REDWOOD CITY, Calif., (Mar. 26, 2021) — BUILD.org officially announced the launch of their $15M campaign, BUILDing Gen E, a national movement to inspire a diverse new generation of entrepreneurial leaders and changemakers.

The BUILDing Gen E, or “Generation Entrepreneur,” campaign has raised over $7M to-date from supporters such as Jack Dorsey, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Bezos Family Foundation, Comcast NBCUniversal, and more. With a 20+ year proven track record of providing award-winning, project-based entrepreneurship programming to thousands of students across the country, BUILD is poised to create a world where entrepreneurship education is taught to every child in America. The BUILDing Gen E campaign utilizing three pillars to build entrepreneurial mindsets and skills for youth in communities that are often overlooked and underestimated. 

• Digital Acceleration
  BUILD will be bringing the best of it’s program online through their free, Open Educational Resource and digital curriculum offerings. BUILD’s virtual program has reached over 3,500 students from 50 cities across the country throughout the Covid-19 pandemic and is positioned to leverage the power of technology to accelerate access to thousands more students and educators across the country.

   

• Geographic Expansion
  Through innovative hub and satellite program models, BUILD’s entrepreneurship programs are currently in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Boston, New York, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Tucson, and Phoenix, with plans to expand to Pittsburgh and Memphis this fall. Funding from this campaign will position BUILD for significant geographic expansion to new communities.

• Systemic Change
  BUILD envisions a world in which every student, in every public high school across America, is learning to think and act like an entrepreneur. Working in partnership with school districts to reimagine the future of education and promote efforts to make entrepreneurship a requirement in every high school across the nation, BUILD is committed to championing innovation and change in public education with a focus on racial equity and social justice.

   

“Covid has laid bare so many of the vast inequities in our nation. Now more than ever, we need young people finding their voice and activating for change, shared Dalila Wilson-Scott, EVP and Chief Diversity Officer at Comcast Corporation. “Young people are taking the lead. It’s our job to equip them with the tools of confidence, communication, collaboration, and problem-solving to build a better future.”

According to recent research, about 41 percent of youth plan to become entrepreneurs and almost half believe they’ll invent something that changes the world. Entrepreneurship education and self-employment will play an increasingly important role in the long road to economic recovery. Through BUILDing Gen E, BUILD.org will pave the way for a diverse new generation of entrepreneurial leaders and changemakers with the communication, collaboration, problem-solving, innovation, grit, and self management skills to adapt and thrive in a rapidly-changing, digital world.

“This generation is ready to rewrite the narrative of who they are and what they are capable of,” shared Ayele Shakur, BUILD.org CEO. “We need a generation of young people who know how to think and act like entrepreneurs – a generation of doers, a generation that knows how to create, and pivot, and invent, and reinvent themselves. We need a generation of young people who know how to build the life they choose, instead of the life they have to settle for.”

BUILD’s new groundbreaking BUILDing Gen E campaign was announced at BUILDFest National, hosted by Emmy-nominated celebrity Baratunde Thurston and aired virtually to over 3,000 viewers across the world on March 25, 2021. The event featured powerful student stories from BUILD’s high school entrepreneurs and celebrity guests appearances from CEOs, athletes, and more. View the full event at: www.BUILD.org/BUILDfest.

BUILD.org is a national nonprofit founded in 1999 whose mission is to use entrepreneurship to ignite the potential of youth from under-resourced communities and propel them to high school, college and career success. By empowering students to develop and run their own small businesses, BUILD supplements traditional classroom instruction with real-world business experiences and critical skill-building for the future. Entrepreneurship is the hook, and college and career success are the goals. To discover more, visit www.BUILD.org.