ABOUT PROJECT ECHO
Our Mission
Project ECHO’s mission is to empower students with entrepreneurial and leadership skills so that they can thrive in college, their careers and in their community as change-makers. Project ECHO accomplishes this by partnering with schools to bring entrepreneurship to their classrooms.
We believe entrepreneurs are made, not born. A combination of hard work, drive, determination, empathy, making mistakes and learning from them are the ingredients that will make our students successful business and community leaders of tomorrow.
Project ECHO empowers students with entrepreneurial and leadership skills so that they can thrive in college, their careers and in their community as change-makers. We achieve this by offering programs that teach business skills and simulate the real-world entrepreneurial process of taking an idea and learning how to turn it into a business. All of our programs culminate in a showcase event where students present their start-ups to an audience, with many empowered to compete in the Teen Business Plan Competition where student teams compete for cash prizes.
Project ECHO (Entrepreneurial Concepts Hands-On) is a non-profit organization established in Los Angeles in 1996. Over the years, Project ECHO has grown and evolved from a program focused on helping at-risk students into a vibrant business academy providing opportunities to students from diverse academic and socio-economic backgrounds. Project ECHO teaches teens how to become entrepreneurs coupled with life lessons like how to work with others, learning from failure, the value of planning, believing in yourself, public speaking and much more.
“Project ECHO provides teens a solid foundation to explore college majors and future careers while in high school. It's amazing to watch a team's full business pitch and see all of the curriculum elements come to life for each of these students. For many of our teens, this is the first time they understand how their academic strengths and personal interests will transition into a future career."
-Diane Quast, Executive Director
Los Angeles, CA
Walnut, CA
Bellflower, CA
Arcadia, CA
Inglewood, CA
Covina, CA
Rolling Hills Estates, CA
Pacific Palisades, CA
Los Alamitos, CA
Burlingame, CA
Our Locations:
Project ECHO partners with schools, after school programs and other nonprofits to bring entrepreneurship to their students.