School Districts: Help Bring YEA! To Your Community

The Young Entrepreneurs Academy transforms students into real entrepreneurial success stories. The Academy can refresh an existing business course as a credit-bearing elective, or offered to students as a fun after school club.  Your district’s students will stand out from their peers as CEO’s of their own, real businesses. The district can partner with the local chamber of commerce, and college or university to recruit business leaders and entrepreneurs as guest speakers and mentors for the Academy.  The school district communicates directly with students and families, sharing student success stories, and inviting the student body to the exciting YEA! events.

Are you a member of your local school district, who is interested in bringing YEA! to your community? Follow these three easy steps:

  1. Identify community stakeholders (See other tabs of Toolkit)
  2. Fill out the Toolkit Informational Form form, with contact information for potential YEA! partners in your community
  3. Download the School District Toolkit (coming soon!) with letters and an informational flyer to send to your community’s YEA! partners

The Young Entrepreneurs Academy partners with local colleges and universities to champion entrepreneurship. The campus can take set the tone, and prestige for the class by becoming the “Host Site” for the Academy class, providing a classroom and computer lab for the weekly class. The campus may elect to take a leadership role in managing the class, selecting the legendary entrepreneurs and business leaders to serve as guest speakers and mentors. In this scenario, your campus is still the epicenter of excitement and still previews the most talented, determined pre-college students on campus, as well as engages with alumni in unique and meaningful ways. The campus can also serve as a communication partner, sharing student success stories and inviting the student body, faculty and staff to the exciting Academy events.

Who to contact at the college, university, or community college:

  • Provost, Chancellor, or President
  • Dean or Director of Admissions
  • Dean or Director of Business School
  • Dean or Director of Entrepreneurship Center
  • Dean or Director of Alumni Relations
  • Dean or Director of Development

Local chambers of commerce shine with the one-of-a-kind youth entrepreneurship program that launches real businesses, engages existing members in exciting activities, attracts new members, brings relevancy, and can generate revenue. Whether your community elects to bring the Academy as an after-school program, or an in-school credit-bearing elective the chamber has the opportunity to partner with the local school district and college or university, to celebrate youth entrepreneurship, and engage members as guest speakers and mentors, or to play a lead role and make YEA! a program of the chamber.  As a communications partner the chamber invites its members, and the students in their lives, to fun events, to participate as guest speakers, field trip hosts, and business mentors, and communicate student milestones and successes with the chamber’s network.

The chamber can elect to make the Young Entrepreneurs Academy a signature program of the Chamber. YEA! programming and events connect the chamber to the next generation of business leaders in the community, and help create a culture of innovation!

Who to contact at the Chamber of Commerce:

  • CEO, President or Executive Director
  • Board Chair