Youth & Mentor Program

The New Albany Urban Enterprise Association, Indiana University Southeast School of Business and the YMCA of Floyd County – Floyd County branch joined forces in 2009 to provide mentoring services to Floyd County high school youth interested in exploring the possibility of starting their own businesses.

The program has been designed to provide young people with a combination of concepts and instructional material from a School of Business professor and “real world” experiences from local entrepreneurs.

Sessions include self-assessment of teen interests and abilities, interviews with adult mentors, developing and testing a business idea, group work, hands on activities with marketing and prices, culminating by designing a short business plan.

Workshops are designed to all participating youth an opportunity to think “outside the box,” letting their imaginations soar and explore ides in a nurturing and controlled environment.

The program is designed to operate for five years.

". . . I want to thank you and all the other mentors for your time and effort you have put into the class. It has truly opened my eyes to all the opportunities I have to prepare myself now for the future. Whenever I tell someone I want to go into international business, the normal response is, "Wow you're really dreaming big." Well those people must not understand that with hard work and determination you CAN dream big and those dreams can come true as long as you are willing to work for it. Once again, thank you so much and the class really was eye opening." - Email note from 2010 class member