WASHINGTON, Sept. 20, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- Riding on a wave of successful momentum, the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship, Greater Washington (NFTE-GW), a nonprofit organization that teaches business, academic and life skills to young people from low-income communities through a highly specialized, experiential curriculum, will be expanding its acclaimed program this fall by adding certified instructors to an additional 15 Metro-area schools and community facilities.
According to NFTE-GW's Executive Director Julie Kantor, the growth of the program is expected to reach over 50% more students than in the 2005-2006 school year, thus "providing more than 1,700 students from Title 1 schools with hope, fulfillment and a winning approach to realizing their life's dreams."
The bulk of this expansion -- 22 of the 37 active sites now offering the NFTE program -- happens across the District of Columbia, with another 11 new sites in Montgomery and Prince George's counties in Maryland and four additional sites in Northern Virginia.
"The NFTE-GW Program Team is incredibly excited to begin the new 2006-2007 school year in order to touch even more of our region's youth," explains Kantor. "Our nation is plagued by the drop-out syndrome. By giving students a practical means of attaining critical skills in mathematics, reading, writing and critical thinking, entrepreneurship provides an alternative pathway. We're thrilled that so many school leaders in the Greater Washington area have accepted the mission of teaching entrepreneurship to these deserving teens."
The NFTE program receives high marks from the teachers trained and certified to teach the curriculum as well as the enthusiastic students enrolled in the program. Research also confirms that the NFTE program has a strong and positive impact on many of its graduates. A study conducted by the Harvard Graduate School of Education indicates that youth entrepreneurship programs such as NFTE are particularly effective at keeping students from low-income urban backgrounds on the academic track and can be a significant force in driving them toward high achievement and leadership.
"Our neighborhoods are filled with talented children who just need help in securing a bright future," says Kantor. "NFTE's goal is to provide young people the skills and confidence to unlock their true potential, so they can improve their lives and their communities."
Felicia Malloy, a teacher from Woodrow Wilson High School in Northwest, DC, recently went through the NFTE training program in order to help her budding entrepreneurial students learn important life skills as they learn how to establish and run a business. "The NFTE program extends an exciting opportunity for my students -- many of whom come from low-income families," she says. "I have already seen first hand how this special program allows students to flourish in their start-up businesses and think outside-the-box in business as well as other areas they can go into." Malloy explains that though she has had only a few weeks of classes with this year's new group of students to date, she can already see how excited the kids are to learn how to build their own companies and to manage their money. "It's already got them thinking like entrepreneurs -- figuring out ways to help their families and the community."
Last month, NFTE announced the launching of new, five-year strategic partnership with The George Washington University School of Business' Center for Entrepreneurial Excellence to provide training for over 35 regional teachers to lead NFTE's entrepreneurship programs in schools in the DC area and Baltimore. Each teacher trained through this innovative program will bring the life skills of entrepreneurship to 40-100 youth next year alone, explains Kantor.
NFTE's relationship with GWU 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. Additional research 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."
"NFTE programs are expanding both in the DC area and in Baltimore," Kantor said. "We have served over 14,000 youth in the region these past 12 years and expect to see those numbers double in the next five years thanks to this partnership with The Center for Entrepreneurial Excellence."
In addition to reaching out to a new prospective crop of youth entrepreneurs, NFTE is also expanding its efforts to offer to support for its quickly growing alumni students. Soon NFTE-GW will be implementing a complete alumni services program which offers advanced entrepreneurship education, access to an online community of NFTE alumni, programming in conjunction with Southeastern University, one-on-one business plan coaching, selling events, and more.
More information about NFTE is available at www.nfte.com, or feel free to contact NFTE Executive Director Julie Kantor at (202) 467-6383.
About NFTE
The National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (http://dc.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 1994, NFTE-GW has served more than 14,000 students locally. Nationally, NFTE has reached some 180,000 and trained more than 3,700 Certified Entrepreneurship Teachers. Currently NFTE has active programs in 31 states and 13 countries.