Young entrepreneurs participating in the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Children International “ACHIEVE” summer camp will sell their business products July 14 and July 19 to raise money for the UA Little Rock Children International Scholarship Fund. 

This is the 15th year of the program, which serves 125 kindergarten through fourth-grade students, who are spending six weeks in the summer enrichment program learning how to become entrepreneurs and developing their own products and business plans.

The goods created by the hard-working student entrepreneurs will be on sale from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, July 14, at the Farmers Market at the River Market at 400 President Clinton Ave. The students will also be at the UA Little Rock University District Farmers Market from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursday, July 19. The market is held in the UA Little Rock Plaza parking lot at 5820 Asher Ave.

The products for sale include coasters created by the kindergarteners, watercolor calendars by the first graders, and watercolor greeting cards and artwork by the second graders, as well as wire-people greeting cards by third graders and potpourri pouches titled “Unique EsScents” by the veteran fourth graders.

During the summer program, instructors taught students the financial literacy and entrepreneurial skills needed to run a business, including how to speak to customers and investors, how to handle money, create a budget, and save money for a business.

“The youth are learning to be socially responsible and understand they can make a difference,” said Paula Rogers, program engagement manager at UA Little Rock Children International. Our goal is to eradicate poverty. If our youth learn how to empower themselves by becoming entrepreneurs, they can find a way to reverse their situation.”

In the past 14 years, the young entrepreneurs have raised more than $20,000 selling their homemade products in support of local charities. This year’s funds will go to the UA Little Rock Children International Scholarship Fund, which supports graduating seniors and recipients of the HOPE Scholarship. Last year, UA Little Rock Children International students donated more than $900 to “Victory Over Violence” campaign organizers from KARK and Fox16.

UA Little Rock Children International is a nonprofit organization established in 1994 as a partnership between the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and Children International, a Kansas City-based organization serving students in kindergarten through 24 years of age through programs and services in the areas of health, education, employment, and empowerment. UA Little Rock Children International is the only site in the United States and will celebrate 25 years of operation in 2019.