Helping NEO kids learn entrepreneurship

If you don't get your company's health insurance through COSE (the small-business arm of the Greater Cleveland Growth Association), you probably aren't a member and don't get their monthly magazine--which means you may not have heard about this.

The Cleveland School District is opening a new school this summer called E Prep. It's a charter school (i.e., a tuition-free Ohio college prep community school) for 6th to 12th graders who think they want may want to live the entrepreneurial lifestyle. The school offers special preparatory training that will all but guarantee college entrance if the kids do the work and stay through 12th grade.

How do they know this will work? John Zitzner, founder of nonprofit E CITY, said from what he's seen in similar schools on the East Coast, there's no question that all kids can learn. His E CITY has been giving kids after-school lessons in entrepreneurship for the past few years. He was impressed with what an impact the programs were having on kids and realized that more could be done.

If you've got some time, energy, or cash you'd like to contribute to making E Prep a success, contract Tricia Markovic at 440.821.9203 or tmarkovic@theofficeworks.biz.