About Youth Entrepreneur Institute
We create access on purpose.
Talent is everywhere. Opportunity is not.
Youth Entrepreneur Institute exists to open doors that poverty, ZIP code, and limited exposure too often keep closed. Through entrepreneurship, STE(A)M, creative learning, real businesses, paid opportunities, mentorship, markets, travel, and youth-made products, YEI helps young people turn ideas into income, confidence, leadership, and upward mobility.
Putting poverty out of business, one first at a time.
We call them firsts.
A first product. A first customer. A first paycheck. A first savings goal. A first investment. A first passport. A first flight. A first moment of realizing, “I can do this.”
At YEI, those firsts are not accidents. We create them on purpose.
Who We Are
Where creativity becomes opportunity.
Founded in 2015, YEI was created with a clear mission: to put poverty out of business by giving young people access to the tools, experiences, and opportunities they need to shape their own futures.
YEI sits at the intersection of entrepreneurship, STE(A)M, arts, culture, and business. We believe creativity is more than expression. It is a pathway to problem-solving, ownership, innovation, income, and economic mobility.
Our students do not just learn about entrepreneurship from a worksheet. They design products, launch brands, sell at pop-up markets, manage money, explore careers, travel beyond familiar places, and experience what it feels like to be seen as creators, owners, leaders, and problem-solvers.
Creative Economy
What is the creative economy?
Equity
Opportunity should not depend on your ZIP code.
Many young people grow up surrounded by talent, creativity, and ambition, but without equal access to the networks, mentors, markets, technology, travel, and income-building experiences that help turn potential into possibility.
YEI was created to change that. We serve youth who are too often overlooked and create experiences that help them build confidence, skills, income, and a stronger sense of what is possible.
Poverty closes doors. YEI opens them.
Our Model
Exposure becomes mobility.
YEI combines entrepreneurship, STE(A)M, creative production, and real-world market experience so young people can learn, create, sell, earn, travel, and lead.
Hands-on Learning
Students learn entrepreneurship, STE(A)M, design, financial literacy, branding, product development, project management, and career readiness through real projects.
Real Products
Youth create candles, body care, apparel, journals, digital designs, custom goods, and other market-ready products.
Real Businesses
Students launch brands, test ideas, develop products, build customer confidence, and experience business ownership firsthand.
Real Markets
Youth sell at pop-ups, vending events, showcases, KidBizCON, and Made By Youth opportunities.
Paid Opportunities
YEI creates pathways for youth stipends, paid work-based learning, internships, and income-building experiences.
Exposure Beyond the Neighborhood
Through college visits, career exposure, Smart Hustle Abroad, and first-time travel experiences, youth expand their sense of what is possible.
What Youth Gain
Skills for school, work, business, leadership, and life.
What Makes YEI Different
Young people do not just learn about opportunity. They practice it.
Programs
Create the learning foundation through entrepreneurship, STE(A)M, financial literacy, design, and career exposure.
Made By Youth
Gives students access to a social enterprise platform that supports youth stipends, paid work-based learning, and program sustainability.
Student Brands
Support youth-owned ventures and individual entrepreneurs with tools, mentorship, markets, and business coaching.
Markets & Events
Give young people real places to sell, pitch, network, showcase, and grow.
Explore More About YEI
Everything has a place.
Our Story
Learn how YEI began and why our mission is rooted in economic mobility, creativity, and first-time opportunity.
Our Team
Meet the people helping youth learn, create, sell, travel, and lead.
Board & Advisors
Meet the leaders and advisors supporting YEI’s vision and growth.
Careers
Join a team creating access, opportunity, and real-world learning for young people.
Contact
Connect with YEI about programs, partnerships, events, vending, donations, and youth-made products.
Help create the next first.
Every donation, partnership, volunteer hour, sponsorship, and youth-made purchase helps open doors for young people.
The creative economy is where arts, culture, innovation, and business meet.
At YEI, young people learn how creativity can become real value in the world. Through product design, branding, apparel, body care, candles, journals, digital media, custom goods, pop-up markets, and youth-led ventures, students gain hands-on experience in DC’s vibrant creative economy.
They are not just making things. They are learning how ideas move through markets, how brands tell stories, how products solve problems, and how creative skills can open doors to future careers, ownership, and income.