MINDING OUR BUSINESS:

A MODEL OF SERVICE-LEARNING AND MENTORING FOR URBAN YOUTH

Background

Minding Our Business is a community outreach program of Rider University’s College of Business Administration in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. The program was developed in 1997 by Dr. Sigfredo A. Hernandez out of his concern for low-income urban youth. The purpose of Minding Our Business is to advance the personal and vocational development of urban youth through entrepreneurship education and mentoring. Minding Our Business operates four programs--the Service-Learning Program, the Summer Program, the Advanced Program, and the Xtreme Program. Since 1997 MOB have trained and mentored more than 800 Trenton middle school students, ages 11-14, in starting and running their own businesses. 

 The goal in 2007-2008 is to double the size of MOB in Trenton. The goal in 2009 is to expand MOB to other urban areas in New Jersey and across the US.  The key to the expansion in 2009 is the availability of college students willing to participate in this great service-learning experience.

The MOB Service-Learning Program

The MOB Service-Learning Program is in its eleventh year of operation, and its success has attracted media attention at the local, regional and national level. The Service-Learning Program is an after-school program that serves an average of 100 students each year at partner middle-schools in Trenton, New Jersey. The students participate in twelve 90-minute training sessions and a one day community market fair.  Three Rider University students are assigned to mentor a group of seven to twelve middle school students in team building, leadership, communication, and entrepreneurship skills. The mentors receive 16 hours of intensive training and spend over 30 additional hours mentoring during the program.  In addition, student mentors receive three academic credits as part of a service-learning course, Minding Our Business.  

The Field Experience. Under the guidance of their mentors, who facilitate the 13 session curriculum, each student team develops an idea for a new business.  Each team then prepares and presents a business plan to the MOB Advisory Board for approval and feedback.  The MOB Advisory Board is composed of community and business leaders.  The board grants loans of up to $200 to each student team's business based on the merits of its presentation.  Next, the student teams execute their plans and manage their businesses at a community market fair.  As part of the project, student teams and their mentors also set aside a day to visit successful entrepreneurial firms in their communities.  They meet with the firms' CEOs to learn how their businesses were started and how they operate. Below is the program roadmap with the 13 session curriculum.

Minding Our Business Roadmap

Session 1 – Building  a Team I

Sessions 2 – Building a Team II

Session 3 – Introduction to Entrepreneurship

Session 4 – Selecting & Naming Your Business

Session 5 – Pricing and Promoting Your Business

Session 6 – Advertising that Works

Session 7 – Your Business Plan

Session 8 – Business Plan Presentations

Session 9 – Getting Ready for Market Fair

Session 10 – Market Fair

Session 11 – Sharing Successes and Challenges

Session 12 – Visit to Trenton Area Businesses

Session 13 – Reflection and Next Steps

The Training. The mentors receive 16 hours of training at a weekend conference for the purpose of: learning their role as mentors-facilitators, becoming familiar with the MOB curriculum, and getting to know their co-mentors. The key objective of the training is for mentors to learn their roles as mentors-facilitators. As facilitators they are expected to provide inner-city students opportunities for meaningful participation. These students then become the key actors in the learning process. They, and not the mentors, are the ones making the key business decisions: selecting a business, naming it, and deciding how to market and run it.  The mentors are the guides on the side. Through these opportunities for meaningful participation students can further their development.

When the program is part of a service-learning course, class time can be used to supplement the training conference by allowing students to reflect about their experience, develop plans to improve their performance, and improve their ability to apply key mentoring, entrepreneurship and team concepts at the mentoring sessions.

The MOB Service-Learning Program can also be replicated without the need for a service-learning course component. In addition to the three-day mentor training conference, a one day follow-up conference would be required for the program to be effective. The absence of class-time requires follow-up training to deal with implementation issues and problems and to allow participants to reflect about their experience. Also, a field coordinator is needed to oversee program implementation and to deal with concerns and issues of mentors and students.  

The MOB Service-Learning Program Works!

Scientific research conducted on students outcomes support the assertion that MOB is an excellent model for mentoring and service learning in entrepreneurship of young urban adolescents across the US. Research indicates that students in MOB become more interested in going to college and in starting their own businesses. Students participating in MOB observe positive changes in self and improvement in important work/life skills. Research on academic records data indicates that MOB participation reduces school absenteeism and tardiness. MOB also improves self-esteem among participating students. This research appears in “Minding Our Business: A Model of Service-Learning in Entrepreneurship Education,” published in the 2006 Fall issue of the Journal of Entrepreneurship Education.

MOB Impact on Mentors

Since 1996-1997 more than 250 Rider University students have mentor teams of Trenton students through the process of starting and running their own businesses. Mentors’ reflections and end-of-program surveys provide evidence of a great learning experience and of the positive impact of MOB on their personal and vocational development.

Most mentors characterize MOB as a great learning experience that cannot be compared with what is learned in other college courses. Mentors indicate experiencing significant learning about: self, the children, team and mentoring skills, and entrepreneurship. They report that MOB helps them prepare for the world of work, and that they would recommend MOB to their best friends.

This is what mentors in the program have to say about the quality of their learning experience.

“MOB is not like any other class offered, so what do you have a comparison on?  This class is based around a life changing program.”

“The MOB program definitely prepared me for the world of work because it gave me confidence in myself, a confidence that I haven’t had for the past two years.”

“I will definitely recommend this program to my friends because I think that every college student should have an experience like this since is so beneficial both ways."

MOB favorably influences mentors’ vocational interests. The majority of the mentors plan to do more community service and express a greater interest in working with kids in the future. Mentors clearly express an increased desire to include service to others in their career plans. A significant number of mentors also experience a greater desire to start their own businesses because of MOB. Through participation in the program mentors sample the process of starting and running a small business with their students which increases their interest in entrepreneurship as a career. MOB also helps mentors to understand poverty and to appreciate cultural differences.

This is what mentors in the program have to say about the impact of MOB on their personal and vocational development.

“I learned that I’m capable of helping others… that I have some things in common with all the children … I am definitely not the same person that I was at the beginning.”

“The skills that I learned at MOB I will carry with me to other aspects of my life. … I learned team work and the actual meaning of mentoring.

© Copyright Minding Our Business, 2007