The fact that entrepreneurs are the primary source of work place innovation, wealth creation and job generation for the US economy is well known. The many adult-focused education, training and enterprise assistance programs that are now part of comprehensive community development plans provide strong evidence regarding the value of the small business sector to the national—and to Michigan’s—economic well-being.

But the belief that youth entrepreneurship education programs are a critical part of those comprehensive economic development plans is far less applied in local communities—especially at the K-12 level. While excellent examples of undergraduate entrepreneurship programs are evident across the country, there is an urgent need to better link those programs to the middle and high school entrepreneurship education systems, plus to the wide variety of neighborhood and community-based organizations that specifically serve at-risk, low income and minority youth in our communities. That linkage will be accomplished only by the purposeful development and sponsorship of those programs by a representative, collaborating group of advocates who believe in the stake that entrepreneurship education has in the long term viability of our communities. That need to create a “pipeline” of entrepreneurs is based on the reality that “there should be an infrastructure of lifelong learning from elementary school to the golden age, based on the simple principle that it is never too early or too late to be an entrepreneur…The aim is to create a large and diverse pool of people across a spectrum of entrepreneurial motivations, of which there will flow a steady stream of high achievers with an interest in creating jobs and wealth in their communities”( Dabson, 2001; Dabson & Marcoux, 2003).

Integrating entrepreneurship across the entire system that impacts our youth and building a network of sustained community support for those programs are the primary issues addressed by GenEI. As Michigan continues to deal with the current poor economic conditions accentuated by mounting losses of manufacturing jobs and a general recession, the time is now for the us to better recognize the value that the small business sector plays in addressing our long term economic well-being. Concurrent with that urgent call for change is the realization that our youngest generations must be trained and mentored with an entrepreneurial mindset. By constructing and fitting a young entrepreneurial pipeline to the adult small business assistance network, GenEI  directly addresses the requirement that in order to be successful in the global marketplace, our youth and young adults must learn and practice skills that will help them “make a job” not just “take a job.”  The skill set needed to accomplish that goal includes visioning, leading, communicating, listening, problem solving, managing change, networking, negotiating and team building (Dabson, 2001; Sahlman & Stevenson, 1992).

Resistance to entrepreneurship education does not originate from students. Many studies over the last several decades strongly suggest that young people are very interested in starting small businesses and non-profit organizations.  Our own 2007 survey of 150 8th graders showed that 69 percent thought that they are currently or want to be an entrepreneur. A recent study performed by Harris Interactive with sponsorship from the E.M. Kauffman Foundation echoed that finding as 40 percent of nearly 2400 young people, ages 8-21, reported that they would like to be entrepreneurs. Additionally, two-thirds of the nearly 1000 high school students surveyed as part of a recent study sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation said that they would be interested in learning more about entrepreneurship. But in that same study, only 30 percent reported that they had taken an entrepreneurship course and a significantly smaller group (14 percent) said they had participated in an extracurricular or community program on entrepreneurship (Kourilsky & Walstad, 2007).

Students who do take these types of courses, however, tend to experience a wide range of positive outcomes. In a report to the D.C. Children and Youth Investment Corporation (2001) that focused on the evaluability of that organization’s youth entrepreneurship programs, participants showed improved:

• Academic performance, school attendance and educational attainment;

• Problem-solving and decision-making abilities;

• Interpersonal relationships, teamwork, money management, and public speaking skills;

• Job readiness;

• Social psychological development (self-esteem, ego development, self-efficacy), and;

• Perception of better health status.

The for- and non-profit sectors represent a strong advocate for this type of school-to-work education as well. Statistics show that the vast majority of students do not start a business immediately upon high school or college graduation, even if they experienced entrepreneurship curricula and extracurricular activities (Cleveland & Cleveland, 2006). Knowing that lessons learned and practiced in entrepreneurship courses translate to more highly skilled, adaptable young employees, employers seek out students who possess an intrepreneurial mindset. Employees of the global economy, whether self-employed or who work for others, will increasingly need to demonstrate higher levels of interpersonal skills, leadership, and teamwork abilities (Afterschool Alert, 2007). Those skill sets are directly addressed as part of most existing youth entrepreneurship education programs, including GenEI’s.

Finally, communities benefit from comprehensive youth entrepreneurship programs. Students engaged in mentoring relationships with practicing entrepreneurs at the middle and high school age are more likely to either remain in or return to that community after graduation (Schroeder, Heinert, Bauer, Markley & Dabson, 2006).  The outmigration of our young people, especially at the age when they are starting families, is a trend that continues to negatively impact Michigan by robbing us of the valuable human capital needed to rebuild our great state’s economy.