Ja’bez provides a Young Entrepreneurs Training Program (YETP) which contains a written and a computerized model, both designed for an individual to launch his/her own business and to assist him/her in developing a strategic business plan.

Goals

The goals of the YETP are to generate economic opportunities for anyone in which entrepreneurship becomes a viable employability option for them while also contributing to economic growth within the community.

The Need/Rationale

It is a fact that a growing number of individuals struggle with debt on a daily basis, YETP is a financial literacy program that will teach how to avoid getting caught in the cycle of debt and insolvency.

As a result, the YETP curriculum could become an integral part of the public, private, alternative, parochial and charter schools’ educational offerings which at present includes part of the state’s core curriculum components, namely, the 21st Century Life and Careers; Language and Literacy; and the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) disciplines.  Scientifically, it is necessary for the entrepreneur to understand the behavior (how the brain works) and assess the health implications of the consumers of any product before production and marketing.  Additionally, the entrepreneur studies people and societies as expressed through researching trends and marketing strategies, then uses technology to further explore the data collected from this research to make critical business decisions that will have a positive impact on the community.  Computer technology software applications are used to generate the business plans and spreadsheets necessary as supporting documents.  Engineering is used for product development and product design.  Mathematic concepts are applied when analyzing algorithms to determine economic patterns and spending habits as well as generating budgets and financial reports.

The core curriculum offered is also consistent with all major content areas including English Language Arts and offers college and career readiness within its core learning objectives. Students incorporate English Language Arts by writing proposals and business plans and apply career readiness skills by setting up specific health benefits for family and/or employees.

In short, entrepreneurs are motivated, inspired, and empowered by pursuing goals to become profitable and use what they have learned to improve their surrounding community making this a program that is both academically enriching and socially responsible.

Supporting Research

“Statistics show an unacceptable number of United States students fail to develop academic, social and citizenship skills necessary to compete and succeed in today’s economy.”

“Small businesses (having fewer than 500 employees) drive the United States’ economy?   Small businesses provide jobs for more than half of the country’s private workforce.  The Small Business Administration (SBA) revealed that during 2001-2002, small businesses with less than 20 employees increased employment by 853,074. The “Office of Advocacy funded data and research shows that small businesses represent 99.7 percent of all firms.  They create more than half of the private non-farm gross domestic product, and they create 60 to 80 percent of the net new jobs.”

'Based on research by the United States Census Bureau (2006-2008 American Community Survey), of the 72.6 million youth (ages 18 and under), 70.3 million are living below poverty level. Nearly 6.2 million students in the United States between the ages of 16 and 24 in 2007 dropped out of high school, igniting the release of a report titled "A Persistent High School Dropout Crisis."  Nearly one in five men between the ages of 16 and 24 (18.9 percent) were dropouts in 2007.  Even when young people do not drop out of school due to academic underperformance, they come out of school reading below the eighth grade level.  Institutional failure has put current and future generations at risk of social unrest and decay.  Additionally, this age group is the most vulnerable for violence, crime, substance abuse and gang exposure.'

Former President Barack Obama’s Commitment to
Small Business Job Creators

While facing the highest unemployment rate the United States has experienced in almost three decades, President Barack Obama, reached out to entrepreneurs during his 2010 State of the Union address and later began to move them toward the center of his economic recovery plans.  He outlined a series of steps to encourage small business to craft new jobs:  $33 billion in tax credits for hiring new workers and $30 billion in low-interest loans (from the troubled Asset Relief Program) intended to spur community banks to lend to small business.

Solution

Ja’bez’s premiere educational offering, the YETP, teaches many alternative options to making a living other than just through the traditional ways.

These alternatives provide the student with the encouragement and incentive to believe in their own capabilities and in how, ultimately, these abilities combined with hard work and proper business and academic literacy will make them self-sufficient.  This program also aims to prevent future generations from the devastating cycle of poverty.

Based on the belief that our country was built on entrepreneurship, where everyone dares to dream, works hard, pursues this dream and contributes to the country’s all-inclusive good, YETP teaches the benefit of capitalism, our government’s foundation.