2 0 0 9 A N N U A L R E P O R T

i am youthbiz.i am change.

Design by Cate Anderson / Photography by Cheryl Nicolai

Mission

YouthBiz advances the social and economic empowerment of youth through a focus on business, academics and leadership.

Vision

Our long-term vision is that all youth will have the character and skills needed to become productive, responsible and fulfilled community members.

Values

YouthBiz is committed to the core values and life practices of integrity, achievement and community.

Letter from the Executive Director

Dear Friends,

Stories are powerful things. Strong narratives have the ability to challenge our assumptions, build vibrant communities and create authentic change. This year, we bring you stories of our youth, our organization and our community.

YouthBiz’s service neighborhoods are stressed by high rates of poverty and crime and low rates of education. Many of our students face the challenge of living in households with inadequate income, attending schools with unacceptable drop-out rates, and residing on blocks where gang violence is routine. But this is not the end of the story.

YouthBiz is a firm believer that every youth should have the ability to create their own story, free from the prevailing narrative of their neighborhood or the statistics of their school. Our success comes from offering youth the chance to re-write their futures. Youth receive not only the tools necessary to succeed, but also the framework for a new and powerful vision.

YouthBiz’s story is also one that has grown and transformed over time. In the last year, the orga-nization has stretched its mission and programs to west Denver by opening its first satellite pro-gram. More youth were served and incentives distributed than ever before. YouthBiz purchased a building that is now the new organizational headquarters. But still, the YouthBiz story continues to evolve. This year, we will launch a campaign to build a new Center for Youth Development, an-chored by YouthInk, and invest more time, energy, and resources into our growing programs.

As our own communities – local, national, and global – face great upheaval, it is now, more than ever, that we must hear and believe the stories of our youth. They are stories of hope, bravery, sin-cerity and transformation. I am honored to share these stories with you, because they are stories that you have helped to create and sustain. We thank you.

With Gratitude,

Sonya Garcia UlibarriExecutive Director

“We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.” - Franklin Delano Roosevelt

2.

2008 Year-in-Review

. 3.

• 353 youth served

• 49,420 hours of business, academic and leadership training

• $151,677 distributed in youth incentives and wages

• 8,530 products screen-printed through YouthInk

• 1,080 hours of financial literacy training

• 900 volunteer hours provided to YouthBiz

• 840 hours of service learning to community projects

• 200 mock interviews completed

• 150 computers refurbished and distributed

• 120 workforce classes taught

• 93% retention rate across programs

• 44 middle and high schools represented

• 19 youth leaders employed

• 1 satellite program launched

• 1 new building purchased

i am directed.

Kevin Ley, Grade 8

“YouthBiz gave me my son back,” explains Nancy Ley, mother of eighth-grader Kevin Ley. “When he started, he was a different boy. Now he jokes and laughs. He learned from other kids there.” Be-fore Kevin began at YouthBiz, he frequently got in trouble at home and at school. As a single mother, Nancy struggled with what to do. After Kevin enrolled at YouthBiz, he began to engage more with his peers and with his mom at home. “YouthBiz brought us back together. We were able to communicate again. He is my life. I only have one son,” reiterates Nancy.

The transformation that happens in the life of a youth during the course of a YouthBiz session is not limited to within the walls of YouthBiz. The true purpose of our work is to equip students with the skills and character necessary to become fulfilled individuals in all aspects of their lives.

So what is Kevin’s prescription for youth success? Motivation, confidence, self-respect and a good role model. Developing these qualities at YouthBiz will serve him well as he looks forward to a career in technology. “Being in YouthBiz has given me a stronger sense of responsibility and respect. During the programs, I began viewing myself as someone who would be able to do something good in his life.”4.

i am directed.

i am growing.

Tyrah Ameen, Grade 8

“YouthBiz taught me how to be a business woman. How to be very independent and have the strength and courage to strive to be my best,” explains Tyrah. With the vision to start her own magazine and be an editor, Tyrah is committed to the hard work it will take to reach her goals.

As an eighth grader, Tyrah has already watched many of her peers drop out of school which is why she is not only determined to choose a different path, but committed to being a leader among her peers. “I try to put some faith in their hearts, to not give up, even if everyone else is telling them to give up.” For Tyrah, success is not only a personal goal, but a way to transform her whole community. “That is what we need in our community, people who will help you. Youth-Biz helps.”

With the goal of transforming disenfranchised neighborhoods one youth at a time, YouthBiz is preparing a new generation of business men and women, entrepreneurs, professionals, scholars and commu-nity leaders.

Felicia Benavidez, YouthBiz Alumna & College Freshman

While working as a YouthBiz leader for four years, Felicia played a powerful role in helping to write the stories of many of her peers. Felicia describes a time when one of her students was facing vari-ous challenges: “Everyday she would come and talk to me about her personal problems. I didn’t think I was making an impact. One day I ran in to her mom. She told me that everyday, [her daughter] would come home and tell her all the advice I had given her. I real-ized I was actually having an impact in someone’s life.”

Being a youth leader and role model at YouthBiz kindled her enthu-siasm to help youth long-term. With her sights set on becoming a clinical social worker, Felicia is currently studying Sociology and Psychology at the University of Colorado Denver. She has main-tained a 3.8 GPA. Felicia looks forward to a future of empowering youth. After her years at YouthBiz, Felicia has a firm grasp on what youth need to succeed, explaining, “YouthBiz helped me build my character. I want to help youth to do that.”

5.

i am a leader.

i am creative.Alicia Ribota, Grade 11

YouthBiz at La Academia sophomore, Alicia Ribota, is the portrait of a leader. As a trainee, Alicia was inspired by the leader-ship shown by our youth leaders. “They inspired me. They have so much motiva-tion and energy. They push students to be better.” The youth leaders helped Alicia to compose a bigger story for herself and her future, a role she would later thrive in as she worked as one of the first crew leaders to launch YouthBiz’s satellite program at the Denver Inner City Parish’s community school, La Academia.

“When I was little, I didn’t think outside the box. It was all told to me – what to think, what to be. I didn’t expect myself to be working someplace like YouthBiz, to be creating new things, to be helping people.” 6.

YouthInk’s History

YouthInk, a screen-printing business that produces t-shirts and other logo apparel, is one of the original YouthBiz programs. With a grant of $5,000, hangers and donated screens, this youth-founded and youth-run learning em-powerment program was launched in 1992 by eight YouthBiz youth from the Cole neighborhood. In its first year, it generated $35,000 in gross revenue.

YouthInk Today

Today, YouthInk has printed over 120,000 t-shirts for nonprofits, businesses and government agencies across the nation. By providing youth with an op-portunity to learn business concepts through hands-on, real-world experi-ence, YouthInk has generated over $900,000 in unrestricted earned income for the organization.

YouthInk’s Future

YouthInk as it is known today is only the beginning. Soon, a Center for Youth Entrepreneurship, anchored by YouthInk will tap into the creativity, drive and passion of YouthBiz’s young leaders. This center, alongside community partners, will incubate small business plans de-veloped by the youth and will create more jobs. But, more importantly, YouthInk will enable youth to become successful business leaders.

Looking Ahead

7.

1993 Crew Back: Donte Collier, Tanika Lewis, Angelina Villanueva, Michael Ruffalo, Brian Barhaugh Front: Kedrick Washington, Jose Ramirez

Foundations

AV Hunter TrustBonfils Stanton FoundationCaring for Colorado FoundationThe Partnership for Families and ChildrenColorado Health FoundationDaniels FundDenver FoundationDiamonds in the RoughEnergy Outreach ColoradoEast High School EPYCS ProgramFox Family FoundationGay & Lesbian Fund for ColoradoHelen K. & Arthur E. Johnson FoundationJulius & Eleanor Kass Family FoundationJPMorgan Chase FoundationKey FoundationKH Stapleton/Harmes C. Fishback FoundationKinder Morgan FoundationMabel Y. Hughes Charitable TrustMaggie George FoundationMay Bonfils Stanton Memorial Trust of Holy Name Province Mile High United WayNathan B. & Florence R. Burt FoundationPost News Charities a Fund of the McCormick FoundationQwest FoundationRollie R. Kelley Family FoundationRose Community FoundationSchlessman Family FoundationJanus FundThe Jay and Rose Phillips Family FoundationThe Salmon FoundationThe Winthrop FoundationThe Women’s Foundation of ColoradoUPS Foundation IncVirginia Hill FoundationWellpoint FoundationWells Fargo Foundation

Corporations

AMT ColoradoBall CorporationChristmas and Co.Denver Venture SchoolEmma Email MarketingHolland and Hart LLPHyde Park JewelersMennonite Economic Development Associates Miller International/Rocky Mountain Clothing CompanyMoneytree Inc.Newmont Mining Northwestern MutualOccasions by SandyQwest CommunicationsRobert Rhue Enterprises Suncor Energy Tootsie’s NailsUS Bank Venoco Inc.Wright Group Event Services

Individuals Alan KircherAlfonso SuazoAngel GutierrezAngie BohnertAnne GerberAri Rosner and Theresa Rosner-SalazarAvion LockeAxel GeittmannBen Schafer and Monique OrthoberBradford BatesBryce HollandBuz KoelbelCandelario and Diana GarciaCarlyn StambaughCarmen Rivera Cate AndersonCheryl LuceroChristina BrickleyClaudia PateD. Paul and Anne ZeckserDan MargenauDaniel and Barbara DanbomDashonda VinsonDave and Lori AndersonDavid Fisher and Jean ChenDean and Carrol TsutsuiDeborah SzymanskiDebra Stolz

Denise DelgadoDee GallowayDon and Linda ChildearsDonald FinksDonna Lee BoreingEric SmithErnest HughesFelisa CardonaFlorence Hernandez-RamosFrank Shriver and Rene Hawthorne ShriverGeorge and Sonya UlibarriGiles D. TollGlenna NorvelleGraham WilliamsHabakkuk and Azariah AmmishaddaiHadley CoxHanna ThomasHillary JacksonHugh and Lynne BrownJames ScreenJason McCartneyJ.P and Diana PedinielliJennifer DavisJennifer MargenauJeremy EavesJerene PetersenJessica SherrickJim and Laura NollschJoan BrennanJohn and Susan GowenJohn BursteinJohn WareJolie RiehmJoshua PachecoJoseJuan CruzJoy KnoxJudah Rosner, M.D.Justin and Caroline McMorrowKaren VenohrKate Krebs LydaKeith and Nicki SaindonKelly ThompsonKen SeeleyKevin MayKeith GaindonKimmy DumontKirk ScheitterLana WhitcombLeslie BoyleLorendia SchmidtMarc SchattenMark MillerMartin and Phyllis RuffaloMatthew SchnittmanMelanie Kines

Michael AshleyMichael Korenblat and Natalia Solis BallingerMichael SandezMichelle SturmMiriam TapiaMonica SchultzNancy LeyNatascha PalmerNoah Atencio and Diana Lopez-AtencioPatrice WernerPatrick LaytonPaula Gomez Farrell and Charles FarrellPeter and Elizabeth ShepardPriscilla WilliamsRandy BrodskyRebecca PlunkettRichard PenaRobert PearsonRoxane WhiteRufus and Maira NagelRyan and Griffen O’ShaughnessySchuyler GreyScott BrairtonSteve KinskySteve and Sheryl ZieglerThe Crown Family Tim SpurlockTracy Dunning and Eric SondermannVictor and Kim AmayaVic SmithW.A. JohnsonWilliam CalkiaWinifred BrownYvonne Sandoval In-Kind

Alfonso SuazoAlly LennonAnonymous DonationArliss SwartzendruberAshley BanksBarry PleshekBen MinelikBen SchaferBing Energy DrinkBoy Scouts of AmericaBrian BoneyCarla MadisonChanie WoodCherry Creek NorthChris Christmas8.

Supporters

CoBiz, Inc.Colorado RapidsDenver Urban GardensDVLP ClothingFashion DenverFallene WellsFree Speech TVElizabeth AquileraEquillibrium ClothingEugene TaillacqGeorge MehalkoGreg Tait

Henry’s SalonHyde Park JewelersInternational Union Operating EngineersJamie Gordon Skin Care SalonJanelle JeggeJennifer HibbardJohn WareJoseph GarciaJoshua PachecoKimmy DumontKatie O’Shea

Kroenke Sports EnterprisesLeprino FoodsLowe’s Home Improvement CenterMaria CorralMark RandallMike RoqueMonique OrthoberNancy GomezPasta Jay’s RestaurantPaul LopezPricewaterhouse Coopers

Financial Report2008

$794,868187,083

6,3581,167,279

20,550$2,176,138

$16,31628,685

-$45,001

$558,9041,090,1781,649,082

$2,176,138

2007

$630,358313,297

3,092442,503

-$1,389,250

$9,07418,821

167,500$195,395

$353,892839,963

1,193,855$1,389,250

AssetsCashReceivablesPrepaidsProperty & EquipmentOther Assets

LiabilitiesAccounts PayableAccrued ExpensesNote Payable

Net AssetsUnrestrictedTemporarily Restricted

Qwest CommunicationsRachel Tai ClothingRichard RobertsSean PuglisiSeniors’ Resource CenterSerita ArchuletaStephanie ButtersTyes By TaraUniversity of DenverUS Department of EnergyVictor AmayaWalter Davis

9.

Although we hope that we have included all of our supporters for 2008, if we missed you, please accept our appreciation and apology.

Support & Revenue $1,288,029

Expenses $854,326

Earned Income & Investments 4%

Development 5%

Management & General 3%

Individual Donors & In-Kind Contributions 30%

Foundation Grants 27%

Other 14%

United Way Giving 8%

Government Contracts 7%Corporate Contributions 7%

Special Events 3%

Program Expenses 92%

StaffSonya Garcia Ulibarri, Executive DirectorHabakkuk Ammishaddai, Program DirectorJoe Ballweg, ControllerJoy Knox, Director of Social Enterprise and Business DevelopmentDiana Lopez-Atencio, Development Associate Cate Anderson, Program and Development CoordinatorAlex Casillas, IT/Systems ManagerAnna Rocha, La Academia Program CoordinatorDean Tsutsui, Business Consultant Youth StaffJose Juan Cruz, Tier I Youth SupervisorShanita Lewis, Tier II Youth SupervisorAna Angeles, Tier I Crew LeaderSierra Douglas, Tier I Crew LeaderKhyerra Fletcher, Tier I Crew LeaderDaisy Rocha, Tier I Crew LeaderAraceli Soto-Rodriguez, Tier I Crew LeaderAnai Soto-Rodriguez, Tier II Crew LeaderJeffery Smith II, Tier II Crew LeaderJoAna Garcia, La Academia Crew LeaderAlicia Ribota, La Academica Crew LeaderJessica Salas, La Academia Crew LeaderAvion Locke, Administrative Intern

Board of DirectorsSteven Ziegler, ChairJim Nollsch, Vice ChairJennifer Margenau, TreasurerNatalia Solis Ballinger, SecretaryHaroun CowansJustin McMorrowRufus NagelJ.P. PedinielliJolie RiehmJessica Sherrick

Outgoing Board Members of 2008Denise DelgadoDavid FisherRandall MillerVic Smith

Board of TrusteesDebbie JessupMonica PleimanMichael PollackDiana G. Wallach

YouthBiz, Inc.3280 Downing Street, Suite CDenver, CO 80205p. 303.297.0212f. 303.297.0228

i am youthbiz.

www.youthbiz.org