OUR PARTNERS
A primary objective is to connect our members to networks that can support them in reaching their business goals. We are affiliated with the following local, national, and global networks below.
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New Song Community Church
(co-founder):
Established and located in Sandtown since 1988, New Song has been an instrumental incubator of services that address the needs of the community. New Song provides vision and Board-level leadership for our organization based on four decades of serving the community. New Song is home to Create U Network's office and hosts many, though not all, of our Foundations 10-week cohorts.
Chapelgate Presbyterian Church
(co-founder):
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Established over 150 years ago on North Avenue in Baltimore City, Chapelgate currently resides in Marriottsville, MD. Chapelgate has partnered with New Song Church for over three decades in its efforts to support the Sandtown community. Today, Chapelgate provides Board-level leadership and annual funding for our operations through its Missions Committee, and church members serve as volunteer facilitators for several of our Foundations units, including our kickoff, marketing, and legal structuring sessions.
University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC):
In 2023, two classes in UMBC's Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Leadership professional program conducted research into potential partnerships and business ideas that could benefit the Sandtown community. Our connection with UMBC continues today through Kevin Fulmer, Director of the Alex Brown Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and a former Create U Network Board member, who teaches our Foundations kickoff unit — focusing on developing an entrepreneurial mindset and understanding your customers.
Helping Up Mission:
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Helping Up Mission (HUM) helps men
and women fighting addiction and homelessness get their lives back. Their comprehensive recovery programs address root issues of substance abuse and poverty. HUM has sent men interested in creating and owning their own businesses to attend our Foundations training on several occasions, and Create U Network Board President Dr. Louis Wilson has occasionally spoken to HUM's men's recovery classes in prior years.
T. Rowe Price Foundation:
For more than four decades, the T. Rowe Price Foundation has supported the communities where its associates live and work, giving more than $204.5 million in direct grants since its founding in 1981. The Foundation was among Create U Network's earliest supporters, providing a grant in 2018 that helped get our young organization off the ground. Since then, our Board has regularly attended the Foundation's nonprofit capacity-building trainings, drawing on them to shape our Financial Management, Operations, and Development efforts.
Launch Chattanooga and the STARTSPARK network:
Since 2011, Launch Chattanooga has empowered underserved entrepreneurs in Chattanooga, Tennessee to build small businesses and create new jobs. Launch's approach became the model for Create U Network's own Foundations program, and Launch continues to provide the Matrix curriculum used in Foundations today, along with ongoing consulting support to our leadership team.
Graphics Needed Visual Communications:
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With a degree in Commercial Graphics and Visual Communications, Thomas Lane is an entrepreneur, a self-published author of his autobiography, Released, and the founder of Graphics Needed Visual Communications. Mr. Lane redesigned Create U Network's website to standardize its layout and support clients who use mobile devices, and continues to create introductory videos and professional headshots for our Board and clients. In the future, Mr. Lane plans to sponsor men who have recently been released from the Howard County Detention Center to participate in our Foundations program.
Innovation Works:
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Innovation Works' mission is to reduce Baltimore's neighborhood and racial wealth divide by supporting and accompanying leaders of social enterprises working to build sustainable neighborhood economies. Create U Network is a BOOST 2025 graduate, where we sharpened our pitch and were challenged to shift from a donation-based model toward fee-for-service funding from partner organizations — a transition Innovation Works' Ignite Capital is now helping us fund. In July 2026, we led a workshop at the Gilmor Homes Community Center supporting Innovation Works' CommunityWorks incubator efforts in Sandtown, and the two organizations regularly refer entrepreneurs to whichever program is the best fit.
FisherRing LLC:
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Jeff Ring, a member of Chapelgate Presbyterian Church and founder of FisherRing LLC, has served as Create U Network's accountant since our founding. Jeff was a key voice in shaping Create U Network's legal and financial structure, including our relationship to New Creation Urban Ministries (NCUM) — Create U Network operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of NCUM, a structure built to support transparent, accountable financial management across both organizations.