Announcing the Winners of the 2026 Reconstruct Challenge: Thriving Youth
We’re proud to announce the six organizations selected through the 2026 Reconstruct Challenge: Thriving Youth, a 1 million dollar venture philanthropy initiative supporting innovative solutions for youth aging out of foster care in Tennessee.
More than 800 young people transition out of Tennessee’s foster care system each year. Without stable housing, consistent relationships, and targeted support, outcomes can be devastating. With the right interventions, those trajectories can change. Each organization will receive 100,000 dollars in catalytic funding and begin plans in March 2026. In addition to financial support, awardees will receive technical assistance and strategic guidance to position successful models for long term sustainability and potential statewide scale.
From 58 applicants across 11 states, six organizations have been selected to pilot their solutions over the next 12 months:
"The Reconstruct Challenge brings together the private sector, public sector and social sector with catalytic capital to take real innovations from the theoretical to the field,” said Bryce Butler, founder & managing director of Access Ventures. "Philanthropy should be the risk capital that helps identify solutions that are impactful, scalable and enduring, and which we recognize can come from anywhere."
A Different Model for Funding Innovation
The Reconstruct Thriving Youth Challenge was developed through the Thriving Youth Executive Leadership Council, bringing together Belmont Innovation Labs, the Governor’s Faith Based and Community Initiative, the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services, and additional community leaders.
Using a reverse pitch model, system level needs were identified in collaboration with public leadership. Innovators then responded with solutions designed to address those needs directly. This alignment increases the likelihood that successful pilots can move from experimentation to sustained implementation.
The 1 million dollar challenge fund was capitalized entirely through private philanthropic sources and is separate from the General Assembly appropriations that supported the research and design phase.
The Reconstruct Challenge is a reverse pitch program–powered by Access Ventures, a Louisville-based impact multiplier–that unearths innovations from around the country to address a community’s most pressing social issues. The program recognizes that the innovators with the greatest insights often face barriers to capital, market access, and connections that make them harder to find and slower to scale. Reconstruct finds these solutions and runs paid pilots, grounded in community voice, academic research, and industry mentoring, to mitigate the risk for both innovators and partners.
What Comes Next
Over the next year, each organization will test its model in real world conditions, measure outcomes, refine operations, and generate evidence to inform future funding pathways.
Systems change rarely begins with sweeping reform. It begins with disciplined pilots, shared accountability, and catalytic capital willing to take responsible risk.
The Reconstruct Challenge continues to demonstrate that when philanthropy, public leadership, and community innovators align, stronger systems can emerge.
The Reconstruct Challenge is a reverse pitch program powered by Access Ventures that identifies and supports innovative solutions addressing pressing social challenges.
Recognizing that innovators closest to the problem often face barriers to capital and connection, Reconstruct runs paid pilots grounded in community voice, academic research, and cross sector collaboration to mitigate risk for both innovators and partners.
To date, Reconstruct has funded over 20 innovators and deployed over $4m in risk capital.
