Community Carrot x Molly Moon's
December 18, 2018
When we heard about the program Community Carrot - an entrepreneurial training program for young people with low income backgrounds between the ages of 18 and 24, we knew we needed to be a part of it. It was started by community member David Sheon in Washington, D.C. and since moving to Seattle, he's partnered with the YMCA's Accelerator program to start it here!
After seeing chronic youth unemployment in his community, David wanted to be able to help youth who had creative abilities and ideas, but that just didn't have the access or opportunity to channel these skills - so he created Community Carrot!
Students in the program meet once a week in a classroom at the Meredith Mathews YMCA in the Central District where David teaches courses on everything from building a brand to getting a business license and domain name. He also provides one on one training to each student and pairs them with Seattle business leaders to shadow.
These business leaders are not only sponsors, to help cover the program costs, but also serve as mentors to the young entrepreneurs, providing advice and helping their businesses come to life! Other amazing Seattle businesses participating are Pagliacci, COLOR Creative, Indi Chocolate, Jack’s BBQ, Optimism Brewing, Rachel’s Ginger Beer, and Richey Construction. At the end of the program, once the students have a businesses plan, they'll also get funding to start their business. We're so excited to help these students grow over the next year and beyond!
A couple of weeks ago we were able to visit the classroom and see all of the students pitching their exciting, innovative ideas! Everyone went around the table, stood up and presented a problem or lack of something they saw in the community and how their business would address it.
Molly Moon's is mentoring a Community Carrot participant this year. The classroom program is 16 weeks, but mentorships last much longer. Three of our mooncrew, including Molly, will be meeting with and mentoring a program participant each month for at least one year - and we are so excited! Our mentorship meetings kicked off last week, and it was so inspiring to see what problems our mentees' businesses were being created to solve!