For adults · Launch League blog
How to support youth entrepreneurship in Northeast Ohio
By Nick Gonzalez, founder, U.S. Air Force veteranPublished
The short answer
Start with one bounded commitment: judge one round, mentor one student over video, sponsor one award, hire one teenager, buy from one teen business, or host one workshop. Work through a program that screens volunteers and keeps contact with young people in open, observable settings, and say yes to more only after the first one goes well.
The one-afternoon start
Don't promise a young person a year of mentoring. Promise one afternoon: one round of judging, one workshop, one honest review of a business idea. Bounded help gets delivered; open-ended promises are the ones busy adults break, and a broken promise teaches a teenager the wrong lesson about adults in business.
How to support youth entrepreneurship in your community: start small and bounded
I sit on a chamber of commerce board and I'm a Rotarian, and the question I hear most from business owners is some version of: I'd like to help young people, but I don't have time to run a program. Good. You shouldn't. The programs exist. What they are short of is adults who will read an entry, show up for an hour, or put their name on an award.
The one-afternoon start is how I'd begin. Pick one bounded thing, do it well, and see whether you want more. Most people who judge once come back. The few who don't have still given a teenager something many never get: a real businessperson taking their idea seriously in writing.
Six practical ways to give back to local youth
Ordered roughly from least time to most.
- Buy from teen businesses. Order the lawn care, the baked goods, the website. Pay on time and give one honest piece of feedback.
- Judge. Read a handful of entries against a published rubric and write feedback each student keeps. A few hours, once.
- Sponsor an award. Put your business's name on a category and fund a prize a student actually receives.
- Host a workshop or career talk at a school, with a teacher in the room: how you price a job, how you hire, what a slow month looks like.
- Mentor. A conversation or two over video about how you got where you are, arranged through a program and with a parent's knowledge.
- Hire. A part-time job or a co-op placement teaches more about business than any course, ours included.
Mentor and judge young entrepreneurs in Northeast Ohio
Launch League is recruiting judges and mentors for its Northeast Ohio competition and for students in Barberton, Akron, Wadsworth, Rittman and Doylestown. Judges score entries on a published rubric and write feedback to each student through the competition, not privately. Mentoring is a conversation or two over video with a student 13 or older, with a parent or guardian's knowledge. Veteran-owned businesses are especially welcome; I served ten years in the Air Force and Air National Guard, and I know how much a veteran's straight answer can mean to a teenager.
Junior Achievement also brings community entrepreneurs into classrooms, for example through JA Launch Lesson, a session led by local entrepreneurs. If you hire, a part-time job for a teenager is one of the most useful things you can offer.
Sponsor an award in Northeast Ohio
The Northeast Ohio competition has a goal of ten awards in ten categories, each paid for by one sponsor. No sponsors are confirmed yet, and an award counts only once its sponsor has agreed. Sponsoring names a category, and every complete entry gets written feedback from a judge, whether or not it wins.
If your Rotary club, chamber or business would rather fund a single category than a whole program, that is exactly how it is set up.
Safe mentoring basics in Ohio
Ohio schools and many youth organizations require volunteers who work with young people to have a civilian background check from the Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI), run through the Ohio Attorney General's WebCheck fingerprinting, sometimes with an FBI check as well. Ask the organization which check it needs before you start. Launch League may ask for a reference or a background check before you speak with anyone under 18.
Keep every interaction observable and interruptible, the standard the U.S. Center for SafeSport uses for adults working with minors: another adult can see it and can step in. Meet in public or over video with a parent nearby, copy a parent on messages, never drive a student alone, and route everything through the program.
A checklist for your first month
One afternoon, then decide.
- Pick one way to help from the list above, and only one.
- Sign up through a program, not directly with a student or family.
- Complete whatever screening the program asks for, before any contact.
- Do it, and write down what you would change.
- Ask one other business owner to do it with you next time.
Questions
Quick answers
- Do I need business experience to mentor a young entrepreneur?
- You need experience of work, not necessarily of owning a business. Tradespeople, managers, bookkeepers and retirees have exactly what teenagers lack: knowing what a real working week looks like. Programs match you to what you know.
- How much time does judging a youth competition take?
- For Launch League, a few hours once, reading a handful of entries against a published rubric and writing feedback. Other competitions vary, so ask for the exact time before you agree.
- Can a business sponsor just one award?
- Yes. Launch League's awards are sponsored one category at a time, so a business can put its name on a single award rather than fund a whole program.
- Is volunteering with a youth program tax deductible?
- Don't assume so. Launch League is a company, not a charity, and sponsorship is not a donation. Ask your accountant about your own situation.
- What if I can only help online?
- Judging is done remotely, and mentoring conversations happen over video. Online help is still subject to the same safeguarding rules: through the program, with a parent's knowledge.
Plan your next step
Want a written plan for your year?
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Sources: Ohio Attorney General: Background checks (BCI and WebCheck) · USA Volleyball: the U.S. Center for SafeSport's Minor Athlete Abuse Prevention Policy · JA USA: programs, including JA Launch Lesson. Coaching is not therapy, medical, legal or financial advice.