A yearslong vision became a reality for Matt Hanna when a custom-built space for his nonprofit, Next One Up, opened this week to support his student athletes seven days a week.
Located at Belvedere Square, the Next One Up’s Base Camp includes enough space to meet the academic, athletic and social development needs of 190 young men in Baltimore, with more than 100 on the waitlist. The program will select 25 students to join this year.
As a former Baltimore City school teacher and sports coach, Hanna saw a lack of “safe and accessible” after-school programming for student athletes outside of seasonal practices and games when he began teaching at Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in 2009.
He thought about how he could excite a group of guys through physical fitness using a model that replicates a school, but the “best school the guys ever attended.” They are now alums of the program…
