NFTE provides an entrepreneurship education program to youth in low-income communities.  In May 2003, NFTE opened the Chicago office and successfully launched a partnership with the Chicago Public Schools.  Looking ahead, NFTE Chicago has developed an aggressive growth plan, and aims to reach 13,200 youth by 2010.

Chicago is a major urban center that is a thriving market for entrepreneurs.  The reality of Chicago’s market is that a large majority of individuals will either be an entrepreneur or work for an entrepreneur.  In 2005, there were nearly 111,000 small businesses with 20 employees or less in Cook County, IL.  Given this environment, NFTE, the leader of youth entrepreneurship education, saw Chicago as a natural fit for a program office to help foster and build youth entrepreneurship education throughout the city.   In 2003, NFTE began a partnership with Chicago Public School’s Education to Careers Department to bring a new, highly experiential curriculum to Chicago.  Today, NFTE Chicago has grown this partnership and fostered many others in order to reach as many young people as possible.  In this 2007-2008 school year, NFTE Chicago will support the program in 85 classrooms reaching 2,150 students throughout the city. 

NFTE uses entrepreneurship education as a unique vehicle for engaging youth in school while reinforcing reading, writing and math skills.  Furthermore, students learn about the market economy and how they can play an active role in it.  NFTE students master complex concepts by actively getting out in the real world and doing.   The NFTE student experience involves utilizing a rigorous, reality-based, “mini-MBA” curriculum, field trips to entrepreneurial companies and college campuses, classroom guest speakers, business plan coaches, business plan competitions and summer internship opportunities.  Every student creates their own individual business plan and NFTE supports students who wish to launch their businesses.  NFTE students are quick to recognize the benefits of these new opportunities.

Steve Mariotti, NFTE’s founder, says, “Simply put, the secret is this: Children born into poverty have special gifts that prepare them for business formation and wealth creation. They are mentally strong, resilient, and full of chutzpah…They are comfortable with risk and uncertainty. They know how to deal with stress and conflict. These are the attitudes and abilities that make them ideally suited for breaking out of the cycle of dependency that so often comes with poverty and for getting ahead in the marketplace.” 

The goal of NFTE is to help change “street smarts” into business smarts.  Where NFTE Chicago starts programs is precisely where this transformation must happen.  Eighty-six percent (86%) of CPS school students live under the poverty line in communities that lack significant resources. For example, only 5% of small businesses are located in the Englewood and West Englewood communities of Chicago.  With 4 programs in Englewood, NFTE is working with students to create an entrepreneurial attitude that will help connect students with their schools and communities.  This new kind of education fosters inquiry, creative problem-solving and measurable action.  Students start to think about, “What does my community need and what do I have the ability to provide to my school and neighborhood?” 

 “I cannot imagine a more important and more leveraged thing that we can do to benefit our inner cities than what NFTE is doing. NFTE has the right model. NFTE is not a charity; it is an investment that will have a return. We must support this effort.”  - Dr. Michael E. Porter, Harvard University Business School