NFTE

March 2011
By J Ezequiel Bronstein

NFTE – The Network For Teaching Entrepreneurship

It is no secret that the future of this city, of this country, and in fact the future of the whole world relies on the shoulders of the youth of today… The kids of today will soon be the leaders of tomorrow.

NFTE’s mission is to provide programs that inspire young people from low-income communities to stay in school, to recognize business opportunities and to plan for successful futures. NFTE is a source for success for those kids that might not have the same opportunities as other kids have.

The story of how NFTE became such a huge organization – literally huge – started in New York City in 1987 when Steve Mariotti, a former entrepreneur started teaching math for a high school in South Bronx and noticed the immense amount of students who did not concluded their high school studies. And so, NFTE began as a program to prevent dropouts and improve academic performance among students who were at risk of failing or quitting school. Soon Mr. Mariotti discovered that low income students’ innate “street mart” + entrepreneurship knowledge = “academic smarts” and “business smart.” The reason being is that low income students can relate what they are learning into real world situations presented in the “hood.”

NFTE’s success became visible and now they operate in 21 states and more than ten foreign countries including Israel, China, New Zealand, India, South Africa, Belgium, Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands with a budget of 15 million dollars per year.
NFTE has an annual contests where students from all around the country show their business plans, first in their local areas, and then at the final in New York City where it all comes down to “which student has the most innovative and better business plan for the $10,000 prize.” The whole process of the competition can be seen in the amazing documentary Ten9Eight: Shoot for the Moon by Mary Mazzio.

Since it was created NFTE has reached nearly 350,000 students around the world… pretty impressive, no?

Some information about me:
My name is Jaime Ezequiel Bronstein, but I go by “Eze” to keep it easy. I was born in Argentina, but raised in Lima, Peru (I lived in Israel after High School for a little while. Also, my family came from Germany and therefore I am German citizen… I consider myself as a multicultural person). I am a senior at USF expecting to graduate in December 2011. I am majoring in Marketing with a minor on Judaism and Social Justice. I think of myself self as someone very creative. Sadly for me what I have on creativeness I lack on “numbers” skills. What I like from my business major is that there is a side of business that can be fun for people who are not strictly attached to numbers or constantly thinking about profits or costs.

Last September, just before going back home for the Jewish High holidays, I ended an internship I had with an environmental friendly store and quit my job at a local movie theater. Up till March I was patiently looking for the right internship opportunity with no luck. But then a classmate from my marketing research class commented that the PSIP was looking for interns. Once I heard the words “this is a business internship for non-profits…” I got really excited and knew this would be a great opportunity for me because I could put in practice both my major and minor.

So far working for NFTE has been a joyful and rewarding experience. The environment of NFTE Bay Area could not be better: first, it is located in the USF campus, right on Masonic Avenue and Turk Street, which makes it very convenient for me because of my familiarity with the location. But most important what makes work at NFTE so special is the people who make it, especially Krista Katsantonis, executive director, and Evelyn Ouano, program manager, and all the teachers and staff involved in current projects.

The main projected I have been working for has been what we call “the digital classroom.” The idea of the project started as to be able to connect classrooms from different high schools and have the students and guest speakers interact via webcams in real time. The project grew into creating a kind of social network for the students in which they could pitch their business ideas for the competition and get advice or comments from teachers and peers; also, as a safe place in the internet where NFTE Bay Area students could get to know each other and share experiences, anecdotes and build friendships.

Working for this project is a rewarding experience because I got to do something I have never done… create a website! We had a Google site in which we had the “digital classroom,” but due to some technical problems we decided to migrate from Google sites to Ning.com, website in which users can create networks. Starting from scratch in the design and figuring out how to use the program was challenging at times, but overall it was entertaining and extremely rewarding.

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April 23rd, 2011

Working as an intern for an organization like NFTE represents much more than just a business internship; it represent the opportunity to get in touch with social issues affecting the way this nation works, but most importantly it represents being part of an organization that makes a statement declaring that kids are the future of this great nation. Staying strong with this belief, NFTE focuses into helping low income high school students by giving them the tools that will ultimately guide them to follow the necessary path for academic and economic success. NFTE’s master plan is not to just help students in need, but to help entire communities by helping their future leaders.

The past couple weeks have been really important for me because I had the chance to personally experienced what NFTE does for the students. I had the chance to interact with students from different high schools in different situations. First, NFTE Bay Area hosted the activity “MBA for a Day” at USF premises; second, I had the chance to go to Castlemont Business and Technology High School to volunteer as a coach and then attend students’ business presentations in front of judges.

MBA for a Day is an activity in which NFTE high school students come to USF in order to experience what a University class is like. In addition to attend a class, NFTE students have the opportunity to interact with USF Business students. For example, this year’s activity started off with a great meal in which NFTE students paired up with MBA students in order to discuss upcoming projects and their businesses ideas.

This is not only important and beneficial for NFTE students, but also for USF students because they get the chance to put in practice theories learned in classes by sharing their knowledge. Students get to talk about academic experiences and life in general, making of this unique opportunity much more than just an academic field trip; they get to bond and in some cases build friendships.

NFTE has three types of volunteer opportunities: guest speakers, business project coaches and business project judges. Going to Castlemont Business and Technology High School gave me the chance to experience the latter two volunteer types. Kandle Fraser, the newest NFTE Bay Area’s team addition – an advocate for better education and students’ rights, and I went to this school in order to accompany USF service learning students to coach NFTE students with their business projects, and then to judge a different class with their final business plans. Coaching these high school students meant a lot to me because I got talk to them and understand – till some extent – where they were coming from, what their dreams are, and the drive they have when planning their business projects. I had to put in practice the knowledge I learned in all my USF business classes when helping the students with their business projects. Students asked really simple question, but also really complicated questions, in which I had to bring my top game and show them that University really pays off with knowledge.  After coaching students we went to see business project presentations. The students had some technical difficulties (the power point format did not work with the projector and they had to present in regular computer size screens); nonetheless, all of them showed passion for their business and commitment to their ideas.

It is no secret that the United States Public High School system is broken, and that students are affected in unimaginable ways. These problems come from different sources such  legislations, stratification of social classes and others. NFTE fights the odds, beliefs and really cares for these low income students, sees the potential they have and the future in front of them. I am proud of being part of an organization that believes in social justice.

For more information please visit – http://www.nfte.com/    and    http://www.nfte.com/what/programs/bay-area

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148 thoughts on “NFTE

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