THE MET CENTER FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP PRESENTS
THE BI-ANNUAL BUSINESS PLAN COMPETITION

Entrepreneurship-360 DRIVES STUDENTS’ PASSION, LEARNING AND SUCCESS AND HOSTS A COMPETITION FOR $4000

Tuesday, January 13, 2009. PROVIDENCE - The Met Center for Entrepreneurship will present the Business Plan Competition on Wednesday, January 21 from 10am to 12noon at The Met’s Public Street campus in the Media & Arts Center. The students of Entrepreneurship-360 (E360) have immersed themselves in the world of business, identified their unique business idea, formulated the ROI (return on investment) and now it is the real deal. Twenty one students presented in-class and 10 plans were chosen to advance to the competition. Up to $4000 of private investment funds will be awarded. Investors, judges, community members and these talented Met high school student entrepreneurs will all gather for the Center for Entrepreneurship Business Plan Competition. The whole campus is buzzing with excitement for this high impact event.

Throughout the nation, economic and business leaders and educational scholars are calling for an increase in entrepreneurial education to teach initiative, self-regulation, critical thinking, and lifelong learning skills among young people. Students in The Met’s E 360 program learn and/or sharpen their skills in the area of work ethic, self-motivation, determination, confidence, perseverance and the ability to take risk.

“We are so proud of all of our students’ accomplishments at The Met. The Business Plan Competition reflects how real-world learning ignites student passion, learning and success, setting them on a course of lifelong learning and pathways to satisfying careers”, said Dennis Littky, co-founder and co-director of The Met and Big Picture Learning. “We connect our students to entrepreneurs, and through E360 they develop the tools they need to be innovators and entrepreneurs in the 21st century.”

The Metropolitan Regional Career and Technical Center, a Big Picture Learning School, uses a learning model embedded in the philosophy of supporting "one student at a time”, through real world learning that focuses on students’ passions and interests.

The Met's Entrepreneur 360 (E360) course is a 60-hour program for students supported by NFTE (National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship) during which they learn about concepts and skills to create and design a business and then as a culminating piece, write a business plan. The preliminary round in class has rendered a group of 8 finalists who have been selected to present their proposals to a group of potential investors at the Business Plan Competition next week on January 21st.

The judges for the morning will include: Professor Barrett Hazeltine, Brown University, Alan Harlem (Director of Social Entrepreneurship, Howard R. Swearer Center for Public Service, Brown University, Jamie Siminoff (entrepreneur and CEO, Phonetag.com), TJ Tetzlaff (coordinator of Youth Ventures at The Met), Chris White (founder and CEO Gamer Graffix) and others. Also sitting on the panel of review is Jodie Woodruff, director of The Met Center for Entrepreneurship and Bill Daugherty, Entrepreneurship-360 Chairman.

The Met students and business plans are:

AC Entertainment - David Valerio 

The Biz, Met Center and Big Picture Learning Merchandise and Clothing - Jamal Rose and Melvin Turcios

Carlino Vending Company - Michael Carlino

Change on the Go - Johnathan Quinonez 

Computer rental - Alex Straub

Cybrid, custom bags and T's - Azriel Cocchini-Beck and Jordan Pimentel

Lundy Gourmet Cookies - Talia Lundy

Mobile Cuts - Carlos Garcia

Red Light Advertising - Jonathan Caines 

Urban Graphics, screen printing and graphic design- Parish Muriel 

WHAT: The Met, Center for Entrepreneurship Bi-Annual Business Plan Competition 

WHERE: 325 Public Street, Providence, RI – The Media and Arts Center

WHEN: Wednesday, January 21st, 10am – 12noon

WHO: Met high school students

WHY: Select business plan finalists to receive investor start-up funds and go on to other business plan competitions for high school youth.

HOW: Supported by The Met, Big Picture Learning, NFTE and Bill Daugherty, Entrepreneurship-360 Chairman.

MORE: First place winners for the in-class round were Michael Carlino and Talia Lundy, who each won $100. The winners (3) chosen on January 21st will move to the sub regional competition (To be held at The Met on May 26, 2009) with finalists from New Bedford, Pawtucket, and the Met School. Three winners will each receive $500. Those regional competition winners will move to Boston for the city-wide competition. Three winners from that competition will each receive $1000. Those winners (3) will move to the National Competition. There will be two National winners receiving $5000.

**more**

BACKGROUND

The Met Center

The Metropolitan Regional Career and Technical Center is a state funded public school district which serves 690 high school students in six small schools across three campuses in Rhode Island.  The locations are: 325 Public Street (South Side) and 362 Dexter Street (West End), Providence, RI and 1 York Street (Tonomy Hill/Newport Heights), Newport, RI. The Met has a 94.1% graduation rate with 75% of its graduates going on to higher education.

Mission - to educate and empower youth through relentless commitment to student-centered learning and personal growth.

Vision - to lead vital change in education and impact our community by producing skilled graduates, lifelong learners, and responsible citizens who enjoy their life and work.

Nancy Diaz Bain, co-director. Dennis Littky, founder and co-director

For more information go to www.metcenter.org

Big Picture Learning

Big Picture Learning is perhaps best known for its innovative school design based on educating one student at a time. Serving underserved, urban students all across America, Big Picture Learning’s high school graduation rate is 92%, with 95% of their graduates gaining acceptance to college. These rates stand out when compared to high school graduation rates for regular public schools in major cities: Chicago – 51%, Denver – 46%, Detroit – 25%, Los Angeles – 45% and New York – 45%.

Currently there are over 60 Big Picture Learning schools throughout the United States, all of which focus on student-centered learning. Big Picture Learning schools are also underway or being considered in Australia, the Netherlands, Ireland, The United Kingdom, Canada, Liberia and Israel.

Big Picture Learning's mission is to lead vital changes in education, both in the United States and internationally, by generating and sustaining innovative, personalized schools that work in tandem with the real world of the greater community. We believe that in order to sustain successful schools where authentic and relevant learning takes place, we must continually innovate techniques and test learning tools to make our schools better and more rigorous. Lastly, we believe that in order to create and influence the schools of the future, we must use the lessons learned through our practice and research to give us added leverage to impact changes in public policy.

For more information go to www.bigpicture.org

Participants and Met School leadership are available for interviews.

Please call Loriana De Crescenzo 401-241-3088 to arrange these opportunities.

Business Innovation Factory 4: Day 2 Wrap-up

Posted by: Emily Pilloton

Core77 Design Magazine & Resource

October 17, 2008

The two-day Business Innovation Factory "conversation" has officially come to a close, the second day another impressive lineup of storytellers and mavericks. Saul Kaplan opened this morning, citing the ongoing theme of "doing, translating ideas into action."Click here to read more

http://www.dlt.ri.gov/youthworks411/newsletter3.htm

The YouthWORKS411 Statewide Youth System held its first Summer Showcase this August to celebrate the hard work of the summer’s youth participants. The Showcase literally gave the floor to the 70 youth exhibitors, and featured nearly 30 participant-created displays that highlighted their programs’ positive impact. Click here to read more

Winners of 2008 Innovation Awards are named

http://www.pbn.com/stories/34876.html
Friday, September 5, 2008
Providence Business News
By PBN Staff

PROVIDENCE – Three organizations and four individuals will be honored with 2008 Rhode Island Innovation Awards in a ceremony to be held later this month at Kirkbrae Country Club. Click here to read more

Summer camp gets youths job-ready

Sunday, August 24, 2008

By Andy Smith

The Providence Journal

www.Projo.com

Journal Staff Writer

Delia Boyle and Rachel Lessing, both 15-year-olds from Bristol, spent part of their summer building a small wooden boat called a Bevins skiff at the International Yacht Restoration School through a program called My Turn. “I liked it because it wasn’t a typical summer job. It wasn’t, like, monotonous. You get to do something different every day.”

Lessing said there were 10 people in the program, eight boys and two girls. They were divided into two teams, and each team built a skiff, which will be raffled off to help pay for next year’s program.

Mia Sounnakhone, 15, and Tiffany Fallin, both of Woonsocket, spent their summers with the RiverzEdge Arts Project in Woonsocket. Brad Fesmire, a former RISD grad student who runs the program, said the RiverzEdge serves about 110 kids annually, helping them explore painting, silk screening, digital photography and graphic design. This summer, about 20 students, among them Sounnakhone and Fallin, were at RiverzEdge as part of the state’s Youth Workforce Development System.

“We pay the kids an educational stipend. We treat it like a job,” Fesmire said. “It’s half art skills, half job skills — and they have a good time.”

Hector Collado, 18, of Pawtucket, was working as a certified nursing assistant for Lifespan Youth Employment, which is run by the Lifespan hospital system. He said the program allowed him to work as a CNA in a hospital setting. When the nine-week program is over, he said, he hopes to get a job at Rhode Island Hospital.

Brandon Melton, Lifespan’s senior vice president for human resources, said the Lifespan system has hired about 28 percent of the 200 people who have participated in Lifespan Youth Employment over the past four years.

Students and representatives from 29 of the programs participating in the state’s Youth Workforce Development System gathered on Aug. 14 at the Buttonwoods Community Center in Warwick to showcase their accomplishments. The International Yacht Restoration School, for example, had poster boards with photos of students building their skiffs. RiverzEdge had displays of student artwork.

There were speeches. There was food. The 54 students on hand all received certificates of accomplishment.

Lori Norris, chief of Youth Services for the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training, said this was the first year the state had held a summer showcase for its youth work force programs. “We wanted to have a chance to celebrate what they learned, and recognize that it’s no small feat,” Norris said.

Norris said about 900 young people, between the ages of 14 and 24, take part in the summer jobs programs financed through the state Department of Labor and Training, with 38 different vendors running a total of 48 summer programs. This comes at a time when teenage employment is hitting historical lows. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the employment rate for teenagers 16 to 19 was about 33 percent in June, compared with about 50 percent in the 1950s.

Norris said that for every young person who found summer employment through the Youth Workforce Development System this year, there were 2.5 waiting to fill each slot.

The young workers get paid for their labor. Norris said participants receive an average of between $600 and $700 each summer. That money, she said, is often needed to help support families, or to buy back-to-school supplies. No matter what the money is used for, she said, the act of earning it can change the way young people regard their money.

“If the money comes from sweat equity, you become more thoughtful about how you spend it,” she said.

Norris said the primary goal of the youth work force system is to prepare people for employment. “This is a work program, not summer camp,” she said. “It’s not just altruistic programming. It gets them focused on the acquisition of skills that will allow them to transition into the work force.”

Norris said there is value in having young workers hear from real employers, and finding out the kinds of careers they like — or don’t like. The latter, she pointed out, can be just as important as the former.

The Youth Workforce Development Program in Rhode Island has grown dramatically since 2005. At that time, the program served 323 young people using a federal grant of $1.5 million. There was one youth center in the state.

In program year 2006 (program years run from July 1 to June 30) the Governor’s Workforce Board decided to expand the state’s youth program, and provided $600,000 for a pilot summer jobs program.

By 2007-08, the program had put together state and federal money totaling $3.3 million. The number of youth centers had expanded from one to seven, and the program served 2,731 people with year-round programs, including summer jobs. In the current program year, 2008-09, the program has already allocated $2.8 million and is in the process of awarding $1.4 million more, for a total of $4.2 million. The number of youth centers has grown to 13, and the youth workforce system will serve at least 4,100 people.

Additional financing comes from the community-based organizations that participate in the state’s Youth Workforce Development System, about $3.4 million in program year 2007-2008 and $4.3 million in 2008-2009.

During her speech at the Buttonwoods Community Center, Department of Labor and Training director Sandra Powell spoke of the transformation of the state’s youth work force system.

As the gathering was breaking up, Keith Scola, 16, and Jean Merlain, 17, both of the Met School in Providence, were taking out a display for the Big Picture Soda Co., a student-run enterprise started at the Met School in 2006 that manufactures and markets soda. Merlain is the CEO. Scola is the chief financial officer. “I know my way around QuickBooks,” he said, referring to an accounting software program.

Both executives wore matching polo shirts with the Big Picture Soda logo on it. Merlain said running the company is a year-round operation. During the school year, he said, they work on Big Picture Tuesdays and Thursdays. In the summers, they’re at it full time, part of the state youth program.

Scola said he has his sights set on Bryant University, and an accounting career, after high school. “My passion is accounting,” he said.