Through the Opportunity Youth Forum (OYF), the Forum for Community Solutions (FCS) works with a network of over two dozen urban, rural, and tribal communities seeking to reconnect opportunity youth to employment and education opportunities. FCS looks for myriad ways to create these pathways, which was the basis behind the launch of the Youth Entrepreneurship Fund (YEF) in 2017.
Through funding support from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, YEF responded to the interest expressed by OYF communities and youth leaders in exploring entrepreneurship as a pathway to economic self-determination and wealth-building in low-income communities.
The YEF seeks to promote racial and economic equity by ensuring that youth experiencing barriers to participation in the economy – including youth of color, Native American, and rural youth, as well as youth who are low-income and reside in public housing – are provided with a full range of opportunities to develop an entrepreneurial mindset and skills that can help them thrive in today’s economy, as well as access to tools and resources needed by aspiring entrepreneurs.
A new publication, Creating Entrepreneurship Pathways for Opportunity Youth, co-written with FIELD at the Aspen Institute, examines the potential for using these YEF programs to engage and create pathways for opportunity youth by exploring results from OYF communities that received YEF grants and have entrepreneurship initiatives now in progress.
Mali Linton, 22, worked with Bay Area Community Resources (BACR) and HOPE SF Initiative last year and said the experience allowed her to acquire knowledge she couldn’t have learned on her own.
The focus in the Bay Area provided entrepreneurial education, mentoring, financial literacy training, business development classes, and wrap-around supports to youth residing in public housing, who are among the most marginalized of San Francisco residents and do not have a path into the rich entrepreneurial ecosystem of the city.
"I learned how to be creative and innovative while building my business from the ground up," Mali says. "I’ve also learned that entrepreneurship isn’t for everybody. I had to be comfortable being uncomfortable a lot."
One of the goals of the YEF is to not just teach young people the tools to create businesses, but to use entrepreneurial education to develop skills that can support them in whatever career they choose.
"People starting their own businesses start to feel empowered, they believe in themselves and their ability to take control of their destiny," he says. "I’ve seen entrepreneurship spark excitement in the eyes of these young people, the ability to be their own boss and make their own money goes hand and hand with the street mentality we develop in our community."
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