Combatting Poverty With YEM (Youth Entrepreneur Marketplace)
CAO and community members plan to start YEM workshops and vending in July 2021.
In April 2018, CAO partnered with community members to design the Youth Entrepreneur Marketplace (YEM) to destroy the cycle of poverty among families. Our goal is to assist families with becoming self-sufficient by having workshops and vending opportunities for youth to sell their products.
The YEM was created to teach children from the ages of 5–18 life skills and the entrepreneur mindset. CAO‘s vision is that youth can see themselves on the other side of the counter taking charge of retail, wholesale, and online markets.
In 2018, there were six workshops, eight vending sessions, 25 youth, and 10 parents participated in the YEM program.
In 2019, there were 12 workshops, nine vending sessions, 30 youth, and 10 parents attending YEM.
In 2020, the YEM Kick Off was scheduled for March 28, 2020, with eight workshops planned for the spring, and three workshops during the winter session — 11 workshops in all. However, this all changed because of COVID-19 pandemic. We look forward to starting the program up again soon!
