Yesterday I had a great lunch with Calvin Flowers and Dennis Daniels. They run the Chicago Black Inventors program on the south side of Chicago. I met them through an attorney friend of mine, Marc Kadish. We had a great lunch at Manny's and we had some great conversation.
Part of the mission of Hyde Park Angels has been to create an ecosystem. That ecosystem extends down to high school kids, and goes up to anyone who wants to create something. I have done talks at places like Gary Comer College Prep and other schools to try and get kids interested in starting a business.
I have blogged about Lemonade Day, and would love to see Chicago schools get behind that effort. John Clarke from the University of Illinois is a huge supporter, and where I first heard about it. Kids learn all kinds of start up lessons just by opening a simply Lemonade stand.
Chicago has some pretty great resources if people know where to find them. 1871 is a cool new space. But, IIT has some incredible lab space. UIC has some great space. Community colleges have places that companies can start up. People just need to point budding entrepreneurs in the right direction.
Calvin and Dennis think the same way. They are trying to impress upon youngsters in their neighborhoods that entrepreneurship is the way out. If the kids create a business for themselves, they can create better neighborhoods, reduce crime, and create better lives.
Next February, they are hosting a pitch day that I am going to try and go be a judge at. I hope that the BiC community will reach out to them and try and help them get something started. As we talked about at lunch, it really doesn't matter if the businesses they help create are scalable huge businesses, or just lifestyle businesses. The important thing is to get the kids thinking and trying. If they are successful, great. If they aren't they learn and try again.
