Our Mission = Our Passion
The primary mission of the Foundation for Youth Empowerment and Leadership Development is to provide financial, business, career, health and leadership educational programs to economically-disadvantaged youth who reside in low-income households and educators who teach in these communities where there is widespread poverty.
The foundation will prepare leaders to residually impact their communities by passing on their teachings to younger youths within their same communities. All of the Foundation’s programs are sponsored by business institutions and other philanthropic entities and administered in partnership with local schools and youth-serving agencies. The Foundation provides real-world, hands-on financial, entrepreneurial, and business education programs that foster the economic well-being of youth participants from all targeted social and economic backgrounds, without bias toward any racial, ethnic, gender, political, or religious groups or affiliations.
The Foundation successfully achieves its mission through the generous support of donors, sponsors, charitable events and strategic partnerships.
FOUNDATION INITIATIVES:
* Entrepreneurship/Business
* Financial Literacy and Investing
* Leadership
* Health is Wealth
* Educator/Teacher Training
Programs
1: Smart Start to Business -
This entrepreneurship program enables students to study business ownership in depth. Students develop skills in communication, negotiation, problem solving, time management, business decision making, and public speaking.
Students who complete the course are given a new title of CEO or President of their own company, have developed a working business plan, and have designed business cards, flyers, and a marketing plan – all in preparation to generate sales from their first entrepreneurial venture.
The Smart Start course also offers students an opportunity to participate in the YoungBiz Business Plan Challenge where they present their business plans to business experts and local entrepreneurs. The courses offer a unique hands-on, real world approach to enable students to discover business opportunities now and throughout life as well as prepare them for future careers
2: Smart Start to Money and Investing Program -
This financial literacy program enables students to understand vital personal finance, savings, and investing principles. This knowledge will empower them for a future of successful financial management. Students learn skills in banking, budgeting, and being a wise consumer, as well as how to avoid the overuse of credit. This course emphasizes the benefits of saving for short-term goals and the value of investing to meet long term goals. Participants enjoy contests, games, activities, and guest speakers. Equipped with practical life skills to handle money, students will continue to make better financial decisions long after completing this program.
This program cann also utiize the delivery of the Street Sage Stock Market Game, where students participate in a online simulation and learn how to analyze and select companies to invest in.
3: Your The BOSS (Leadership) -
In this fast-paced program, business ownership is offered as a hands-on, real-world method of helping students develop employable skills around leadership, character and business capability. Emphasis is placed on activities that allow students to discover their interests, talents, and entrepreneurial abilities while learning practical business skills and developing an understanding of a business operation and leading others. Whether students eventually start a business or seek employment, the financial, business and leadership skills they learn through this program will provide them with numerous options for the future.
4. Health is Wealth -
A Healthy Mind is a Wealthy Mind
Studies have shown that individuals who understand health and maintain healthy habits and lifestyles grasp the importance of self-reliance and economic empowerment which perpetuates a healthy and empowered life span. (Educating on the non use of illegal drugs, promoting non smoking , regular physcial activity and healthy food consumption). As a result, this program provids youths with a blueprint that establishes a healthy lifestyle combined with economic preparedness which helps teens as they shift to adulthoood.
Parents, Households and educational systems will also benefit with invaluable resources that will be made available through various means of distribution to continue encouraging healthy mindsets and lifestyles.
5. Educator/Teacher Training -
Teachers, Educators and Youth Organization Leaders learn how to empower students with key Entrepreneurial and Financial Skills that establish good money habits and business mindsets. They are trained on how to follow, deliver and execute the YoungBiz Classroom Curriculum to their students. (All YoungBiz USA Curriculums and programs meets National Standards for Financial Literacy and Entrepreneurship Education).
This Teacher Training program will allow educators to gain Certification and bring back the professional development achievement to their school districts thus creating a residual effect that will spread out into the inner cities of where the educators and trainers work and deliver programs.
Participants receive the YoungBiz Money Skills Leader's Guide and Student's Guides and Entrepreneurship Today Teacher and Student Work Book and Guides. This rewarding training helps teachers and trainers gain confidence in teaching the basics of budgeting, banking, saving, investing, credit awareness, venture creation, business plans and selling skills. Upon completion of this workshop, teachers are certified to teach the YoungBiz curriculum in their school and receive a perpetual 10% discount on all future orders for the school district.