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Students and teachers from inner city Philadelphia High Schools and top entrepreneurial minds from the Philadelphia business community will be on hand Nov. 14, 2007 at 5:30 pm at the Kimmel Center to introduce the city to the newest chapter of an international program designed to teach at-risk young people how to unleash the power of entrepreneurship in their lives. The National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) is an international organization that has empowered more than 185,000 young people in 21 states and 13 countries, and last year trained 1,100 active entrepreneurship teachers. The Kimmel Center reception and press conference will introduce inner city youths who have been studying the NFTE curriculum since September 2007, as part of a pilot program to launch NFTE in Philadelphia. The program was made possible through seed funding in the amount of $250,000 committed by Safeguard Scientifics in December 2006. The new Philadelphia program office is located at Temple University. It will be NFTE’s 12th office nationwide. As part of the ceremony, NFTE teachers and students will ring a mock Stock Exchange opening bell to chime in NFTE’s arrival in Philadelphia. “Our intent is to create a pipeline through which Philadelphia businesses can make a dramatic impact by seeding the next generation of entrepreneurs with the creativity, know-how and inspiration needed to start and build great businesses here in the Philadelphia area,” says Steve Mariotti, President and Founder of NFTE. “NFTE transforms street smarts into business smarts. And by engaging in school through entrepreneurship, students develop the personal vision, skills, stability and independence, all of which they need to become productive adults and responsible family and community members.” During the ceremony, NFTE will announce a major business plan competition for the 2007-2008 school year that will award winners cash prizes to start their own businesses. The competition seeks to inspire Philadelphia inner city youths to learn to deploy the business skills that are vital to American competitive and regional success. “NFTE is on track to leverage Philadelphia’s extensive business resources with an engaged, inspired community of inner city youths, who are eager to learn the fundamentals of entrepreneurship and put these skills to good use for themselves and their community,” says Peter J. Boni, President and CEO of Safeguard Scientifics and Chairman of the Philadelphia Advisory Board for NFTE. “For more than 50 years, the Safeguard brand has been synonymous with entrepreneurship in the Philadelphia area. We view our support as an inherent value proposition that will yield tremendous results well into the future. The future of American business rests in the hearts and minds of our youth. We believe that successful business leaders have a responsibility to foster the next generation of entrepreneurs who will bring economic prosperity to this region and throughout the country. In my view, there is no better way to do this than support and empower NFTE.” About National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship The National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) provides entrepreneurship education programs to young people from low-income communities. Our goal is to empower young people, many of whom struggle in school, to change their lives through entrepreneurship education. Since 1987 NFTE has reached over 185,000 young people and trained more than 4,200 Certified Entrepreneurship teachers.
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For more information visit www.safeguard.com
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