About YouthBiz

At YouthBiz, our work occurs at the intersection of innovative and entrepreneurial thinking, youth vision and leadership and the need for creative solutions to the challenges facing our community.

Our Mission & Vision
YouthBiz advances the social and economic empowerment of youth through a focus on entrepreneurship, education and community leadership. Our long-term vision is that all youth will have the character and skills needed to become productive, responsible, and fulfilled community members.

Our Roots
During 1992’s “Summer of Violence,” eight inner-city teens and a local community leader started YouthBiz to teach job and life skills to youth from some of Denver’s most underserved communities. YouthBiz has remained true to the founding spirit by providing an empowering peer-to-peer, entrepreneurial-based learning environment. In the nineteen years since the organization’s inception, YouthBiz has served over 4,000 youth and distributed over $1.2 million-dollars through academically enriched after school and summer programs.

The Scoop Today
YouthBiz works with middle and high school aged youth from Denver’s most academically and economically challenged neighborhoods. In 2010, YouthBiz served 457 unduplicated students and invested $160,000 back into local communities through youth incentives and wages. Over 1,000 program applications were received. Over 55,000 hours of training was delivered to participants. For 2011, YouthBiz will enroll and graduate over 500 youth through year-round programs, distribute $185,000 in youth wages and incentives, double paid youth leadership positions in the organization and launch the public phase of a capital campaign to build the Center for Youth Entrepreneurship.