Matt Hanna believes deeply in the transformative power of sports, mentoring, and teamwork. He learned the impact sports can have on a young person’s life firsthand and now passes it along to members of Next One Up. He pushes student-athletes to embrace sports as a vehicle for change.
Matt “Coach” Hanna grew up in Upstate New York in a family of public servants. His father was a two-sport athlete at Hobart College and the school’s athletic director for 37 years. Coach Hanna’s mother would never allow a visit home without reading a book to her second-grade class at West Street Elementary, in Geneva.
A proud product of public schools, Matt received a bachelor’s degree from Johns Hopkins University in 2002. There, he served as captain of the men’s lacrosse team, competing in two NCAA Tournaments. After a distinguished career in Major League Lacrosse, Hanna spent a decade in the education field as an admissions director and history teacher before creating Next One Up (NOU). Hanna founded Next One Up in 2009 while teaching at Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Baltimore. With a focused vision to address unmet needs he saw in his students’ lives as a teacher in Baltimore City, this “camp scholarship” program has evolved into a year-round, multi-generational program.
Over the past twelve years, Hanna has shepherded the program from a small, loosely organized charity providing funds for summer camps, to a high-quality, structured nonprofit organization that provides year-round services to promising scholar-athletes. Today, Next One Up serves more than 150 young men, ages 13–25, who hail from some of Baltimore’s toughest zip codes but share a similar purpose; accepting the hill that must be climbed.
It is here that Next One Up and Coach Hanna’s staff engage underserved middle and high school students confronting significant barriers to achievement by providing long-term mentoring and coaching in the classroom and on the field. Next One Up’s hallmark is an innovative blend of sports, education, and mentoring; as well as a long-term commitment to scholar-athletes.
In 2013, Hanna was recognized as a social innovator when he was selected as an Open Society Institute-Baltimore Community Fellow under the Campaign for Black Male Achievement. In 2015, he earned a Certificate in Non-Profit Management from Georgetown University, as well as a Certificate in Effective Leadership from the Notre Dame-Mendoza School of Business.
After 13 years, Hanna still serves as CEO of Next One Up, now overseeing a growing staff of ten. 100% of NOU alumni are working in careers that place them on a path of generational change. Mentors to the next young leaders rising at NOU, these men are the future of Baltimore. They are living the mission, serving others, and being the humble warrior that will change their community. The growing network of great men who have stayed the course, making an impact in the Baltimore community, is what Hanna and his team cherish most.
Interview questions:
Introduction/Mission | Can you provide an introduction to Next One Up and its mission?
Milestones |Next One Up was started 13 years ago. What have been some of the major milestones?
Snapshot | Please provide a snapshot of Next One Up today? Ie. Success at a Glance
News | Next One Up has some major news related to a new programming space. Can you share the news? Basecamp…
Cristo Rey | You started Next One Up while coaching lacrosse and teaching history at Cristo Rey Jesuit High School. Tell us about that experience and its impact on Next One Up?
Alumni | How many alumni have graduated from the program?
Stories | Can you share some of the mentees’ stories? Izaiah Brown
Gilman | What has been the relationship between Next One Up and Gilman?
Partnerships | The Ravens and T. Rowe Price are partners of Next One Up. Tell us about their role and other partners?
Women | Are their plans for launching a program for women?
Future | How do you scale Next One Up? What are the future plans for Next One Up?
Connect with Matt on LinkedIn
Founded in 2009, Next One Up supports underserved student-athletes throughout Baltimore City by providing highly individualized wrap-around support that empowers underserved young men to become the city’s next generation of leaders. Adaptive year-round multi-year programming goes beyond the boundaries of typical programs to foster stability and create lasting change. Programming blends a focus on academics and leadership to infuse out-of-school time with purpose and help young men form a dynamic and concrete vision for their future. The ultimate goal of NOU’s program is to equip students with the skills to be successful, self-sufficient, and socially conscious.
Recent News: https://www.nextoneup.org/press
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