 EYE for Change There is Power in Youth Entrepreneurship!  |
 Maryland Students Learn What It Takes to Start and Run a Business MD Daily Record 7/31/09
By Maria Zilberman Publication: The Daily Record (Baltimore, MD) He's not old enough to vote, drive a car or hold a summer job, but 12-year-old Chris Miller already has a career plan."I'm going to start my own business. I sort of already have the business plan worked out," said Miller, a seventh grader at the SEED School of Maryland, a college preparatory public boarding school in Baltimore. His business, he said, is going to help older generations with computers, providing tutorials on how to use them and keep them virus-free.. Miller and 24 other students, ages 9 to 16, attended Youth Business Builders, a six-week summer program that ended Friday. The program is part of Engaging Youth Entrepreneurs for Change, a nonprofit founded in 2005 by Morgan State University graduate Natasha Cross, 26, to teach Maryland youth entrepreneurial, financial and leadership skills. The program's sponsors include M&T Bank Corp. and the Entrepreneurial Development and Assistance Center (EDAC) at Morgan State. "No one ever said to me, 'When you grow up, you can be an entrepreneur and this is how you become a successful one,'" Cross said. Now she is trying to do just that. Entrepreneurship education is growing in importance because of the recession, said Mary Ann Hewitt, executive director of the Maryland Council on Economic Education. "Kids in this age range are certainly trying to figure out how they can turn their skills, [such as] babysitting, dog watching, into ways to help the family survive in this economic climate. That wouldn't have been true three years ago for the masses," Hewitt said. The campers learned how to create a budget and resume, write a check and deliver a 30-second sales pitch, Cross said. They also participated in a stock market simulator, learned how to network during a trip to Arundel Golf Park in Glen Burnie and did a community service weeding project at Herring Run Park in Baltimore. "As entrepreneurs, you're in business to make money, but also it's important to give back," Cross said. The money came at the end of the camp during the closing ceremony. The campers, who spent a large part of the summer working in teams to create a social networking Web site and a business plan to make it a reality, were competing for a $500 team prize. On the second- to-last day of the program, they dressed in their interview-best and pitched their ideas, complete with a financial plan, print advertisement and PowerPoint presentation. Cross and Omar Muhammad, director of EDAC, selected the creators of mytaybo.com, a site where users make an avatar character, play games and chat with friends, as the winners of the business plan competition. Taylor Brown, 16, a 10th-grader from High Point High School in Beltsville; Justice Ibeawuchi, 12, an eighth-grader from Sudbrook Magnet Middle School in Pikesville; Taylor Buckson, 11, a seventh-grader from Sudbrook, and Jaylen Bolden, 10, a sixth-grader from Woodholme Elementary School in Pikesville were on the winning team. "We like virtual Web sites, so we decided, 'Why not?'" Bolden said. "We wanted to do this for people who are getting made fun of in school, so they can make friends in a safe environment," he said, adding that users would not be allowed to use curse words. The kidrepreneurs also took a trip to JA BizTown in Owings Mills, a real-world simulator complete with businesses and elected officials, and worked with Randallstown-based Little Hands Cookie Co. After choosing a recipe and creating a marketing campaign, they went door to door, taking cookie orders. The real-world work came with a real-world reward: 30 percent of the profit. Sylvia Umegbolu, 13, a ninth-grader at Parkville High School, won the camp's participation award and a $51 cash prize. Umegbolu is already putting what she's learned this summer to use: "I'm going to put my winnings into a bank account," she said. Baltimore YouthWorks Pairs Teens With Jobs Examiner 6/10/2008 BALTIMORE - Kia Curry filled out several job applications but no one called her for an interview, killing her dreams of saving money for a car. At 15, Kia knows her lack of work experience doesn’t help.But this summer, she’ll be raking in the money. She’s one of 6,800 Baltimore teens who will get minimum-wage summer jobs through YouthWorks, a 16-year-old city program that celebrated its largest number of participants this year. Hundreds of teenagers gathered Monday at Morgan State University for the start of the program, which pairs kids with jobs in hospitals, government offices, nonprofits, retailers, churches, colleges and restaurants. The young job seekers, ages 14 to 21, will learn their six-week, 30-hour positions before starting June 23. Brothers Antwan Bolden, 15, and Anthony, 17, want to work so their grandmother won’t have to buy them shorts and school clothes. Jerad Jenkins, 17, has worked the past two summers in the city’s departments of transportation and sanitation, washing trucks and picking up trash. He hopes to land another summer job at one of the two agencies so he can help with house repairs and school expenses. “I have to help my mother out,” he said. Business professionals and Mayor Sheila Dixon told students Monday to learn from their jobs, parlay them into part-time, year-round positions and to use them to make contacts. “Don’t take this experience for granted or just take it for a paycheck and extra money,” Dixon said. “Look at this as an opportunity to decide what you want to do in life.” Catching the Spirit of Enterprise Baltimore Sun July 22, 2008 Baltimore summer program gives taste of business Forget working at the mall, life-guarding or filing paperwork. For 30 Baltimore students, their summer job is about finding their entrepreneurial spirit. And many of them believe that getting paid to craft a business plan is not a bad way to spend a summer. "I wish this was a real job," said Tamia Jones, 17, a rising senior at Northwestern High School. Jones and other classmates are becoming budding entrepreneurs through a new component of the city's summer employment program, which secured jobs for more than 6,500 students this year. Students in the entrepreneurship program are learning the ins and outs of running a business, networking, leadership skills and financial literacy. Like their counterparts in other jobs, they work 30 hours a week for six weeks, earning $6.55 an hour. The program ends Aug. 1. After supporting the YouthWorks program for many years, Colgate-Palmolive selected Baltimore as one of two cities to participate in the company's youth entrepreneurship initiative. (Atlanta is the other.) Colgate and Stop, Shop and Save supermarket donated $30,000 to establish the summer workshop at Morgan State University. Along with the 30 YouthWorks students, more than a dozen other students signed up for the program and are paying tuition. "It's really nice," said Raquel Suber, 15, a rising sophomore at Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, which is part of the YouthWorks program. "When I first came, I said I'm coming to school for the summer, ugh. But we learned how to be the boss and do our own thing." Advocates of entrepreneurship education - which has been on the rise across college campuses in recent years - are reaching children as young as kindergarten to instill characteristics such as teamwork and problem-solving skills, said Bonnae Meshulam, president of Junior Achievement of Central Maryland. Natasha Cross, founder of Baltimore-based Engaging Youth Entrepreneurs (EYE) for Change, which is running the camp-like program, says entrepreneurship is not just about business ownership. It's about creating a can-do attitude among youths that encourages critical thinking, creativity and innovation. "A lot of our young people have career aspirations to be criminal lawyers, doctors, and that's great," said Cross, 25, a Morgan State graduate. "Whatever young people want to do, we want to support them. We want to make sure they have an entrepreneurial attitude and mind-set. They know how to contribute to the bottom line of the company, they understand the inner workings of management when it comes to running a company, they know how to create new ideas and ways of doing things." It's a message that's getting across to students. Shawntay Whitney, 17, a rising senior at Vivien T. Thomas Medical Arts Academy, wants to open a restaurant and catering business to complement her love of cooking. "They're teaching us things we don't learn in school," she says. Innovative Educators Practical Money Skills for Life April 2009Innovative ideas and programs are what turns information into learning. Meet our innovative Educators – educators who have found new ways to teach practical money skills in the classroom. As a high school student, Natasha Cross had no idea what she wanted be, what field she wanted to end up in. What she did know was that she wasn’t going to work for someone else. She was going to be the boss. Today, as the sole paid employee at a nonprofit organization that works to empower Baltimore youth, Natasha has certainly achieved her goal. Not only is she the founder and Executive Director of EYE (Engaging Youth Entrepreneurs) For Change, she’s frequently the office secretary and at times one among many volunteers. It started in her sophomore year of college at Baltimore’s Morgan State University when Cross and a couple of friends, finding that they had a lot of time on their hands, decided to revive the Entrepreneurial Society, a Morgan State club that had been defunct for the previous 3-5 years. Natasha spent the second half of her four years at Morgan State as the Vice President and President of the Entrepreneurial Society, working closely with entrepreneurs and small business owners in the Baltimore community to bring free entrepreneurship workshops into the local schools. In 2005 as graduation loomed, Natasha still had no idea what she wanted to do after college, but her Entrepreneurship Society experience had planted a seed. She knew that she would like to continue to teach young people about entrereneurship, and she hit upon the idea of a conference. "I tried to come up with something that would be fun and at the same time educational for kids, and the first thing that popped into my head was a field trip! What could be better than a field trip to a college campus where kids could see what the educational life was like and learn about entrepreneurship!" So with a shoestring budget and word-of-mouth marketing, Natasha coordinated the very first EYE For Change Conference. It took place in April 2006 during her senior year, in a swelteringly hot campus building where roughly 200 young attendees spent a day in a variety of entrepreneurial-themed workshops. EYE For Change has since evolved from a single conference to a nonprofit organization committed to developing Baltimore’s youth into future business leaders. The annual conference in April is very much the centerpiece of the organization, but it has expanded to offer a variety of workshops in the areas of entrepreneurship, financial literacy, and leadership. EYE For Change also runs a 6-week summer camp for youth that features guest speakers, leadership activities, field trips, and a community service project. Outside of the annual conference and summer camp, Natasha Cross finds herself busily running an organization that regularly engages students in after-school financial literacy programs and brings speakers into schools and recreation centers twenty weeks out of each school year. Natasha got into entrepreneurship because she had a lot of time on her hands. She’ll be the first to tell you that she no longer has that problem. Learn more about EYE For Change at www.eyeforchange.org. Baltimore 40 Under 40 Baltimore Magazine July 200840 Under 40 They're smart. They're successful. And they're taking over Baltimore.
By Max Weiss, Ken Iglehart, and Jess Blumberg, with Shawn Bean and Christine Stutz Meet Baltimore's Future "What's Howard County going to look like in 20 or 40 years?" muses Ken Ulman. Good question, Ken. As Howard County Executive, he's going to be playing an active role in determining that future. Ask the same question about the future of Baltimore City or Baltimore County, and look no further than the names on this list for your answers. Our selections for 40 Under 40 are the people we think will be shaping the future of this region. Whether in the field of politics, medicine, art, or business, these are the young folks with the big ideas, the big jobs, and the big where-with-all to realize their visions. Okay, no one has a crystal ball, so we can't say for sure that these young movers and shakers will be the architects of Baltimore in the decades to come. But we sure wouldn't bet against them. 5. Natasha Cross, 24 "I worked in city schools [while in college] and saw all the potential," she says. "They just needed someone to believe in them." EYE for Change runs entrepreneurship, financial literacy, and leadership programs at more than 15 schools and recreation centers throughout Baltimore. Cross has entrepreneurs speak, uses games to teach students about personal finances, and has them create business and life plans. Every April, EYE for Change has a conference where students are awarded for successful business plans (this year, first place went to 20-year-old Marlin Barton for a company that would place digital maps on subways) and a six-week summer camp. Cross eventually wants to teach students about real estate investment and hopes that her organization gets replicated in other cities. "I just want kids to walk away with an entrepreneurial mindset," she says. "So they think outside of the box, go beyond their corner, and realize there's a world out there." Read more at Baltimore Magazine Morgan State Grad Has An EYE for Change March 2009 by b | March 30, 2009 Nike. Adidas. Puma. Milford Mill senior Dominique Fraling loves sneakers. But his dream of turning his sneaker-collecting hobby into a career was just that — a dream — until he encountered Natasha Cross and her nonprofit, EYE for Change, at a city rec center last summer. Now he has written a business plan, networked with stores and hunted for a loan for his sneaker and apparel retailing company, Souls 4 Soles. “I knew I wanted to own a business but didn’t know how to go about it or who to turn to,” Fraling, 18, says. “I’d probably still be working at my old job, thinking about my future instead of actually doing it if I hadn’t heard about EYE for Change.” Turning wishful thinking into reality is what Cross, 25, does, through EYE (Engaging Youth Entrepreneurs) for Change. Since its founding in 2005, the nonprofit has taught financial skills to more than 1,000 Baltimore students ages 9-25. Using an annual budget of just $60,000 — sources range from PNC Bank to Black Men in Charge — Cross has corralled a staff of interns, five part-time volunteers and business owners to visit schools for lectures, workshops and after-school activities. With long brown dreads, a bright smile and an outfit of jeans, T-shirt and hoodie, Cross looks more like a college student than a nonprofit’s founder and president. “Some days you can find me in a $300 suit,” Cross admits, but, “Our office is pretty laid-back. We have music playing, maybe some T.I. or Rihanna. We’re not stiff and stuffy at all.” Cross often punctuates statements with a “Yes, ma’am,” or “No, ma’am.” It’s less a formality than a respectful friendliness showing her relaxed Midwestern and Southern roots. She grants her youth and freshness are part of her success. “When you’re older, people expect that you should know the ropes, but I’m still learning. I think that makes people want to help,” says the Morgan State University grad, whose offices are on campus. “But I also think people are gravitating toward the mission to help all young people — that’s the most important thing. It’s not about me.” It’s not about Cross, yet her personality — determined, driven and compassionate — has helped her reach out to Baltimore’s youth. “She’s definitely on the path to becoming a seasoned power broker. I see her as a leader, someone who the youth relate to,” says LaTasha Vanzie, a board member. “She has an innate understanding of what young people are looking for.” Cross remembers what she was looking for while growing up in Wisconsin. As her parents separated, Cross found her home life nearly unbearable. She started mentoring at a Milwaukee YWCA, helping keep kids off the streets. “I needed an outlet and somewhere to go, just to release and talk to someone,” she says. “They let me help organize activities … I felt really good about helping people.” Looking to the East Coast for college, Cross picked Morgan — and Baltimore. She mentored students in the city while developing her entrepreneurial skills. “I knew that working for a corporation for the rest of my life wasn’t my destiny,” says Cross, whose dad was a taxi driver and whose mom was a social worker. “I wanted to be my own boss.” She quickly began making her mark at Morgan, recalls Yvette Racks, a Morgan administrative assistant and EYE for Change volunteer. Cross sometimes struggled — changing majors and taking a few extra years to get through school — yet, “You could tell that she was on a mission and knew what she wanted.” The mission came together as Cross helped revive Morgan’s Entrepreneurial Society and started planning a business conference her senior year for students — an “overwhelming” project. “We had to think of ways to reach [young people],” Cross recalls. “We wanted to talk about investing money and buying corporate stock, so we talked to them about how to invest their money in Nike stock instead of just buying a new pair of Jordans.” In teaching more than 200 Baltimore pupils to develop business plans, Cross planted the seeds of EYE for Change. Instead of starting a business in Milwaukee, she decided to start a nonprofit and work with students here. “The education system in Baltimore isn’t the strongest it could be,” she says, diplomatically. But, “Getting an education and having the knowledge to achieve your financial goals is a step towards independence.” Rather than traditional classroom techniques, EYE for Change uses hands-on activities, group projects, music and technology. Cross plans to reach more students with a summer camp. She’s working on a guide to entrepreneurship (tentatively titled “Who’s the Boss Now?”) and hopes to expand EYE for Change to other cities. Cross takes time for herself, retreating to her Woodlawn home and playing basketball with friends. But her focus is on helping kids. “She looks at the problems facing youths: the gangs, the behavior problems and drop-out rates, and she tries to figure out what we can do as a community,” says volunteer Racks. “Her passion and her advocacy for our youth makes people gravitate to her. Where there’s a challenge, there’s Natasha.” Jazzmen Tynes, special to b Natasha CrossBorn: June 14, 1983 Hometown: Milwaukee Favorite movie: “American Beauty” Favorite junk food: Chili cheese Fritos Favorite book: “In the Meantime,” by Iyanla Vanzant Favorite sport: Basketball Dream vacation spot: Belize Celebrity hero: Donald Trump YOU CAN HELP EYE for Change Inc. is looking for business owners and others who can mentor students in Baltimore. Natasha Cross "Young Entrepreneur of the Year" Maryland Small Business Administration Award Winner May 2009 |