Did you know that the word “entrepreneur” is actually a verb meaning “a series of actions deliberately taken to get oneself into or out of something?” In this context, “to entrepreneur” was the perfect idea for Jerry Cozewith and Cathy Blanchard as they set out to form a new charitable business focused on expanding youth entrepreneurship education in lower income areas of Pittsburgh and the surrounding region. Fittingly named Entrepreneuring Youth or E-Youth, the program’s vision is that every young person owns the ability to prosper.
“Entrepreneurship education for middle and high school age youth is not just about business knowledge or even great financial literacy,” Cozewith, President of E-Youth, said. “It is about life skills. The business activity is really the hook for engaging them in learning through a series of activities that let them experience different approaches to critical thinking, problem solving, working (well) with others, creative activities and even elements of innovation.
“The real value is helping young people see the world as an owner; helping them to discover that they can, in fact, direct their lives, even at their present age,” Cozewith continued. “Entrepreneurs take on risk, look for opportunities and try to add value to others (customers). Taking kids through a business creation and formation process helps them to realize that they make choices all the time, that there are short and longer term consequences, and since they alone own their futures they must realize that they are accountable for the outcomes -- good and bad.”
Cozewith and his partner, Cathy Blanchard, started E-Youth to continue the work they were doing leading the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) program in Pittsburgh. The local NFTE program office closed its doors on September 1 due to a shift in strategic focus of the national organization to direct more resources to the nation’s larger urban areas. However, based on the strong relationships the NFTE staff and volunteers have in the area, Cozewith and Blanchard accepted NFTE’s offer to create a new charitable organization that would function as a NFTE licensee, able to take advantage of NFTE’s resources, while having the flexibility to expand its focus and program design.
“The new operating structure of E-Youth means the program is no longer restricted to only serving youth in lower income and under-resourced communities,” Cozewith explained. “While the youth of such neighborhoods will unquestionably remain the priority of E-Youth and the charitable resources entrusted to us, we can now look at engaging other schools and other organizations across the region.
“Some of these engagements will be fee-based as opposed to charitably subsidized,” he continued. “In other instances, local businesses or individual donors may choose to underwrite an E-Youth-designed entrepreneurship program in a preferred school. Cathy and I definitely think there will an advantage to connecting young people across zip codes by erasing school district boundaries to just come together as fellow youth entrepreneurs through seminars, competitions or marketplace selling events. And, the Tech Council will continue to be a strategic partners to bring the advantage of entrepreneurial experience to our region’s youth.”
Get involved with E-Youth! Learn more at www.eyouthamerica.org or contact Jerry Cozewith: jerryc@eyouthamerica.org.
