The 21st Century will belong to those who can take their ideas and make them happen. While the United States presently maintains the edge as an entrepreneurial society and competes in the global economy, the future shows clear signs of massive economic competition from abroad. More Americans in the future will need to be generating more ideas and better innovations if the United States is to stay ahead of the large populations of educated citizens in emerging and globally savvy economies.

In June of 2006, the U S House of Representatives passed a Resolution focused on continuing the creative efforts of entrepreneurs and small businesses as the leading creator of new jobs in the past decade. The Congress recognized the significance of Entrepreneurship Week USA to feature the contributions of American entrepreneurs and encourage the development of entrepreneurs of the future. They recognized that "the entrepreneurs of tomorrow are in our schools today". www.entre-ed.org

February 24-March 3, 2007, will be the first annual national entrepreneurship week celebration. The project management team for EntrepreneurshipWeek USA has developed a logo, branding strategies, a great variety of events to be shared with local, state, and national leaders, and has established a website to share information. Press releases will soon be sent to alert organizations of the first annual EntrepreneurshipWeek USA.

The Consortium, as the leading education-related partner, is adding to this initiative the "advocacy for the growth of entrepreneurship education at all levels of education nationwide". In our role we are not only encouraging youth to be excited about entrepreneurship, but we are also working to expand the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of today's youth and adults to be SUCCESSFUL entrepreneurs in our nation's future. We are indebted to the U S Congress for their support of National Entrepreneurship Week and the importance of entrepreneurship education in the schools.

EntrepreneurshipWeek USA will engage young people in the main spaces they occupy in their lives - education, work, leisure and media. It will inspire teens and twenty-somethings. It will catalyze debate among policymakers and practitioners. It will energize educators from all academic backgrounds and encourage them to foster the entrepreneurial skills of their students. It will forge alliances among an expansive coalition. It will recognize the work of those promoting entrepreneurship. Above all, it will celebrate the creativity, imagination and innovation of entrepreneurship in all its forms - business start-ups, social entrepreneurship and enterprising employees within existing organizations.

The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation is announcing that INC Magazine, and the New York Times have signed on as sponsors to ensure great awareness of the importance of entrepreneurship throughout the country. Other sponsors and partners have been contacted and the goal is to really "start the conversation" about entrepreneurship education with as many as 5000 events during the week. There will be celebrity entrepreneur guests as speakers and success stories on web sites. Partner organizations, state level leadership teams, local communities led by entrepreneur-supporting organizations, and entrepreneurship education programs and their national and state leadership will have local celebrations that will create "the buzz" about entrepreneurship and the importance of entrepreneurship education to this nation's future.

More than 70% of young Americans envision starting a business or doing something entrepreneurial as adults. The problem is very few of them ever learn how to go about it. Entrepreneurship Week USA is a wonderful opportunity to demonstrate how developing entrepreneurial knowledge, attitudes and skills through a variety of entrepreneurial activities and experiences throughout the educational system can prepare today's youth to be the entrepreneurial leaders of the future.

In order to truly bring this initiative to scale, a broad coalition of partner organizations is being recruited - each reaching and engaging their own networks around the country. These include educational institutions, youth-serving organizations, media outlets, philanthropic foundations, entrepreneurship-focused organizations and hundreds of others. These partners will help in two primary functions - planning and implementing their own activities under the banner of EntrepreneurshipWeek USA and helping to promote overall awareness of the entire initiative. Throughout their involvement, partner organizations will interpret the core concepts of EntrepreneurshipWeek USA to suit their own contexts.

EntrepreneurshipWeek USA primarily consists of the following:

• Partner events & locally-hosted activities in communities and schools across America where organizations and individuals plan their own meetings and other activities under the banner of EntrepreneurshipWeek USA. Some examples might be online simulations or games, business plan competitions, guest lectures, workshops and local forums.

• An interactive website that will not only serve as a central clearinghouse for related information, but will also serve as a virtual platform to engage individuals in further discussion. The site will utilize the latest community building and discussion technologies to inform, excite and connect youth interested in exploring their entrepreneurial potential in partnership with teachers, mentors, and other interested individuals.

• Official events around the U.S. sponsored by the initiative co-hosts. Many local and state developed events will be held throughout the week. One of the final national events is tentatively set for Washington, DC in order to increase awareness among policymakers.

• State and local leadership provided by a great diversity of educators, policy makers, and support organizations to demonstrate how entrepreneurship education is growing in the schools as a lifelong learning process.

• National media & publicity campaign reaching youth in America through a wide variety of major national media including our media partner s and celebrity entrepreneurs with "real stories" of being a young entrepreneur.

The underlying message of EntrepreneurshipWeek USA is one that resonates with people of all ages, of all ethnic backgrounds and from all walks of life. It is a celebration and an acknowledgement of what has made America great from the start. Its impact will be significant for not only the partners involved, but most important, for the future of America's youth, and eventually, our economy. EntrepreneurshipWeek USA is an incredible opportunity for all of us to make America's youth aware of their entrepreneurial potential and for them to find out if they have it within them to 'make a job, not take a job.'

Join the initiative to celebrate the contributions of entrepreneurs in our great nation! At the same time help refocus the youth of the USA on educational opportunities to prepare for using their inventions and innovations as a way of creating their own economic opportunities as entrepreneurs.

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