Statistics: Why Youth Entrepreneurship Education is Important Today

The time is now to invest in the next generation of youth. And the Little Green Money Machine (LGMM) will help you do it. Given today’s post recession economy, it is imperative that we change the way we’re doing things, and the sooner the better.

It is important to be aware of the trends happening with our youth today, and to learn how to prevent them. How are our nation’s youth being prepared to enter the new global economy? How are they being prepared to enter a new corporate America where jobs are no longer a guarantee for high school grads and even college grads? Knowing that the desire is out there for youth entrepreneurship, it’s our responsibility as a society to provide youth with the tools and guidance they need to take charge of their own futures and have a beneficial impact on their local communities. If America is to retain its position in the globe as the #1 leader in innovation, we must promote youth entrepreneurship.

Teachers, professors, educational leaders, academia, government officials, and parents should push for it to become core curriculum in K-12 education. We need a new generation of adults leaving high school and creating small businesses and jobs, versus looking for jobs from corporate America and handouts from the government.

We are entering a new age: The Age of the Entrepreneur. Are we preparing our youth for it?

• Every 9 seconds, a student in America becomes a dropout, totaling about 1.2 million teens becoming dropouts annually. (Education Week)
The Little Green Money Machine (LGMM) is an interactive learning system that teaches kids how to start their own business using a proprietary business stand and interactive book that motivates kids to learn. Benefits include improving high school graduation rates, increasing parental involvement in learning, and providing positive yet engaging peer activities, not to mention learning the value of earning, saving, and spending their money.

• 81% of dropouts said they would have stayed in school if the subjects were more relevant to real life. (NFTE)
Every aspect of the LGMM can be tailored to a variety of educational programs, from high-risk students who require a different learning style to stay engaged or perhaps more hands-on opportunities, to gifted students who need an extra challenge. All the students in between will also benefit from this system as it provides a fun way to learn. That boring math class becomes a lot more meaningful to kids when they are now counting the $50 in revenue they made last Saturday and after deducting $15 for expenses realizing they made $35 profit. Now Math seems FUN!

• 75% percent of state prison inmates are high school dropouts. (Alliance for School Choice)
The number #1 motivator for youth propensity to commit crime is income or desire for money and/or material things. The LGMM will teach kids how to earn and save their own money in a positive way, by setting goals, starting their own business and earning money as a socially responsible entrepreneur. The #2 motivator for youth propensity to commit crime is peer pressure and lack of parental supervision after school. The LGMM system gives kids a positive group activity to engage in with their peers and/or classmates during school and after school. This after school activity will be a positive peer pressure factor amongst kids as they compete to earn money in the marketplace and have fun with their friends while doing it.

• Gallup studies show 7 out of 10 high school students want to start their own companies.
Only 25% of high school graduates know the definition of the word entrepreneur. Most don’t have any idea how to start their own business, nor do they know it is even possible. The LGMM takes out the mystery, gets rid of the black box. And in fun and simple way. The goal is to expose our youth to experiencing entrepreneurship. You cannot simply read about entrepreneurship, you must practice it, in stages. Both successes and failures take us to the next level. This learning system works regardless of socioeconomic status, background, parental involvement, and personal challenges that student has faced or is currently facing.

• Gallup studies show that less than 25% of high school students are offered a business or entrepreneurial course by the time they graduate.
This is pretty scary considering that only 25% of all high school students go on to earn college degrees. Who is preparing the other 75% of high school grads that don’t go on to college for the real world? It certainly isn’t our K-12 system. The LGMM youth entrepreneurship system motivates kids to learn, improves high school graduation rates, increases parental involvement in learning, and provides positive yet engaging peer activities. Setting the foundation EARLY so they don’t have to wait for the school system to create a course, as they already have the knowledge. They are then also being prepared for the real world, as well as for our post recession world where jobs may not be readily available. Our youth will gain the confidence to create their own jobs, make their own money and most importantly understand the value of money. Our current K-12 system and even most of our prestigious colleges are missing the boat on this thing we call entrepreneurship.

Impact on the Economy

On the national level, the economic role of The Little Green Money Machine and teaching kids about youth entrepreneurship the value of money is growing.

The politicians and media love to talk every night about hot topics such as "unemployment”, “recession woes”, “lack of jobs and unemployment rates”, “ why America is losing many positions due to outsourcing”, etc. But they fail to bring up the obvious solution to these economic issues. We can change the future of America by simply educating our youth on how to become effective entrepreneurs. It is small businesses that create 75% of all new jobs. So if it is jobs you are looking for, then encourage and educate our youth how to become job creators vs. job seekers.

• A 2006 article published in Economic Perspectives, a journal of the U.S. Small Business Association, reveals that less than 9% of Americans work for Fortune 500 companies today, compared with 20% in 1980.

• Microenterprises, defined by annual revenues below $1 million, represent 90% of the businesses located in the poorest areas of the 100 largest U.S. cities and 53% of them are run out of the home. These microenterprises represent 15% of the U.S. economy!

Impact on Youth

Gap in K-12

Even more importantly, our youth want to learn these skills and currently do not have the opportunity in school:

o Gallup polls have found that nearly 70% of youth aged 14-­‐19 and more than 40% aged 9-­‐12 are interested in becoming entrepreneurs!

o According to a 2007 poll by Harris Interactive, 55% of today’s youth feel that individuals help make their community a better place, with 32% attributing small businesses as positive examples and 22% citing big business.

o In a 2007 survey by Visa, 91% of respondents said they supported requiring general financial education in every high school in the country. Currently just 15 states have any sort of requirement for high school students.

Urban Youth

• Urban youth with an entrepreneurial frame of mind are better equipped to handle the local and national challenges they face in today’s world of work.

Minorities

• A 2004 Business Week article points out that “although minorities represent roughly 27% of the U.S. population, minority owned outfits represent just 14% of U.S. businesses,” indicating a need to educate minority youth about entrepreneurial opportunities.

The Little Green Money Machine and Youth Entrepreneurship: Filling a Critical Education Gap

“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.”
                 - Harvard Graduate School of Education/ National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship

Life Skills: Young people are taught personal, professional and financial skills they will utilize for the rest of their lives. Goal setting, visualization, financial literacy, brainstorming, problem-solving, project management, teamwork, determination, the feeling of accomplishment that comes from planning a project from an idea to completion, and all the steps in between.

Academics: Young people experience a real-world application of important skills. Not 10 years down the line in corporate America, but right here, right now, in the neighborhoods across America and the World. English, Math, Social Studies, and Civics are viewed through the entrepreneurial lens as highly effective tools for business development.

Self-Sufficiency: Youth recognize and discover the possibilities that lie within. They are provided with the framework to achieve, to do, to think, and to dream. Laying the groundwork for the possibility of working for themselves instead of for someone else. In a tough job market, they can rely on their own ability to generate income.

Community Leadership: Entrepreneurial thinking helps youth identify community needs and recognize that they have the power to provide solutions of both personal and public benefit.

Goal Orientation: 32% increase in interest in attending college and 44% increase in occupational aspiration, demonstrated in the Harvard study cited above.

Brain Retain!: Entrepreneurship invests youth in their city as a place that they are excited to work, live and grow in, countering America’s “brain drain” epidemic.

Community: The Little Green Money Machine product line provides kids with viable financial options to discourage illegal means of making money, which translates into reduced crime and a boost to the local economy. We all do better when we all do better.

The Little Green Money Machine is here to help you equip your kid, tween, teen, student, or youth group with the skills necessary to succeed in life. Our goal is to prepare the next generation to become more innovative, confident, self-aware, and create their futures, regardless of socioeconomic status or background. This LGMM book and proprietary business stand does this in a fun, hands-on way.