HISTORY

Young Entrepreneurs Society (2.0) was founded in Greenbelt, Maryland in 2022. But we trace our roots to rural Western Massachusetts, where YES (1.0) served thousands of teens and young adults between 1998 and 2013. Both share a founder, Timothy Mitchell, who developed YES as a community organizer at the Orange Revitalization Partnership. 

Relocating to Greenbelt, Mr. Tim joined the Greenbelt Cooperative Incubator to launch a design/print/copy business in 2015 with his middle-school-aged son, Noah. Incubator member, Carolyn Davis, invited Mr. Tim to teach Springhill Lake Elementary School students participating in her after-school Earth Squad program about personal finance and entrepreneurship. This led them to develop the BizKidz program in 2016-2017 to help Earth Squad members form the cooperative business, BizKidz Smoothies. The BizKidz sold bicycle-blended smoothies at community events, and used their $330 net profit to fund field trips. Funding and in-kind support for BizKidz was provided by the Greenbelt Community Foundation, Shareable, Proteus Bicycles, Community Forklift, Greenbelt MakerSpace and Greenbelt Cooperative Supermarket & Pharmacy.

It was at this time that Mr. Tim met Anthony Hamm of the The Pathways Schools, who hired him to facilitate the Young Entrepreneurs Program (YEP) for special needs high school students at Springhill Lake Recreation Center from 2017 to 2022. Mr. Hamm also hired Mr. Tim to work one-on-one with students participating in Pathways’ Pre-Employment Program and Career and College Readiness Program. These activities led to the founding of YES to provide more such programming to children and teens in the Greenbelt, Maryland area.

Click here to learn more about YES 1.0.