New York City Council Expands NFTE Youth Entrepreneurship Education Program In City Schools.

NEW YORK -- The New York City Council has awarded the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) a $510,000 grant to expand youth entrepreneurship education in New York City schools to every city council district. This is the first City Council initiative of this kind in the United

The program expansion will train 51 teachers throughout New York City and support the implementation of a NFTE youth entrepreneurship program in cooperation with the New York City Department of Education. The program is being implemented now and will reach over 1,000 students.

NFTE is an international nonprofit organization that teaches entrepreneurship to young people from low income communities so they can become economically productive members of society. NFTE's entrepreneurship education curriculum teaches students the business skills they need to start their own small business, while reinforcing basic academic skills. Founded in 1987 by Steve Mariotti, former New York City public school teacher, it originally began as a dropout prevention and academic performance improvement program for students who were at risk of failing or quitting school. Today, NFTE has grown into a comprehensive business education program in 41 states and 14 countries with more than 120,000 graduates.

Through this initiative, Council members will 'adopt' a local school and will participate in a number of ways, including introducing the NFTE curriculum through classroom appearances as a guest speaker or judge at a student business plan competition.

"The Council's goal is to give young people the skills and confidence to unlock their true potential so they can improve their lives and their communities," said Council Member Robert Jackson, Education Committee Chair. "Many of our neighborhoods are filled with creative and inspired young people who just need help finding their talents. By exposing these students to entrepreneurship, we expand their capacity, unleash their creativity, increase their school and community leadership and encourage their individual growth.

"We want these young people with great talent to have every opportunity to pursue personal and professional success beyond the classroom," said Council Member David Weprin, Finance Committee Chair.

"We applaud the City Council's bold leadership to the country by its commitment to promoting this innovative education program partnership with NFTE that will help prepare students to become productive members of tomorrow's workforce while providing them with the skills and opportunity to have an experience of owning and operating an entrepreneurial business," said Michael Caslin, CEO of NFTE.

The Council initiative marks the first time in NFTE's history where an entire City Council embraced the concept of bringing the curriculum into every City district.

The announcement comes at a time when interest among young people in owning and operating a small business is growing. A series of Gallup Polls found that nearly seven out of 10 youth (aged 14-19) were interested in becoming entrepreneurs. Additionally, research conducted by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation shows that more than four out of 10 kids ages 9-12 say they would like to start their own business. Among the most commonly cited reasons for starting a business in this age group were to "follow a dream" and "help other people."

Furthermore, compelling evidence from researchers at Harvard University indicates that youth who are taught about entrepreneurship show a positive change in attitude and strong success orientation, and are more likely to be focused on academic and professional achievements and aspirations and leadership.

The study, conducted on behalf of NFTE, provides compelling evidence of the positive benefits youth entrepreneurship programs can have on school engagement and future orientation. The findings reveal that compared to a group of their peers, students enrolled in entrepreneurship education programs:

--Demonstrated a 32 percent increase in interest in attending college (comparison group interest decreased by 17 percent)

--Showed a 44 percent increase in occupational aspiration (comparison group increased 10 percent)

--Increased independent reading by four percent (comparison group decreased four percent); and

--Increased leadership behaviors as measured by the likelihood of students taking initiative and leading in business, arts, and sports activities outside of the class by 13 percent

"These findings reinforce our founding belief that youth entrepreneurship programs are particularly effective at keeping students from underrepresented backgrounds on track academically while at the same time serve as a powerful catalyst and force in driving them toward high achievement and leadership in the classroom and in the marketplace," Caslin said.

About NFTE

The National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (www.nfte.com) is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization, whose mission is to teach entrepreneurship to young people from low-income communities to enhance their economic productivity by improving their business, academic, and life skills. Since 1987, NFTE has reached over 120,000 youth and trained more than 3,700 Certified Entrepreneurship Teachers. Currently NFTE has active programs in 31 states and 13 countries.