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The Teen Enterprise Center (TEC) is an incubator for youth entrepreneurial-skill
development. A component of the Fifth Ward Enrichment Program's
(FWEP) after-school and weekend curriculum, the TEC is comprised
of five adult-supervised business activities that focus on teamwork,
self-discipline, product quality, and customer service.
From its beginning
as two independent start-up businesses housed at two separate
schools, the original B&E Club (Business and
Enterprise ) has grown! The T-Shirt Printing Shop (founded at Smith
Middle School in 1994) and the computer repair shop (which began
as a pilot program at Wheatley High School in 1995) are now headquartered
at the well-equipped, multi-purpose Teen Enterprise Center (TEC).
TEC equipment ranges from printing stations, film-editing monitors,
computer components, paint brushes and scaffolds. Officially opened
August 1999, the Teen Enterprise Center also has a dark-room for
film developing (photography) and screen production (silk-screening),
a multi-purpose conference room, and administrative office space.
Located at 3300 Lyons Avenue, Suite 101 , the Teen Enterprise
Center is the culmination of a short, explosive period of expansion
and growth by the Fifth Ward Enrichment Program and its youth-run
businesses. As early as spring 1995, the T-shirt printing shop,
now named TKO Enterprize, was the only teen operated business in
FWEP. However, by the summer of 1999, the FWEP teen enterprise
portfolio included computer repair/refurbishing, the filmmakers
project, a bicycle repair shop, and the mural/neighborhood art
project. The photography club has replaced the bicycle repair shop.
These businesses create and produce goods that are marketed and
sold to the general public. Production materials and overhead costs
are deducted by FWEP from product sales and the profits are distributed
as stipends to the youth participants.
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