Fresh Start
Entrepreneurship
Turning Business Ideas Into Reality
Business ownership represents an alternative pathway to income and wealth creation for justice-involved individuals. Fresh Start Entrepreneurship aims to provide aspiring entrepreneurs with the education, mentoring, and legal assistance they need to start and run their own business.
Launched in 2024 by First Step Alliance in partnership with Harvard Law School, the Boston Mayor’s Office of Returning Citizens, and SCORE, the nation’s largest volunteer business mentoring network, the program continues to expand through collaborations with community organizations and government agencies.
Our program instructors and mentors are system-impacted individuals and business and financial professionals who share a deep commitment to economic empowerment and second chances. Together, they bring extensive experience as certified business mentors, certified financial instructors, and attorneys, and include graduates of leading business and law schools such as Wharton, Harvard, Berkeley, and NYU Stern.
Program Goals
The Fresh Start program helps participants learn entrepreneurship basics, evaluate their ideas, and develop a plan to turn them into a viable business.The program's unique curriculum combines entrepreneurship training and money management skill development with individual coaching and peer mentoring. Participants also gain access to an affordable bank account and personalized counseling to build credit.
Carmen Halford, Clinical Instructor at Harvard Law School's Transactional Law Clinics, describes Fresh Start as:
"a training program that helps people who are at the very beginning of dreaming about their business. They’re just starting to figure out, how do I do this on a larger scale? How do I make this a sustainable income source for myself?"
Read more about the program and its impact in From Incarceration to Entrepreneurship, featured in Harvard Law Today.
If you're interested in participating in our Spring 2026 cohort and you are a Boston resident, click on the following link to apply:
Hear from our graduates
Wayne
"Dreaming after incarceration can be difficult. The Fresh Start program helped me out in ways you couldn't imagine. My vision widened, and I decided I wanted to open a CDL driving school. Fresh Start helped me put that business plan into action."
Tatiana
"This program is empowering! Not only am I more knowledgeable in business, I'm also so much more confident in my venture. The mentors are amazing. Thank you for the experience, encouragement, and all of the help."
Zilla
"The Fresh Start Program gave me the foundation I needed to launch my business, and I'm grateful for the chance to give back and hopefully inspire others who are on the same path I once walked."
Jose
"The experience with the program opened my eyes to what it really takes to have a successful business. It made me realize you need a business plan, a vision, a goal and a plan to get there."
Caroline
"Thank you so much for everything! This class was great and I looked forward to it every week. I wasn’t sure if I could do it all and make it to the end but now I feel I can do anything I set my mind to."
Sonny
"The Fresh Start program is more than a program. It's an opportunity to change the rest of your life. God bless these guys. We need more programs like this."
Marquis
"Thank you all for this program. It was very beneficial for all of us. I really did learn a lot. Blessed are the ones that never give up."
Charles
"Best program in the city for returning citizens!"
Friendy
"This is a great program to help future entrepreneurs on their journey."
Real Results.
Real Impact.
a Fresh Start program graduate shares her experience with a new cohort and how she's applying what she learned to achieve her goals.
Read our article Entrepreneurship After Prison: Fresh Start Business Ideas for more information about practical and affordable business ideas for returning citizens.
