EYE FOR CHANGE

ENGAGING YOUTH ENTREPRENEURS FOR CHANGE

2015 SPONSORSHIP PACKET

DREAMS

Gabrielle, owner of Jewelz of Jordan, sells

her handmade jewelry at #EYECON.

About EYE for Change

Engaging Youth Entrepreneurs for
Change is a youth led 501(c) (3) not for profit
organization dedicated to empowering youth
to transform their lives and communities
through entrepreneurial skill building.

History
In 2005 as graduation loomed, Natasha
Muhammad, Founder of EYE for Change, still
had no idea what she wanted to do upon
graduation. Throughout undergrad, she
volunteered at local high schools teaching
kids entrepreneurship. This experience
sparked her idea to create her own business
to continue teaching young people
entrepreneurship. #EYECON, the annual
youth entrepreneurship conference, was the

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2009

perfect way to engage the youth in

entrepreneurial skill building, something that
was not being taught in the classrooms.
"I tried to come up with something that
would be fun and at the same time
educational for kids, and the first thing that
popped into my head was a field trip! What
could be better than a field trip to a college
campus where kids could see what the
campus life was like and learn about
entrepreneurship!"
In partnership with the Entrepreneurial
Development and Assistance Center (EDAC)
at Morgan State University, #EYECON is
embarking on its tenth year. #EYECON has
become a staple among the Baltimore and
surrounding communities, providing youth
with much needed exposure and skill building
to start their own businesses.
1

Quick Facts
2007
Structure
501c3
Funds Awarded to Youth
$35k
Average # Youth Served p/yr. 567
Founded

Mission
Empower and prepare youth to become
competitive in a global economy through
entrepreneurial skill building.

#EYECON

The Premier Youth Entrepreneurship Conference

Thursday, May 7, 2015 8:30am - 2:00pm
Overview
Objective
The objective of #EYECON is to
encourage youth to pursue
entrepreneurship as career option and
employ an
entrepreneurial
attitude to excel and
remain competitive in
the workforce.
#EYECON is a play
on the word icon
and EYE conference. Youth will be
challenged to be the image and
symbol of excellence in
entrepreneurship. We will infuse
Science, Technology, Engineering, and
Mathematics (STEM) with
entrepreneurship.
The innovative workforce of the
future will require our young people to
demonstrate skill and expertise when
pursing careers in STEM and
entrepreneurship. Our aim is to make
sure youth understand the importance
of STEM and pursue entrepreneurial
endeavors in the field.
This year marks the ten year
anniversary of #EYECON.

starting a business, making smart

decisions with money and developing
leadership skills.

Marketplace
At the marketplace, hundreds of
students will have the opportunity to
interact with various vendors and real
youth entrepreneurs. This allows
students the opportunity to network,
ask questions and be inspired by their
peers who have already started their
own venture. Vendors and exhibitors
will display their products and services
for the duration of the conference.
*View the entire #EYECON agenda at

WORKSHOPS
Money Trees
Here students compete in a mini
business plan competition and put their
ideas to the test. Students gather their
friends to form their company,
compose a mini business plan and
pitch their ideas to investors. The teams
with the best pitch and business plan
will win cash prizes.

www.eyeforchange.org

Luncheon
The luncheon is the culminating
segment of the conference. All
participants will gather in the main
ballroom for delicious food, talent
showcase of local student artists, prizes
and giveaways. The winners of the
Money Trees workshop will be
announced at this time too.

Workshops
#EYECON features eight one hour
workshops. All workshops run
simultaneously. Students can choose
three workshops to attend during the
conference. Our workshops focus on
2

Round of APP-LAUSE
Students love to play games. Whether
its Candy Crush or Minecraft. Here
students are challenged to be the
creators of apps and the audience will
give a Round of APP-LAUSE for
participants that build the next mobile
application. In this workshop, students
learn how to create, build, publish and
sell apps.

The Facts
The Most
Entrepreneurial of All
Text Messages
Our audience spends more time with
electronics than with people; one in
three teens sends more than 100 text
messages a day, or 3,000 texts a
month.

OUR AUDIENCE
The Build My Own
Generation
EYE for Change speaks to urban
middle and high school students. These
students are the purveyors of technology
and music, fashion and lifestyle on a level
that defies logic. They have spent their
entire lives with the world wide web. Their
lives are played out on the internet with
the likes of Twitter, Instagram, Vine, Kik,
Snapchat and Tumblr. They hang out in
the mall at retail shops and are at the
forefront of all the trends.
Our youth are highly connected, as
many of this generation have had lifelong
use of communications and media
technologies such as the World Wide
Web, instant messaging, text messaging,
MP3 players, mobile phones and
YouTube. High school students are
powerful consumers and are connected to
whats new. They are the voices of the
neighborhood, the world and the earliest
adopters of new products.
Generation Build My Own prefers
texting, according to The Marketing Spot.
In fact, this generation receives more than
3,000 texts on a monthly basis. Mobile
video is also important to this generation,
with teens in our demographic watching
twice as many videos on mobile devices
as any other group.

Seek and Ye Shall Find

This generation is adept at locating
information. This is also a generation that
knows how to handle things on their own.
More than three-quarters would like to
convert their hobbies into full-time jobs.
Almost as many, even though they are still
in school, want to be entrepreneurs in the
future.
The idea that anyone can be
anything motivates our young people to
explore non-traditional career paths,
particularly in entrepreneurship and startup businesses. They grew up in an era of
easy social networking, and they have
witnessed people who made names for
themselves seemingly out of nowhere.
They have seen people make YouTube
videos that propel them to fame (Justin
Bieber, Michelle Phan), apps that gain
millions of hits through social media
(Flappy Bird, Snapchat), and trending
hashtag campaigns that create tides of
change in across the world (Ferguson
2014, Hands Up, Dont Shoot and I Cant
Breathe)
What is their greatest strength is also
their greatest weakness; their ability to
connect via technology threatens to
supersede their ability to appreciate realworld experiences.

Graduation
61% of high school students would
rather be an entrepreneur instead of
an employee when they graduate
college.

Building My Own
Due to high youth unemployment rates
60% of African-Americans and 59%
of Latino respondents say they are
most likely to work for themselves later
in life.

$23M Strong
This group birthed between 1994 and
2010 represent 25% of the US
population

$43B Spending Power

They spend more money on food and
drinks than anything else, and their
favorite eatery is Starbucks. Nike is
their top clothing brand, followed by
Forever 21, American Eagle, and Polo
Ralph Lauren.

Demographics

Gender

Household
Income

Ethnicity

Age

53%

$41k

90%

10 -13

Male

Median

African
American

Middle School

47%

$24k

4%

14 - 18

Female

Average

Caucasian

High School

Heres a snapshot of the Build My Own

generation.

5%
Hispanic/Latino

1%
Asian

Schools Represented
Public Charter
Baltimore City College High
Baltimore Leadership for
Young Women
BDJ STEM Academy
Brooklyn Park Middle
Calvert Hall College
Carver High
City College High
Community College of Baltimore
Crofton Middle
Digital Harbor High
Edgewood High
ElevE Baltimore
Featherbed Lane Elementary
Forest Park High
Glen Burnie High
Glenmar Elementary
Hamilton Elem./ Middle
Kenwood High
City Springs
NACA II High
New Era Academy

Grades 5 - 12
Mergenthaler High
Newtown High
Milford Mill High
Northwestern High
Northwood Elementary
Old Court Middle
Patterson High
Powhatan Elementary
Regional F. Lewis High
Roland Park Elem/Middle
Sankofa Homeschool Collective
Sudbrook Middle Magnet
The Money School/
Chasing the Dream Summer Camp

The SEED School of Maryland

Towson High
Trinity Lutheran
Unselds
Patterson High
WEB DuBois High
Western High
Windsor Mill High
And many, many more!

Likes & Comments

Participants share their
thoughts on #EYECON

95%
of participants said the conference
taught me things on entrepreneurship,
money, and leadership that Im not
learning in school and/or at home.

First place winner Crate shows

off his product, exclusive Nike
shoes sold through his
website.

Our Leaders
Skill Building
Interpersonal Skills
Students learn how to network with
others and build relationships based
on mutual interests and experience.

Critical Thinking

#EYECON COMMITTEE
Its Yours
#EYECON is youth-led and youthdriven. EYE for Change supports the
youth voice and input in all our
programming. We believe that the youth
we serve should be the ones to decide
what we deliver to youth. Our committee
members range in age from 10 years to
18 years. They attend various schools in
the Baltimore area.

The Members
Kayla McDaniel, Mergenthaler High
Christopher Miller, Seed School of MD
Kaire Swan, Featherbed Elementary
Michael Smith, Trinity Lutheran
Raquel Hamner, Glen Burnie High
Erin Hamner, Brooklyn Park Middle
Michaela Smith, Edgewood, High
TChelle Thomas, Towson High
Jordan Hopson, Seed School of MD
Morgan Hunter, New Town High

The Planning
Every second Saturday of the month,
the #EYECON committee convenes to plan
the annual entrepreneurship conference.
During these monthly meetings, the
committee shares its ideas on workshops,
themes, activities, food, prizes, and
giveaways. They call potential vendors
and sponsors, promote the conference
across their social media platforms and
secure volunteers and presenters. Finally,
the committee leads the program during
the conference, welcoming and facilitating
the main events in the ballroom.

Students learn to evaluate information

to determine whether it is right or
wrong. They think critically about an
issue or a problem and consider
alternative ways of looking at
solutions. This helps them make
judgments and come to their own
conclusions independently.

Communication
Students practice how to give and
receive information and
convey their ideas and opinions. The
committee participates in public
speaking and writing letters to special
guests and sponsors.