Abstract

"Black Youth Entrepreneurship (BYE) at Albany State University"

Kathaleena Monds, Albany State Unversity (kathaleena.monds@asurams.edu)

Engaging Black youth in entrepreneurship education is an economic imperative and empowering faculty to find ways to engage these young adults in the entrepreneurship pipeline is essential. A review of existing youth entrepreneurship programs centers on the lives of ‘majority’ youth populations, often white. Programs created for Black youth entrepreneurs focus on exposure, attitudes, and motivations, but opportunities to further explore Black family entrepreneurs and community impact of these programs on HBCU service areas, is absent.

The lack of research on Black youth entrepreneurs between the ages of 13 and 20 from marginalized communities often served by HBCUs misses the opportunity to explore this unique population. The Black Youth Entrepreneurship program at Albany State University was launched in 1981 with the purpose of developing an entrepreneurial mindset among Black youth. The program attracted high school students from 9th-12th grade living in the 27-county service area of Albany State University for a weeklong, summer, intensive. The programmatic focus overlooked and underestimated the research potential about the lives of those Black youth involved, the impacts on the communities from which they come, and the rich legacies of Black businesses to which these students were exposed. Not capturing the program’s legacy is an educational debt.

A reflection via a panel discussion on the participants, businesses, and community outreach of the Black Youth Entrepreneurship program on the lives of those living and operating in marginalized communities serves as a powerful testament to the role that HBCUs play in building communities and educating its citizens. This discussion will allow for others to learn about how Albany State University is positioned geographically, culturally, academically, and socially to address the need for entrepreneurial education through a culturally relevant lens for HBCU students.