How the Ice House Model Underlies a Mission to Engage, Educate, and Empower Entrepreneurs
May 16, 2022
Long before Dr. Cassandra Little ever heard of Uncle Cleve Mormon and the Ice House approach to entrepreneurship, she already knew its power. That’s because her grandfather was an entrepreneur who had only a third-grade education but built a career working on cars and houses. Watching him, she absorbed the same lessons the Ice House model now instills in course participants via the Fresno Metro Black Chamber of Commerce. Little herself is a lifelong entrepreneur…
Read more
How the City of Albuquerque Grows Entrepreneurial Thinking From the Inside Out
January 25, 2022
Many cities have worked to attract entrepreneurs over the past decade. Albuquerque, New Mexico, is among them—but in an innovative twist, the fast-growing Southwestern city also worked to foster an entrepreneurial mindset from the inside out. City leaders aren’t looking for municipal employees to start their own businesses. Instead, they’re following the Entrepreneurial Learning Initiative’s definition of entrepreneurship as the self-director pursuit of opportunities to create value for others. Here’s the story of how…
Read morePlanting Seeds of Entrepreneurial Thinking—With a Homegrown Twist
October 13, 2021
One of the preeminent entrepreneurial thinkers in higher education lives and works in an unlikely place: a metro area of 246,000 residents just a couple of hours south of the Canadian border. Bree Langemo, lawyer and educator, exemplifies ELI’s definition of entrepreneurship. That is the self-directed pursuit of opportunities to create value for others, whatever the field or location. Langemo directs the Entrepreneurship Center at Concordia College’s Offutt School of Business in Moorhead, Minnesota.…
Read moreContagious Enthusiasm for Entrepreneurial Thinking in Bermuda
September 28, 2021
Having a second job—or even a third or fourth—is typical for the staff who work with small and medium-sized businesses at the Bermuda Economic Development Corporation (BEDC). These entrepreneurial thinkers are passionate about the self-directed pursuit of opportunities to create value for others. Donte Hunt, Ondreyah Rochester, and Dennis Carter all work within the Micro, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise (MSME) unit. Hunt does graphic design and creates websites. Additionally, he is in the last phase…
Read moreThis Trailblazing Program Shaped the Ice House Middle School Edition
September 21, 2021
There’s growing evidence about the teaching strategies and learning approaches that work best for middle schoolers. Researchers highlight early adolescence as a time of collaboration, curiosity, and choice. The plasticity of the teenage brain makes middle school a prime opportunity for instilling an entrepreneurial mindset. And social studies teacher Dave Cross at Strong Vincent Middle School in Erie, Pennsylvania, knows a thing or two about that. Innovating in Erie’s Public Schools In 2017, Cross and…
Read more