Streets University_Growing Our Own Entrepreneurs

8/9/2019 Streets University_Growing Our Own Entrepreneurs

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UUNNIIVVEERRSSIITTYYGrowing Our Own Entrepreneurs:Community-Focused Future Making

Spearmangroup 2008


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Given the effect of business ownership on theBlack community and the widening wealth gapbetween Black and White Americans, its timeto invest in our future and prepare our youthfor careers as entrepreneurs. This articlediscusses the need for and lessons learnedfrom youth entrepreneurship education forBlack youth.

Middle and high school Blackstudents, especially those whofind themselves strugglingacademically, too oftencomplain that school seemsirrelevant to both their presentand future lives. The lack ofunderstanding these studentshave about the workings of themarketand their place in itsystematically denies themopportunities for pursuing theirdreams. Consequently, withoutdreams to pursue, many Blackyouth have little reason toinvest in education and theirown development.

Previous research has revealedthat Black youth have thehighest entrepreneurial expectations amongstAsian, Hispanic and White youth. However,research also shows that Black youth do not

have access to enough entrepreneurialprograms to convert their desire intoachievement. Thus, there is need to createmore entrepreneurial programs for Black youthwith relevant vision, goals and objectives.

A 1999 study by the Office of Advocacy in theU.S. Small Business Administration estimatesthat between 1987 and 1997, the number ofminority-owned businesses more than doubled.The revenues and number of employees nearlyquadrupled.

Much of this growth, however, came fromrecently arrived Asian and Hispanic immigrants.Moreover, Asians produced more than half ofthe half billion dollars in revenue minoritybusinesses generated in 1997.

To help counter this trend, youthentrepreneurial programshave sprung up that trainyouth in Black communities.Here are some examples:

The NationalFoundation forTeachingEntrepreneurship(NFTE) teaches thefundamentals ofbusiness to more than4,000 low-incomekids a year. Itsbusiness model istypical of all theyouth entrepreneurialprograms.

The NAACP recentlylaunched its $1million Reginald F.

Lewis Youth Entrepreneurial Institute,which helps young entrepreneurs writeand implement business plans.

Under the slogan, "It's dough money,not dope money," Champs CookiesYouth Entrepreneurship Society trains60 African-American children a yearhow to manufacture and market theiredible products in the nation's capital.

On the surface, these programs seem highlybeneficial, but after a closer look, questionsarise about the lessons being taught.

W H A T P R O D U C T S A N D S E R V I C E S A R EC O N S I D E R E D ?

Are Black youth taught to produce itemsgenuinely needed by the community, or PetRocks and Saturday Night Specials? The businessproduct used by NFTE throughout its materialsis T-shirt silk-screening. The only importantproduct consideration, according to NFTE, isthat the product "must satisfy a need of the


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consumer," not the many needs of thecommunity.

W H A T E M P L O Y E E P O L I C Y I ST A U G H T ?

When you learn how to be an effectiveentrepreneur, you also learn the importance ofpaying livable wages and giving health-carecoverage to your employees. The NFTE trainingprogram has a section on "ethical businessbehavior," but the focus is on ensuring thatcustomers feel you are punctual, reliable,courteous, and well dressed, and thatemployees do not feel "used" no mention ismade of the role of wages or benefits.

W H O O W N S T H E E Q U I P M E N T A N DM A T E R I A L S ?

Is the ownership local, or is it a branch of Star-Kist Inc. with little commitment to thecommunity? The NFTE entrepreneurshipmaterials teach that: "Businesses come in threebasic legal structures: The sole proprietorship,the partnership, and the corporations."However, the most popular business ownershipstructures in the community cooperatives,municipally owned, and community stock-heldcompanies are not even mentioned.

Too many youth entrepreneurship programsmeasure success by the number of local

companies that become publicly owned, stocktrading companies and the number ofentrepreneurs transformed into millionaires.

This is not good because when a company goespublic the ownership link to a community isusually broken. A dozen thousandaires whokeep ownership of their businesses local are farmore important to the community's well beingthan one millionaire.

Unless an enterprise is anchored to thecommunity through dispersed ownership, itsowners are likely once successful to move tothe suburbs (or, if they are successful, locateoffshore in Mexico, India, etc). When thathappens, of course, the economic multiplierand tax payments no longer benefit thecommunity.

On the other hand, businesses owned bycommunity residents, can become long-termassets for local development. Unlike theirglobal competitors with no ties to place, whotend to flee when labor and environmentalstandards rise.

One of the few National Football League teamsthat has not tried to extort a new stadium orother bribes from the community bythreatening to move if its demands were notmet is the Green Bay Packers a community-owned nonprofit.

T I M E F O R A N E W M O D E L

With the widespread, poverty, homelessness,unemployment, underemployment,unhealthiness and criminality in the Blackcommunity, a new model of entrepreneurshipneeds to emerge. If we seriously want toimprove our situation, we must strengthen ourcollective economic position.

This means working cooperatively. It alsomeans the motive of men becomes increasingthe quality of community instead ofincreasing profit in their pockets. Increasedprofit will come later from the more efficientproduction of literate, healthy and happierBlack people in the community.

The new model is important for severalreasons:

First, it comes from the united efforts of

Streets University, Ikoja, Weed and Seed, localBlack entrepreneurs, community-focusedactivists, and philanthropists.

Second, it addresses the What, How, and Who(quality of community attributes). The newmodel teaches Black youth that fulfilling unmetlocal needs is, by definition, going to be betterfor the community than exporting yo-yos.


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One such program is Urban SEED (SustainableEconomic and Environmental Development),based in Alameda, California, which encouragesits trainees to focus on micro enterprises thatgrow organic food and generate renewableenergy.

Another is the Detroit FarmersCooperative, which operatesseven community gardens andfive neighborhood-basedmarkets, all run by seven youngAfrican Americans, 14 to 16years old. In addition, the HopeTakes Root program in Detroitemploys homeless men to growfood for local meals programs for the poor.

Third, a community that moves toward self-reliance is often rewarded with a highereconomic multiplier. Economists sometimes saythat a community should be indifferent aboutwhether a new business produces $100,000worth of apples for export or $100,000 worth ofapples for local consumption, since eachinjects $100,000 of productive activity into thelocal economy.

However, there is a difference. In both cases,the business realizes $100,000 of sales and re-spends it in the local economy. However, in thelatter case, consumers also spend $100,000locally that they otherwise would have had to

spend outside the community to import apples.Every time a community chooses to import anitem it could just as easily make for itself, it isgiving away another piece of its multiplier.

Finally, a self-reliant community enjoys greatertax receipts. Again, the business taxes from the$100,000 exporter and the $100,000 import-replacer are identical.

To satisfy the need for a new model ofcommunity-focused entrepreneurial educationfor Black youth, Spearmangroup, Ikoja, and

Weed and Seed launched Streets University.

Streets Universityis a youth entrepreneurialeducation program taught by experiencedfacilitators with both academic and industryexperience. It consist of six weekly 4-hourclasses, designed to transfer basic businessknow-how , as well as, teach Black youthabout products genuinely needed by theBlack community, treating employees

properly and bringing economic control tothe community. The series includes abusiness-learning workbook that givespractical, hands-on, how-to instructions andemail address for each student. A typicalclass consists of the business lesson, cultural

impact, and workshopand group breakoutsessions.

This article hasdiscussed the need forand lessons learnedfrom youthentrepreneurshipeducation for Black

youth.

In conclusion, a new model of youthentrepreneurship education, Streets University,has been developed. It comes from thecollaborative efforts of Spearmngroup, Ikoja,Unify South Dallas, Black entrepreneurs,community-focused activists, andphilanthropists. The new model addresses theneed for more entrepreneurial education forBlack youth, the What, How and Who qualityof community attributes and moves toward selfreliance.

Please help build a better tomorrow for ourchildren and community by supportingStreets Universitywith your encouragement,sponsorships, and resources.

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Streets University_Growing Our Own Entrepreneurs