A local nonprofit celebrates ten years of providing for local student athletes.
By Evan Greenberg
Twelve years ago, Matt Hanna discovered the Marc Kelly Smith poem “Pull the Next One Up,” and it has since become the credo of his nonprofit organization, Next One Up. Inspired by the poem’s message of helping others find personal success, the program invests in Baltimore City student athletes by providing long-term mentoring on the field and in the classroom. “For us and our kids, it’s about generational change,” Hanna says.
Hanna founded Next One Up while coaching lacrosse and teaching history at Cristo Rey Jesuit High School, where he had a front-row seat to his students’ lack of extracurricular education. In 2009, he started a scholarship program to send four lacrosse players to summer camp, and four years later, with help from a fellowship from the Open Society Institute, the initiative included camps, weekend pick-up games, and mentoring.