Abstract
Background: Entrepreneurship education has demonstrated positive impacts in low-resource contexts. However, there is limited evidence of such programs evaluated among Native American (NA) youth in a rural reservation. Methods: A 2:1 randomized controlled trial evaluated the impact of the Arrowhead Business Group (ABG) entrepreneurship education program on entrepreneurship knowledge, economic empowerment, and social well-being among 394 NA youth. An intent to treat analysis using mixed effects regression models examined within and between study group differences from baseline to 24 months. An interaction term measured change in the intervention relative to change in the control. ABG participants were purposively sampled to conduct focus groups and in-depth interviews. Results: Significant intervention vs. control group improvements were sustained at 12 months for entrepreneurship knowledge and economic confidence/security. Significant within-group improvements were sustained for ABG participants at 24 months for connectedness to parents, school, and awareness of connectedness. Qualitative data endorses positive impacts on social well-being among ABG participants. Conclusion: Observed effects on entrepreneurship knowledge, economic empowerment, and connectedness, supplemented by the experiences and changes as described by the youth themselves, demonstrates how a strength-based youth entrepreneurship intervention focused on developing assets and resources may be an innovative approach to dually address health and economic disparities endured in Native American communities.
Highlights
The winners of the 2019 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, Drs Abhijit Banerjee, EstherDuflo, and Michael Kremer, are touted for advancing development economics methodology in which they run real-world controlled trials in small localities to gather evidence on how to reduce globalInt
This paper reports the effects of the Arrowhead Business Group (ABG) program on entrepreneurial, economic, and social well-being outcomes from both quantitative and qualitative data collected with Apache youth in a rural reservation
Intervention youth had gains in personal finance and business planning entrepreneurship knowledge that were significantly greater than gains made in the control group, and which persisted through 24 months of follow-up
Summary
The winners of the 2019 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, Drs Abhijit Banerjee, EstherDuflo, and Michael Kremer, are touted for advancing development economics methodology in which they run real-world controlled trials in small localities to gather evidence on how to reduce globalInt. This paper is consistent with their award-winning approach and reports on a real-world controlled trial completed in a small locality evaluating the impact of an intervention on health and educational outcomes with the long-term goal of reducing poverty. Methods: A 2:1 randomized controlled trial evaluated the impact of the Arrowhead Business Group (ABG) entrepreneurship education program on entrepreneurship knowledge, economic empowerment, and social well-being among 394 NA youth. Conclusion: Observed effects on entrepreneurship knowledge, economic empowerment, and connectedness, supplemented by the experiences and changes as described by the youth themselves, demonstrates how a strength-based youth entrepreneurship intervention focused on developing assets and resources may be an innovative approach to dually address health and economic disparities endured in Native American communities
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