School is now in session! We have a lot planned for our Youth Entrepreneurship Program (YEP) this year, but let’s reflect on how much progress we have made throughout the years.
YEP was created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic as a way to give workforce opportunities and experience to keiki in our community. The first Youth Entrepreneur cohort started in 2021, originally as an outdoor movie with dinner at the college called “Maui Hui Movies.” Families would come and watch movies out on UHMC’s lawn, while the team (one of the members including program teacher Soleil) worked on helping set up, selling food and drinks, and making sure people were properly following the State Department of Health’s policies. Unlike current YEP, there weren’t in-person classes due to COVID-19 regulations so this year’s cohort focused more on hands-on learning, teamwork, and customer service. Although the movies era of YEP was short-lived, this became the basis for future YEP cohorts– give youth opportunities to learn job skills, essential business knowledge, and prepare them for their future career.
The following year started off small with six members, some being members from the previous year. Class size was scaled down not only because of COVID-19, but also because we were pivoting away from Maui Hui Movies to Maui Hui Makeke. Hybrid in-person and online meetings were being introduced, in-person classes focused on production and online classes were geared towards lessons. Less members plus occasional in-person sessions made producing difficult, so the product catalog back then only consisted of cutting boards, ornaments, earrings, and magnets. The core principles are still the same as they are today– teach the youth how to draw digitally, turn their designs into products, and sell them at in-person shops.
YEP’s first year faced many obstacles that made it difficult to operate. The pandemic made it hard for YEP to apply/find events to sell at, so their only options back then were the Sunday Market and consignment. COVID-19 also limited their customer base, many people who were immunocompromised or have family members who are high-risk, didn’t want to go outside if it wasn’t necessary. YEP also had a wider age range among their members, the youngest being in fourth grade and the oldest being a high school graduate, this made teaching concepts difficult. All of this combined made production tough too, which ultimately fell in the hands of the program teacher to take care of. This first year faced a lot of challenges, but was just the beginning for future cohorts.
The upcoming YEP year had to pivot, since the program teacher left to pursue her personal art business. While Hui Malama scouted for new students to join the next cohort, Soleil was assigned to handle design and production. She spent her time learning everything there was to know about the laser cutter, how to print a drawing onto a product, and expanding their design library. This model eventually grew into the current YEP we see today, Soleil helped handle and teach students the production side of the program while Aunty Tammy and Uncle Lewa taught the educational side. Cohort numbers expanded each year, starting with six members that grew into 17 members as of last year.
YEP still has much more room for growth and improvement, but the fact that we have team members going on to their fourth year, says a lot about what YEP has to offer as a program. At the end of the day, although not everything is perfect, we know that our team members have fun.
