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The Rise of the Creator Economy

The rise of Creators and of the broader Creator Economy is the digital manifestation of the rise of creativity as a key element in our economy, society, and everyday lives. Creative Class Group

Creating Entrepreneurship Pathways for Opportunity Youth

In 2017, the Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions launched the Youth Entrepreneurship Fund, which explores entrepreneurship as a pathway to economic self-determination and wealth-building for opportunity youth. Del Norte County and Tribal Lands, California; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and San Francisco, California received YEF grants. The Aspen Forum partnered with the Aspen Institute’s Business Ownership Initiative to co-lead a community of practice among the YEF grantees and document the learnings from this work. Their new case study, “Creating Entrepreneurship Pathways for Opportunity Youth: Lessons From Del Norte and Tribal Lands, California,” explores the local context and history of the opportunity youth efforts and how entrepreneurship fits into the larger body of community-building work in Del Norte.

Closing The Wealth Gap for Millennial Women

Today, there are about 40 million millennial women, representing 31.5% of the female population in the U.S. Millennial women do not benefit from many economic policies and systems designed by, and built to meet the needs of, men as primary breadwinners. Millennial women came of age during the Great Recession, the rise of mass incarceration, unprecedented student debt levels, and changing workforce dynamics. All of these factors contribute to the fact that millennial women are 37% more likely than Generation Xers (those born between 1965 and 1984) to be living below the federal poverty line and are more likely to be underemployed or unemployed than previous generations.

Entrepreneurship Pathways for Youth

This new report explores the potential for using entrepreneurship to engage and create pathways for opportunity youth, by examining existing entrepreneurship programs and sharing emerging models for creating and adapting entrepreneurship programming targeted to the specific needs and aspirations of opportunity youth.

Millennial Women Entrepreneurs

Millennial women, those born between 1982 and 2000, represent the future of entrepreneurship in America. According to the 2015 Census Bureau data, there are 83.1 million millennials in the United States. By the year 2025, millennials will comprise 75 percent of the American workforce, and many will become entrepreneurs.

Millennial Women & Entrepreneurship

This report explores entrepreneurship among millennial women via multiple avenues. First, the report covers existing research on millennial entrepreneurship, including how the media portrays these entrepreneurs. This section highlights millennial women and identifies knowledge gaps, requiring additional study. Second, the report presents a data-based profile of millennial women entrepreneurs in America utilizing data from the American Community Survey and the Survey of Business Owners and Self-Employed Persons. Finally, the conclusion posits further research questions with an eye towards developing action-oriented policy initiatives to assist millennial women in starting and growing businesses.

Generational Views of Entrepreneurship

America’s SBDCs did a study – America’s Voice on Small Business – that delves into the entrepreneurial mindsets of different generations of Americans. The findings reinforced previously held beliefs such as a strong entrepreneurial inclination among millennials, while challenging preconceived notions about their motivations for starting a business. One third of Americans (34 percent), have worked in a small business and nearly a quarter (24 percent) of both millennials and GenXers own or have owned a small business.

The Missing Millennial Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurship is lower among Millennials than among prior
generations. In 2014, less than 2 percent of Millennials reported self-employment,
compared with 7.6 percent for Generation X and 8.3 percent
for Baby Boomers. These differences largely reflect the youth of Millennials
and the positive relationship between age and entrepreneurship among the
relatively young. However, growth with age in the proportion of each
generation reporting self-employment has been slower for Millennials than
for prior generations. At age 30, less than 4 percent of Millennials reported
self-employment in their primary job in the previous year, compared with
5.4 percent for Generation X and 6.7 percent for Baby Boomers. Trends
among the age groups Millennials will join in future years suggest that
entrepreneurship among Millennials will remain relatively low for decades.