This year, in collaboration with the Housing Authority of the City of Annapolis, the Maryland Reentry Resource Center started an Entrepreneurship Club at the Eastport Terrace community in Annapolis. The club was so successful that MDRRC is starting to teach entrepreneurship skills at several juvenile detention centers. These clubs give kids access to mentors, resources, and ideas that help them explore a variety of career paths, including starting a business of their own. Through their involvement in Entrepreneurship Club, they learn about the boundless opportunities that are before them.
MDRRC director Vanessa Bright is determined to break the school-to-prison pipeline by introducing at-risk youth to the life-changing opportunity of entrepreneurship.“For far too long America’s poor have been criminalized by intersecting systems that impact low-income individuals at all levels, including the school-to-prison pipeline, chronic nuisance orders, public housing shortages, anti-homelessness ordinances, claims of welfare fraud, and inadequate mental health systems.
Imagine if we exposed our youth to career opportunities and mentors in those careers, to entrepreneurs and other successful people, not just the ones they see on television that only represent a small percentage of successful people. The exposure I had as a kid helped me to dream, to set goals to imagine all the possibilities out there in this big world that were there for me to take hold of. MDRRC not only wants to eradicate recidivism; we want to stop incarceration in its tracks, and we can do this by eradicating the school-to-prison pipeline.”
Please come out and support the Inaugural Youth Entrepreneurship Fair. The event will provide an opportunity for youth to showcase their products and services to the public. The event will be held on Saturday, May 8 from 11 am to 2 pm at Susan Campbell Park located at Annapolis City Dock. Please bring plenty of cash and see what these young businesspeople have to offer. Currently planning to be selling:
- Makayla’s Snack Shop
- Frosty Cones
This event is sponsored by Severn Bank.
