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Enterprise Village aids area's evolution

The latest facility in the 22nd Street renovation area will educate fifth-graders on how free market economies work.

By DEMORRIS LEE
Published August 7, 2005

UNIVERSITY AREA - Another component of the 22nd Street transformation is coming online as construction of the Junior Achievement Enterprise Village nears completion.

With the University Area Community Center to its north and a high school and several county health clinics to the south, the Enterprise Village will be a haven to teach Hillsborough County fifth-graders about the importance of free market enterprise.

"The entire campus serves as a focal point to the redevelopment of the community," said Julian Garcia Jr., executive director of the University Area Community Development Corporation. "It shows that a comprehensive plan did not sit on the shelf and this is another tremendous opportunity for the kids in the neighborhood."

The enterprise village is a joint venture with Junior Achievement of West Central Florida and the School District of Hillsborough County. The school district is leasing the land to Junior Achievement at $10 a year for 50 years. Junior Achievement is raising the $3-million needed to build and furnish the 9,000-square-foot village. Junior Achievement also will take care of the annual $550,000 operating cost.

The center will be similar in design to the community center, Muller Elementary School, and two county facilities in the area, with a brick facade and teal tile accents.

Due to open in November, the Bill Poe Family Junior Achievement Center will be named for William F. Poe Sr., a former Tampa mayor whose family donated $1.5-million to the effort. The enterprise village introduces students to economics and business. Fifth graders will be given six weeks of instruction during the economics portion of their social studies class, culminating in a day-trip to the enterprise village. The students will run the businesses, receive paychecks, open bank accounts, and become consumers by making purchases.

"What we know about children and how they learn is when they experience something that's an abstract concept, make it concrete, it really sticks," said Daryl Saunders, the school district's supervisor of elementary social studies. "(The village) involves the hands-on component and has some very engaging activities."

By Dec. 5, a pilot program with six schools will have used the village. In the spring, there is hope that 60 schools with 7,500 students would be brought to the center. The goal is to have all the county's nearly 15,000 fifth-graders rotating through the center in August 2006.

"Our mission is to inspire kids to be ready for free enterprise by educating them," said Richard George, president of Junior Achievement of West Central Florida. "This experience ties all the disciplines they are learning in school into real life. You get the "ah ha's.' It makes it real and it makes it fun and we all know real is a lot more effective technique."

Started in 1919, Junior Achievement is the largest nonprofit organization that provides economic education to youth in grades K-12 worldwide, said Carla Prescott, director of the new enterprise village. This will be the first such enterprise village in 12 counties, Prescott said. There is a village in Pinellas County, but the school system owns it.

About 14 years ago, residents in the University Area along with area leaders devised a plan that would transform the area that had begun to deteriorate. Since then, the community has welcomed a $12-million community center, Muller Elementary School and the Bowers Whitley Career Center, a county health clinic and a social services complex.

Before the upgrades began, there were some rundown apartments that housed about 150 people on the land, Garcia said. Of those dwellers, 23 became homeowners for the first time and the others were relocated in the area. There is another small piece of land left to develop and there are future plans for Junior Achievement to put a finance center for older students on that, Garcia said.

"Everyone wanted better opportunities for children in the neighborhood," Garcia said. "And now it's beginning to happen."

- Staff writer Demorris Lee can be reached at 813 269-5312 or dalee@sptimes.com

[Last modified August 6, 2005, 10:03:05]