A Special Thanks to Some Big Squeezes Who Support Lemonade Day and Youth Entrepreneurship
By Steven Gordon, Lemonade Day National President
“Economic leaders and educational scholars are calling for an increase in initiative, self-regulation, critical thinking, and lifelong learning skills among young people to meet the needs of the growing knowledge economy.’ If we want to be competitive in the global economic arena and maintain our high standard of living, we must rise to the challenge.
As leaders, how can we develop a systemic initiative to keep young people in school, learning academic and work skills effectively — motivated to be productive and engaged in their communities and the larger economy, and developing success-oriented attitudes of initiative, intelligent risk-taking, collaboration, and opportunity recognition? Entrepreneurship education is one answer to this question, and an important tool to help every child explore and develop his or her academic, leadership, and life skills.”
Stephanie Bell-Rose, YES GROUP Chairperson and Managing Director of Goldman, Sachs and Co., and President Goldman Sachs Foundation Thomas W. Payzant, YESG Vice-Chairperson is Professor of Practice at Harvard University Graduate School of Education and Former Superintendent Boston Public Schools, in the forward of Youth Entrepreneurship in America: A Policymaker’s Action Guide published by The Aspen Institute Youth Strategy Group
https://assets.aspeninstitute.org/content/uploads/files/content/docs/pubs/YESG_Policy_Guide.pdf
As the national president of Lemonade Day for 12 months now, I am continuously seeking to learn more about youth entrepreneurship and the caring adults who support this initiative. I am encouraged to see the topic of youth entrepreneurship gain increasingly more attention from such prestigious organizations as The Aspen Institute, the World Bank, The Gallup Organization and many others.
Lemonade Day is all about youth entrepreneurship education – with a lemonade stand serving as the primary teaching tool in a classroom without borders. Over the past 10 years, more than 1 million youth have become small business owners with the help of caring adults. We are laying the groundwork now to register 75,000 youth to participate in Lemonade Day next year throughout the United States and Canada and South Africa.
Today and over the next several weeks, I will focus on a few highlights of the Lemonade Day National City Director’s Conference that was held recently in Houston. For now, I want to thank in a big way some “Big Squeezes” who participated in our conference. These companies and their ambassadors have stepped up to support our mission of “Building the Future and Stirring Up Success.”
True Citrus
David Schleider, CEO and Founder of True Citrus, was the keynote speaker at the conference. He shared his journey as an entrepreneur and introduced us to his company and his products. True Citrus will be spearheading Lemonade Day in Baltimore, Maryland in 2018 and will supply free products to Lemonade Day cities. True Citrus packets are portable, high quality and healthy so please try them if you haven’t already done that!
https://www.truelemonstore.com/
First National Bank Texas & First Convenience Bank
Amanda Stephens, Fort Hood City Director, delivered a presentation on effective ways to approach banks for sponsorships. Amanda is the Vice President of Community Engagement at First National Bank Texas & First Convenience Bank. She explained bank Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) requirements that may be fulfilled by Lemonade Day. I was pleased and honored to award Amanda the inaugural Lemonade Day President’s Award for her contributions to the Killeen-Fort Hood Area. She has established a strong and impactful Lemonade Day program at Fort Hood that was the inspiration behind a new national program to expand Lemonade Day to additional military bases throughout the country.
Gloo
Another special presenter was Devon Kline of Gloo, a technology company based in Boulder, Colorado that believes in helping non-profits better engage with their audience. Gloo will support us in attracting and engaging caring adult mentors -- which is a huge focus for us now, next year and for the foreseeable future.
And these are just a few of the Big Squeezes that we will be spotlighting over the next several weeks. All of us who are passionate about Lemonade Day and youth entrepreneurship are extremely grateful for the support of these and many other companies, community groups, churches, schools, parents and other individuals for their role in making Lemonade Day the successful program it is now – and the even more successful program that it is becoming.
About Lemonade Day
Founded in Houston in 2007 by Michael and Lisa Holthouse, Lemonade Day is a non-profit organization dedicated to teaching every child across North America the business and financial skills that are the key ingredients of entrepreneurship. By learning these skills early in life, children will be better prepared to be successful, financially healthy adults. Through our fun, hands-on program, youth in primarily grades K-5 are empowered to start their very own business—a lemonade stand—and experience the feeling of earning real money using 100% of their profit to spend, save and share based on their own goals.
Lemonade Day is in 62 cities throughout the United States. Over the past 10 years, we have served more than 1 million kids. Visit LemonadeDay.org to learn how to participate in Lemonade Day in your city!
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By Steven Gordon, Lemonade Day National President
“Economic leaders and educational scholars are calling for an increase in initiative, self-regulation, critical thinking, and lifelong learning skills among young people to meet the needs of the growing knowledge economy.’ If we want to be competitive in the global economic arena and maintain our high standard of living, we must rise to the challenge.
As leaders, how can we develop a systemic initiative to keep young people in school, learning academic and work skills effectively — motivated to be productive and engaged in their communities and the larger economy, and developing success-oriented attitudes of initiative, intelligent risk-taking, collaboration, and opportunity recognition? Entrepreneurship education is one answer to this question, and an important tool to help every child explore and develop his or her academic, leadership, and life skills.”
Stephanie Bell-Rose, YES GROUP Chairperson and Managing Director of Goldman, Sachs and Co., and President Goldman Sachs Foundation Thomas W. Payzant, YESG Vice-Chairperson is Professor of Practice at Harvard University Graduate School of Education and Former Superintendent Boston Public Schools, in the forward of Youth Entrepreneurship in America: A Policymaker’s Action Guide published by The Aspen Institute Youth Strategy Group
https://assets.aspeninstitute.org/content/uploads/files/content/docs/pubs/YESG_Policy_Guide.pdf
As the national president of Lemonade Day for 12 months now, I am continuously seeking to learn more about youth entrepreneurship and the caring adults who support this initiative. I am encouraged to see the topic of youth entrepreneurship gain increasingly more attention from such prestigious organizations as The Aspen Institute, the World Bank, The Gallup Organization and many others.
Lemonade Day is all about youth entrepreneurship education – with a lemonade stand serving as the primary teaching tool in a classroom without borders. Over the past 10 years, more than 1 million youth have become small business owners with the help of caring adults. We are laying the groundwork now to register 75,000 youth to participate in Lemonade Day next year throughout the United States and Canada and South Africa.
Today and over the next several weeks, I will focus on a few highlights of the Lemonade Day National City Director’s Conference that was held recently in Houston. For now, I want to thank in a big way some “Big Squeezes” who participated in our conference. These companies and their ambassadors have stepped up to support our mission of “Building the Future and Stirring Up Success.”
True Citrus
David Schleider, CEO and Founder of True Citrus, was the keynote speaker at the conference. He shared his journey as an entrepreneur and introduced us to his company and his products. True Citrus will be spearheading Lemonade Day in Baltimore, Maryland in 2018 and will supply free products to Lemonade Day cities. True Citrus packets are portable, high quality and healthy so please try them if you haven’t already done that!
https://www.truelemonstore.com/
First National Bank Texas & First Convenience Bank
Amanda Stephens, Fort Hood City Director, delivered a presentation on effective ways to approach banks for sponsorships. Amanda is the Vice President of Community Engagement at First National Bank Texas & First Convenience Bank. She explained bank Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) requirements that may be fulfilled by Lemonade Day. I was pleased and honored to award Amanda the inaugural Lemonade Day President’s Award for her contributions to the Killeen-Fort Hood Area. She has established a strong and impactful Lemonade Day program at Fort Hood that was the inspiration behind a new national program to expand Lemonade Day to additional military bases throughout the country.
Gloo
Another special presenter was Devon Kline of Gloo, a technology company based in Boulder, Colorado that believes in helping non-profits better engage with their audience. Gloo will support us in attracting and engaging caring adult mentors -- which is a huge focus for us now, next year and for the foreseeable future.
And these are just a few of the Big Squeezes that we will be spotlighting over the next several weeks. All of us who are passionate about Lemonade Day and youth entrepreneurship are extremely grateful for the support of these and many other companies, community groups, churches, schools, parents and other individuals for their role in making Lemonade Day the successful program it is now – and the even more successful program that it is becoming.
About Lemonade Day
Founded in Houston in 2007 by Michael and Lisa Holthouse, Lemonade Day is a non-profit organization dedicated to teaching every child across North America the business and financial skills that are the key ingredients of entrepreneurship. By learning these skills early in life, children will be better prepared to be successful, financially healthy adults. Through our fun, hands-on program, youth in primarily grades K-5 are empowered to start their very own business—a lemonade stand—and experience the feeling of earning real money using 100% of their profit to spend, save and share based on their own goals.
Lemonade Day is in 62 cities throughout the United States. Over the past 10 years, we have served more than 1 million kids. Visit LemonadeDay.org to learn how to participate in Lemonade Day in your city!
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