Entrepreneurship Training

Youth Entrepreneurship
Youths can be exposed to entrepreneurship as an alternative career path that they can explore right out of school or later in their professional careers.

The Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education is a national trade association of state and local providers that champions entrepreneurship education and provides leadership, technical assistance, advocacy, networking, and materials to leaders within each state for entrepreneurship education across all levels of education and disciplines.

National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship
NACCE is a "newly-formed, national organization dedicated to providing a cohesive system of entrepreneurial and incubator education utilizing community colleges as a coalescing force to accelerate the development of new venture creation in America." Founded at Springfield Technical Community College, "NACCE will act as a catalyst for placing community colleges in the forefront of new venture creation. NACCE will be a major channel of distribution for best practices in entrepreneurship and student incubation education at the community college level." Community colleges at all stages of development in their entrepreneurial programs are welcome to participate, and an inaugural conference is scheduled for October 12-15, 2003.

YoungBiz EDGE™ is a national provider of educational curriculum whose three-day course provides instructors with the skills, knowledge, and resources needed to teach youth entrepreneurship in any curriculum or format.

Junior Achievement is a national provider of educational curricula. Through age-appropriate curricula, Junior Achievement programs begin at the elementary school level, teaching children how they can impact the world around them as individuals, workers, and consumers. Junior Achievement programs continue through the middle and high school grades, preparing students for future economic and workforce issues.

The National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship
NFTE is a national provider of educational curricula whose mission is to teach entrepreneurship education to low-income young people, ages 11 through 18, so they can become economically productive members of society by improving their academic, business, technology, and life skills.

Program Links Schools and Communities
The PACERS Small Schools Cooperative is an association of schools that reflect the diversity of rural Alabama. The association's primary program, Better Schools Building Better Communities, is a nationally recognized program of education reform and rural development that links schools and communities.

REAL Enterprises is a national provider of entrepreneurship education and training curricula for youth and adults in schools, post-secondary institutions, and community-based organizations. REAL's mission is to help individuals, schools, communities, and rural America grow through hands-on entrepreneurship education; and to prepare youth and adults to be active, self-sufficient, and productive citizens who can contribute to their community's social and economic development.

Adult Entrepreneurship
Adults can use entrepreneurial skills to start their own companies, or they can integrate those skills into their existing jobs.

• FastTrac® is a hands-on business development program designed to help entrepreneurs hone the skills needed to create, manage, and grow a successful business; and

• The NxLeveL™ Training Network, housed at the University of Colorado at Denver, is a group of organizations engaged in entrepreneurial training and dedicated to developing the best training curriculums possible and sharing best practices among network partners including effective operational, funding, and management strategies.

Business Development
Sources of Funding
Best Practices
Examples of ARC Business Development Projects
Research and Data
News & Events
Education and Training
Spotlight on Business Development Themes
Building and Sustaining a Business
Attracting Financing Sources
State-level Resources