The ages BasBlue's Future Leaders Club is built for
There is a version of this city where the support only ever seems to show up after you have already made it. The grant that finds you once you are established. The mentorship that opens up after you already know the right people. For a lot of young women in Detroit, the door and the map to it arrive late. BasBlue is trying to move that timeline up, and on August 21 it opens applications for the second fall cohort of its Future Leaders Club.
The club is a program for women and non-binary people ages 18 to 26, run out of BasBlue, the Detroit nonprofit and members space working to build a more equitable future for women across Southeast Michigan. It is not a lecture series and it is not a networking mixer. It is a structured cohort with two tracks, one built for people chasing entrepreneurship and one built for people climbing a career, so you can walk in with a business or with a résumé and still find a lane that fits.
"The point is to reach women earlier, while the path is still being decided, not after it is already set."
The person who built it is Kelly LaPierre, the club's founding director, and her own path is part of the pitch. She started as a corporate business analyst, earned her MBA from Harvard Business School, then came back to Michigan to work across a run of Detroit metro startups. She is not handing down theory she read once. She is handing down a route she actually walked, from a cubicle to a business school to the messy front lines of building companies in this region.
Emerging entrepreneurs and professionals the club moved forward in its first year
Year one was not a pilot that fizzled. The Future Leaders Club moved 20 emerging entrepreneurs and professionals through its first cohort, which is exactly why the second one is opening on schedule. That track record matters because young people get asked to gamble their time on a lot of programs that promise the world and deliver a certificate. This one has a year of receipts and a clear structure behind it.
Here is the part that decides whether this helps you or not: the calendar. Applications open August 21 and close September 11. The program starts September 29. That is a three-week window to apply, which is the whole reason we are writing this today instead of in October when it would be a nice story about something you already missed.
How to apply
Who it is for: Women and non-binary individuals ages 18 to 26. You pick one of two tracks, entrepreneurship or career development, based on where you are trying to go.
Key dates: Applications open August 21, 2026 and close September 11, 2026. The fall cohort begins September 29, 2026.
Where to apply: Applications and full program details go live through BasBlue at basblueus.com. Look for the Future Leaders Club under the BasBlue Foundation's programming once the window opens on August 21.
If you are close but not sure: BasBlue runs entrepreneurship and community programming for women across Southeast Michigan year-round, so even if the age range or timing is off for you, the broader ecosystem there is worth knowing. Start at basblueus.com and get on the list.
If you are a young woman in this city who has been building something quietly, or thinking about it, or stuck at the edge of a career you cannot quite see the next step in, this is a rare thing: a structured room, a director who has done the work, and a deadline close enough to force a decision. The room is opening. The only question that matters is whether you fill out the form before September 11 closes it.