In the past six years, we have written quite a bit about Pathways' collaboration with the Young Entrepreneurship Program (YEP) because it is such an effective and inspirational means for our students to learn and discover their own potential to take charge of their careers and what they choose to be and do in life.  The program is a hands on approach to learning about what it takes to start a project or a business that could become both a livelihood and a source of personal fulfillment.  For young people who are used to thinking about work in terms of low-level jobs in service or retail, encountering adults who own and operate businesses, love what they do, and are eager to share their stories of success and their expertise is an eye-opener, to say the least.

When the YEP began at Pathways-Edgewood in 2008, it was a small pilot project with a handful of students from a single site..It had behind it the enthusiasm and business know-how of the YEP's founders, Kevin Logan and Charlie Grant, and the dedication of Pathways Career Path Program Coordinator Anthony Hamm.  The program had a curriculum designed by the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) that took students step by step from visioning, to finding start-up funds, marketing, and production.  The workshops were led and taught by business professionals and encouraged the students to actually complete a business project of their own.  That year, the students formed a tee shirt company: designing, marketing, producing and selling signature Pathways tee shirts.  YEP was up and running at Pathways, and has never looked back.

This year, 17 students from four Pathways sites will complete the Young Entrepreneurship Program, which has widespread community and independent business support, including six corporate sponsors.  Last year, the YEP initiated a section to emphasize the issues and successes of women in the business world, and five young women students joined the YEP in the second semester.  The section was taught by female business professionals whose engagement and dynamism completely inspired Pathways' young women.  This year is the first full year of the section and eight female students from four sites are participating.

The YEP class focusing on women in business

All this and more will be celebrated at the Annual YEP Luncheon on May 1.  Expected to attend are representatives from a range of area nonprofits and for profit businesses and agencies as well as local officials (including several council members and the mayor of Greenbelt, where YEP bases its workshops and projects), and two Maryland state delegates.

The luncheon will showcase this year's YEP initiatives.  In recent years the YEP has sought to emphasize the use of technology, recognizing that today's cutting edge businesses rely on it for successful communication and marketing.  The young women are producing their own promotional video resumes; the young men are producing a DVD about the importance of finishing school and getting a high school diploma that will be marketed to youth groups: another example of how the YEP is teaching Pathways students about success in business and in life.