- The average wealth of an African-American family
is approximately $17,000.
The average wealth of a white family
is approximately $171,000.
Stop there.
Those are the gaps that we're talking about.
- In order for our communities to change,
it's really gonna take the success of small businesses
because businesses are truly the economic engine.
- Last year, we had a huge spike in business starts
out of necessity,
but sometimes some really good ideas come out of necessity.
Every movement starts with one person has got an idea
to change conditions in their neighborhoods.
Entrepreneurs have that,
but when the system is designed to create barriers,
how do you solve for that?
Imagine if number of kids learn what entrepreneurship is
and how to build for that
so that they can do great things.
- Good morning.
It's wonderful to see your beautiful faces this morning,
the first in-person, and now I have this opportunity
to meet some great young people of Kansas City.
(audience clapping)
So, our two guests this morning are-
My name is Thalia Cherry.
I started Entrepreneurship KC
because Kansas City was ranked 49th
as the worst city in relation to longevity
of African-Americans in business.
- We have an economically divided city.
Some have a better chance at starting
and growing a business here than others do.
And what we have to do as a nation
is find ways to take away those barriers.
- So, do you design all of these?
- We do.
In 2020, in the month of August,
we were the first African-American retailer
to open a retail space on the Country Club Plaza.
I always had this spirit and this energy
to be an entrepreneur,
and it just opened up my mind and my heart
to what was beyond my beliefs
of what I thought I could do.
And I thought, how do I do that
for young people in Kansas City,
so that we will just see a great rise in entrepreneurs?
- Entrepreneurship KC is a five-week program
to really help young people
gain direct access to entrepreneurs.
And then they also directly walk through
design thinking concepts,
and that's really innovation and problem solving.
- You have to try the Cherry Blossom.
My grandma would always say, 'Be well-rounded,
don't be stuck in a box.'
I want to do things
that people have never done in Kansas City before.
- Right here, you have the wonderful
Ruby Jean's Kitchen and Juicery.
Ruby Jean's is a black-owned Kansas City based juicery.
It really offers about a good 20 jobs to people
across the community.
Today, we're working on
how we can take three juices
that we're gonna be tasting today
and pitch those inside of schools for lunches.
Let's go for it.
One, two, three.
- I think every child is born
with that entrepreneurial spirit.
I think over time society
just crushes it out of them, right?
And I think this is just igniting that.
Their eyes open up to possibilities of careers
that they may not have known about.
- Why do you want to be an entrepreneur?
- You know, I want to be an entrepreneur,
not even much as the owner of the business,
but to have the spirit of an entrepreneur,
because I envision a better future for me.
- What we have to do is make sure
that kids have access to the opportunity
to start things, learn things, run things.
- Entrepreneurship KC is an example of real world learning.
- You have to learn how to communicate.
You have to present. You have to tell your story.
You have to be able to collaborate.
So, a lot of those things
are really essential life skills
that are gonna be important
no matter what you do in your life.
- What has been so profound about Entrepreneurship KC
is that you can shift the thoughts of young people
in a way that can influence their life,
but also their communities
in a way that we would see a different Kansas City,
a different America.
- So help us.
- In helping your child.
- Get the Cherry Bomb out of the Juicery.
- And into your child's school.
Thank you.
- 10 Years in the future, I see this being at school.
I see a community center, a swimming pool,
and offering over a hundred jobs
to people in our community.
- Entrepreneurs want to change the world,
save the world so that people can thrive,
but we need more.
That's what the drive is about.
- Thalia is a perfect example
of what good entrepreneurs can do.
Not only does she have her own business
and she's employing people,
she's getting back to try to help that next generation
of young innovators.
And so she's the, you know, prime example
of what we hope to inspire
and to have happened with many, many other people,
not just in Kansas City, but across the country.
- Learn more about
what the Kauffman Foundation is doing
to ensure everyone has an equal opportunity
to achieve economic stability,
mobility, and prosperity
by visiting kauffman.org/spark.