I heard you mentioned sandbox somewhere. I think it is one of the most successful incubation program for steem and lots of members benefited from it and had gone on to become good writers. Is it still a thing now? Maybe not.
Like you said, starting with a curation trail and gather enough support would be a good start. I believe there are enough struggling minnows out there to pick from.
I dont have enough accounts on my autovote list so some voting power are wasted at 100% everyday. Will gladly join your curation trail to spend a bit of them. But then again my few cents is not going to be helpful. You need bigger support.