education system create stronger, more connected communities where students, educators, and families thrive together?

💡 Rachel from Idaho, 10th Grade
The Care Crew: Students Helping Students
My big idea helps students by solving the problem of feeling alone during tough times. I want to create a Care Crew who checks on classmates, writes support notes, and organizes kindness drives. This will make school better by creating a supportive community.

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📚 Up next: Week 5: Shape the future – Forget the education, If you could invent a new one from scratch, what would it look like?
💰 Win a $100 Amazon gift card + featured spotlight
🧑🏽‍🏫 Open to Open to all high school students (Grades 9–12)
🌐 Submit here: bit.ly/sparkyardhighschool

Know a high schooler with a bold idea? Tag them below! 🚀

Building Pathways for Young Men — Meet Russell Harris Jr.

A proud alum of our 2020 Essentials Fellowship in Detroit, Russell Harris Jr. has committed his career to creating spaces where young men can grow with confidence, purpose, and vision for the future.

As Founder of Warrior Academy, Russell launched programs rooted in discipline, respect, leadership, and resilience — helping young men develop the mindsets and skills needed for academic success, career exploration, and lifelong impact. Through personalized coaching and mentorship, Warrior Academy has guided students toward new possibilities, achieving a 90% success rate in supporting them to reach academic and personal goals.

💛 Today, Russell continues to serve as a leader in Detroit and beyond — from his role as CEO of Soar Detroit to his advocacy for Black male educators and his vision of launching a boarding school for boys. His journey reflects a powerful belief: when young men are equipped with the right tools, they can become catalysts for community transformation.

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💡If you or someone you know is ready to turn an idea into reality, applications are now open for the 2026 Texas Essentials Fellowship: Early Childhood Innovation Initiative — a one-day, hands-on experience on both January 24 and January 31, 2026 in Austin and Houston, in partnership with the Powell Foundation.

🔗Apply here: https://form.typeform.com/to/mj9YuQF8?typeform-source=us2.campaign-archive.com
Nominate someone here: https://form.typeform.com/to/mj9YuQF8?typeform-source=us2.campaign-