Liberty’s entrepreneurship club offers new program for inner-city children

Students of all majors gathered in the Student Government Association office Sept. 20 for the first Enactus meeting of the Fall 2018 semester, which introduced a new mentorship program called the Bridge
Initiative.  

Enactus is a worldwide, student-led entrepreneurship club that focuses on giving college students real-world experience in using their gifts and abilities to work together and help shape the world.

“We want to empower students to use entrepreneurship to make a better world for us all,” Enactus Club Chief Operations Officer Derek Atlas said.

Liberty University’s Enactus chapter works to support entrepreneurship both in Lynchburg and abroad by hosting local business on campus, such as Mama Crockett’s Cider Donuts, and holding fundraising events for humanitarian works, like last year’s support for Floridian and Puerto Rican hurricane flooding victims. 

This year, Liberty students Jared Powell and Sara Kindt proposed a new project focused on helping Lynchburg’s inner-city community.

The new Bridge Initiative is an inner-city mentorship program that partners Liberty students with at-risk teens to help give them skills and opportunities they need to succeed. 

“We are building a bridge between youth and opportunity,” Powell said.

Powell and Kindt plan to partner with the local 4-H chapter, a youth development and mentorship program, and pair Liberty Enactus students with inner city youth ages 13-19. 

The team hopes mentors will build strong relationships with their mentees and guide them through this formative period in life and prepare them for college and future careers.

“Our main goal is to build relationships with them … to reach them and add value to who they are as people,” Kindt said. 

Powell hopes that mentees who graduate from the program will return to mentor others through an alumni program. 

“You’re not going to come through our program and get kicked to the curb,” Powell said. “You’re going to become a life time member, an alumnus.” 

Powell and Kindt both found a passion for inner city youth after their professor and faculty leader for Enactus, George Young, encouraged their efforts.

“Learning and seeing the gap of inner-city kids getting overlooked just breaks my heart,” Kindt said. 

Powell comes from a background of poverty and has a strong connection to the mission of the Bridge Initiative.

“Growing up, I had this mindset — ‘You can’t do what other people do,’” Powell said. “In college … I realized I’m a capable human being, and I can do things. … I want to give that to these kids.”

Young has high hopes for the program and is encouraging Enactus leadership to consider and take up the program, making it the club initiative this year.

“What these kids are doing is so special,” Young said. “I’m so proud of them.”

Atlas said this was one of the largest turnouts for an opening meeting at Enactus, and he hopes that recent changes to the club will encourage more students to get involved. 

“What we’ve been guilty of in the past is not having positions open for the general members of the club,” Atlas said. “We restructured to add more positions and enable students to get more directly involved.” 

New positions available to members include social media director, content creator, event promoter, public relations director, treasurer, fund raising officer, cost analytics officer, secretary, sergeant at arms, special events coordinator and research and development director, among others. 

“We want students to have something to put on their resume … more than just being a member and coming to the meetings,” Enactus Club President Madison Heath said.

Students who are interested in learning more about Enactus can visit the website: enactus.org. More information on Liberty’s Enactus chapter can be found on its Facebook page, Liberty University Enactus.