Metro Augusta businesses are being invited to join a local nonprofit organization for a workshop targeting a unique type of student.
Cura Community Outreach, Inc. is preparing to launch The Power of YEP (Youth Entrepreneurship Program). While organizations offer workshops and boot camps to introduce students to opportunities in cyber and technology, YEP wants to reach the students who want to create the next wave of businesses.
“We can educate and train our youth to become entrepreneurs, and the biggest reason I’m focusing on that is to be able to help our youth by having something positive that they can work towards and achieve,” Dr. Yolanda Jackson, founder and president of Cura, explained to ABD, adding that it will provide an opportunity for them to support their community.
“Because if their businesses are successful, they can hire within the community. They will be putting money back into the communities that they grew up in,” she said.
YEP is a 12-week program to find the entrepreneurial spirit in young minds. It will provide students with practical business knowledge, financial literacy, and leadership skills. It is being offered to middle and high school students, ages 12-18, from across Metro Augusta.
“Each week, each module, we’re focusing on something different,” explained Jackson. “The first module, we will be focusing on the entrepreneurial mindset, what that means to have that, and then the final week, week 12, is when we’re going to do what we call the pitch, and this is where the students will pitch their idea, their business idea, to a panel of judges.”
There is no cost to students who want to join the workshop. Jackson simply asks that they make the commitment to attend the 12-week program to its conclusion.
“Every week as we go to a different module, they are building their actual business plan,” she said. “But I think what makes my program different is that we are going to fund the actual startup of that student’s business. There will be funding available for the top three pitches, and we’re going to do a 12-month follow-up after that to ensure that they started their business, and we’re going to match them with mentors.”
The 12-week workshop will begin in January 2027. In the meantime, Jackson said there are opportunities for local businesses to be involved.
“We are offering this free, so if they want to provide us with some sort of funding. But we’re also looking for business owners that want to be mentors to these students,” she said.
We’re looking for business owners to be instructors as well. The instructor for each module will have the freedom to add something to the curriculum. I am really looking for businesses, community leaders, churches, anybody that wants to get more information about this program.”
Jackson has a broad understanding of what young entrepreneurs face as they step into the business world. She is the Director of Procurement for the City of Augusta and helps individuals and businesses navigate the process of government contracts.
She started her non-profit organization to reach young people at the grassroots level.
“At Cura Community Outreach, we believe that sustainable community change begins when people are given the knowledge, the resources, and the support to create opportunities for themselves and others, and that’s what we’re all about. We’re all about trying to do that,” she said.
Registration is underway at www.yepempowerment.org. Business and community leaders interested in participating can find more information on the website or by emailing info@yepempowerment.org.
