Photo Credit: Screenshot from HISD website.
The Houston Independent School District (HISD) announced its partnership with 50 Cent (Curtis Jackson) to launch an entrepreneur program at 3 of their high schools with the intent of giving students opportunities and business education that 50 Cent himself did not have access to at that early age.
50 Cent has moved to Texas, and is is investing $300,000 into the program, which will offer high school students the chance to apply for paid internships as well as take part in the G-Unity Business Lab. 50 Cent is funding the launch of the program through his nonprofit G-Unity Foundation, the mission of which is to empower youth in America’s cities (50 Cent’s film and production company is called G-Unit Film and Television). The program will launch at Wheatley, Worthing, and Kashmere high schools, with up to 50 students in the program when it launches this fall.
According to G-Unity Foundation, the 3 high schools “will work with HISD educators, Houston business leaders, and the G-Unity Foundation to complete an after-school course that teaches MBA concepts aligned with Curtis Jackson’s book, Hustle Harder, Hustle Smarter. The goal of the program is to arm youth from urban areas with education and business acumen in the hopes they will be able to start their own companies or manage a company.”
Students will be given the chance to learn core business values, as well as develop their own business ideas.
The musician and producer is involved in another project involving high schoolers as an executive producer on the reality series called Dream School. According to HISD, 50 Cent said: “These opportunities are huge opportunities that I didn’t have. Being able to provide that in the early stages, I think it changes the direction and the choices that they will make. It prevents them from making some of the mistakes that I made.”
The Houston Independent School District is the largest school district in Texas and the seventh-largest in the United States. It serves approximately 209,000 students at 280 campuses and is one of the largest employers in Houston, with about 27,000 team members.
And now you know. As business owners and creators dream big when they think about how to get the word out, it’s important to know what your favorite celebrities are up to, as they make social investments like this. Browse Tin Shingle’s Media Contact Idea Center and use our Community to bounce ideas off each other before making an outreach.
Additionally, if you work for or run an educational center - be it ginormous like HISD or small like a charter school - an announcement like this is a great edition to your own business blog, in addition to pitching it to the media. This news came from a simple SEO search in Google. We talk about SEO as well when you’re a member of Tin Shingle.