About NFTE
Background
In 1994, NFTE opened its doors in Washington, DC with a 2-year seed grant from the David H. Koch Charitable Foundation. In the past 13 years, NFTE Greater Washington has grown from reaching 200 students to providing over 15,700 youth with the life and entrepreneurial skills needed to become active members in our community.
Who we are
NFTE’s mission is to provide entrepreneurship education to young people from low-income communities to enhance their economic productivity by improving their business, academic, and life skills.
NFTE’s strategy for achieving this mission:
- Partner with schools, universities, and community based organizations
- Create innovative and experiential curricula
- Train and support teachers and youth workers
- Provide supportive alumni services
Our Programs
NFTE has served over 15,700 students in the Greater Washington, DC area with the NFTE award-winning “mini-MBA” curriculum of 80-100 hours of classroom time programming. In addition to using the curriculum, students can receive seed capital to launch their companies; have a NFTE trained and certified entrepreneurship instructor; and write and defend a basic business plan. Top students compete locally and nationally through NFTE Region wide and Nationwide Competitions.
A Proven Model – Research
NFTE has partnered with Harvard Graduate School of Education and most recently Brandeis University. Harvard Graduate School of Education conducted a study with a sample size of 312 students, 158 NFTE and 154 comparison students. The data collected indicated that youth entrepreneurship programs may be particularly effective at keeping students from low-income backgrounds on the academic track and can be a force in driving them toward high achievement and leadership. The findings from data collected from the NFTE students and comparison students proved that there was a 32% increase in college and job aspirations from the NFTE students after completing the course.
NFTE’s guiding principles in pursuit of it’s mission:
- Entrepreneurship can be taught. The NFTE experience helps nontraditional learners, and those at-risk, to develop their individual skills and talents.
- Entrepreneurship connects young people to school, community, and the workplace. The NFTE experience involves hands-on, interactive learning that is relevant to the real world.
- Entrepreneurship empowers young people from low-income communities. The NFTE experience helps young people explore new opportunities and build a vision for their own future.
