Page 163 - 1-Entrepreneurship and Local Economic Development by Norman Walzer (z-lib.org)

152 Craig Schroeder

a 24/7 networked world, youth may not spend enough quality time with
adults who can help them figure out who they are, how the world works,
and what their role can be in society. What is the impact on a teenager who
is never asked to be involved in their community or does not receive sup-
port and encouragement from an adult, especially in difficult times? Adults
can be very important in the lives of youth by making time to be positive
role models—to listen, encourage, guide, and support young people.
There likely are adults locally who want to be role models and mentors
to young people, and for present purposes, young entrepreneurs. They may
be successful business owners or civic leaders who had a mentor in younger
years and want to give back by helping a young person experience what they
did at an early age. Perhaps it is a retired teacher who wants to stay involved
with students and has great skills as a mentor. Maybe it is a pastor, a grand-
mother, the mayor, or perhaps it is you!

TYING THE PIECES TOGETHER

Thus far, the roles of schools, the community, and adults in supporting
young entrepreneurs have been discussed. But to be most effective, each
component must be interconnected in ways that help young entrepreneurs
develop their skills, knowledge, and confidence to the point where they can
create a successful business enterprise or contribute their creativity and pas-
sion through a nonprofit organization or in public service.
If a young person is involved in an entrepreneurship class at school and
has the dream to start a business but perceives that the community does not
support young people or even encourages them to leave, the logical re-
sponse may well be, “I want to start my own business, but I will need to
leave this community to do it.”
Conversely, what if a community involves youth in civic leadership and
service roles but does not expose them to potential career opportunities?
The logical response may be, “I really like this community, but there are no
jobs here, so I guess I’ll need to find another community in which to live.”
But, what if we interconnect entrepreneurship education, civic leader-
ship, and service roles with adult mentoring? The response of more young
people might be, “This is a great community with lots of potential and peo-
ple who support me. I want to go to college and maybe see the world, but
when I am ready to settle down, this is where I want to be!”
The following diagram illustrates the relationship among the elements
being discussed. It ties together the interrelationships of engaging, equip-
ping, and supporting young entrepreneurs through education and career
development, youth involvement, and community support of youth (fig-
ure 8.1).