U.S. Chamber to Collaborate with Junior Achievement to Inspire Young Entrepreneurs

Chamber Launches Campaign for Free Enterprise in Colorado to Highlight Job Creation Goal for Next Decade

DENVER, CO—The U.S. Chamber of Commerce brought its American Free Enterprise.Dream Big. campaign to Denver today, picking up the endorsement of the Denver Chamber of Commerce and announcing a collaboration between the National Chamber Foundation and Junior Achievement's Be Entrepreneurial program, an effort to inspire young entrepreneurs in the state. The activities are part of the Chamber's effort to revive the economy by spurring the creation of 20 million jobs in America throughout the next decade, and 204,437 in Colorado alone.

"The challenges to businesses in this state are enormous," said Thomas J. Donohue, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber, while speaking at the Denver Chamber today. "We're working to inspire Colorado's business leaders and the state's young entrepreneurs to embrace free enterprise as a way to restore the jobs lost during this recession and add thousands of new jobs."

The event is part of a series of forums that the Chamber's American Free Enterprise: Dream Big. campaign is hosting across the country to announce state-by-state job growth goals. These events involve discussions with students, mayors, governors, and academics about how to meet the Chamber's 20 Million Job Challenge, an effort to restore more than 7 million jobs lost during the current recession and provide jobs for the more than 13 million Americans who will enter the workforce in the next decade.

It also marks the first collaboration between the National Chamber Foundation (NCF) and Junior Achievement (JA), the world's largest organization dedicated to educating students about entrepreneurship and financial literacy. The two groups will begin promoting JA's Be Entrepreneurial campaign, a nationwide challenge for students to start an entrepreneurial venture while still in high school. To achieve this goal, the effort brings together local business owners and high school students to outline how to launch and manage a small business.

Since its launch last fall, JA's program has reached more than 600 classrooms and 14,000 high school students, including dozens of success stories in the Denver area alone. In joining this effort, the U.S. Chamber's campaign is issuing a "call to action" to our more than 300,000 members, more than 95% of which are small businesses, to connect business owners with high school students.

"We believe this state's businesses have the ingenuity, entrepreneurial spirit, and drive to create the innovative solutions needed to meet this jobs challenge," said Margaret Spellings, former Secretary of Education and currently the executive vice president of NCF. "This collaboration is about leveraging the creativity of small business owners to inspire our youth to be part of the solution in our effort to create jobs in America."

American Free Enterprise. Dream Big. is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's comprehensive, multiyear campaign to support free enterprise through national advertising; grassroots advocacy; citizen, community, and youth engagement; and research and ideas leadership.

The National Chamber Foundation (NCF), a non-profit affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, is dedicated to identifying and fostering public debate on emerging critical issues. We provide business and government leaders with insight and resources to address tomorrow's challenges.

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