Partners
Enterprising Women Foundation
Overview
The Young Enterprising Women Program connects women entrepreneurial leaders with high school girls who may not have role models or mentors. The program targets intercity and underserved high school girls with interest in STEAM fields and/or entrepreneurship. The financial literacy program includes a pre-event student package with baseline evaluations, an in-person 90-minute financial literacy and wellbeing session, and a post-event evaluation and resources package.
Stats
- YEW Program rated 4.72 out of 5 for Overall Effectiveness.
- NOVA games rated 4.3 out of 5 for High Effectiveness.
- NOVA games rated 4.2 out of 5 for Likely to be Recommended by Peers.
Meeting Strategic Goals
- Key Focus on LMI High School Girls, most often underserved.
- Evaluation methods: pre/post, short and long-term outcomes tracking, financial literacy and wellbeing, education history.
- Funding actionable research projects.
Program Outline & Growth
Each year the program grows, bringing in new high schools, new partnerships with organizations working toward the same goal, and new women mentors who volunteer their time and resources to help support the event in various ways. The 2025 program includes events across 25 cities around the country, which will allow us to reach over 3,500 young girls and provide them with a free financial education program designed for their age and financial decisions they are currently facing or will likely encounter as they transition into young adults.
Financial Literacy
The financial literacy portion of the program includes the following elements which are taken from best practices in financial education and personal finance, economics, psychology, and behavioral science:
- Financial literacy and financial wellbeing – what are they, what is the state of literacy in the US over time and across groups, how are these two concepts differ, and how to improve wellbeing over time.
- Introduction to the NOVA Financial Lab, which includes three mini-games that teach concepts related to financial decision-making and biases we encounter when making decisions about money, as well as videos, surveys, and educator guides – a free online resource to teach financial literacy through gamification and real-time feedback created for adolescents ages 10 to 21.
- The concept of opportunity cost and trade-offs, as well as how to balance present and future needs and wants.
- The importance of credit and its relationship to loan access and lower interest rates.
- The concept of compound interest and practice paying off debts and investments at different principals and interest rates.
- An activity teaching the 50/30/20 rule of budgeting and mental accounting
- Resources for college preparation, opening a bank account, saving for your future self, becoming a leader, and building an online professional presence and network of women.
Panel Discussion
After the financial literacy program, there is a panel discussion with a small group of women from the local area who are STEM professionals, entrepreneurs, or otherwise successful in their career of choice. The girls hear from these women about their journey across their career, what challenges they faced, and how they were able to succeed. There is an opportunity after this for the girls to ask questions to any or all of the panelists.
Mentor Round Tables
After the panel discussion, the girls get to join a mentor round table, where they have a chance to talk with one or two mentors from their local area in a small group setting.
Scholarship Awards & the Annual EWF Conference (Nashville, TN, 2025)
At the end of the event, we announce the winner(s) of the scholarship award who will receive a $2,500 scholarship for themselves and a parent or guardian to attend the annual EWF conference.