The Economic Development Alliance of Lincoln County and the Oregon Coast Small Business

Development Center are excited to host Lincoln County’s first Youth Entrepreneurship Pitch

Competition. This event will feature the students who participated in the Youth

Entrepreneurship Program (YEP) presenting their business plan pitches to compete for prize

money towards their professional futures.

The YEP program kickstarted at the end of January 2024, with five schools representing almost

all Lincoln County high schools. The participants have met weekly with the SBDC advisors and

worked in teams or independently to build a business plan and pitch. The top five candidates

will compete on May 15th for thousands of dollars in cash stipends that can be used towards

any type of education, training, or development towards their career and/or entrepreneurial

endeavors.

Thanks to partnerships with Lincoln County School District, EDALC and Northwest Oregon

Works, among others, the SBDC has brought new resources, tools, and training to all high

school students in Lincoln County interested in participating.

“We have a fantastic cohort of students fully engaged and ready to pitch their business ideas in

what will be a great competition with some big winners!” noted Greg Price, Director of the

Oregon Coast SBDC. “Helping to prepare our young entrepreneurs for the possibility of small

business ownership and connecting them with a vast array of support services is one of the

best investments we can make.”

The inaugural YEP pitch competition is a project that the Economic Development Alliance is

eager to bring to our coastal communities.

"We're thrilled to celebrate the hard work of these talented young entrepreneurs." said Paul

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Schuytema, Executive Director of the Economic Development Alliance of Lincoln County. "At the

heart of this educational experience is learning 'entrepreneurial thinking skills' - skills like

opportunity recognition, opportunity creation and risk assessment - and these are vital skills

that will serve these students for a lifetime, whether or not they end up running their own

business."

The YEP Pitch Competition will be held at the Gladys Valley Marine Studies Building Auditorium

located at 2030 Southeast Marine Science Drive Newport, OR 97365 on Wednesday, May 15

th at

5:30 p.m.

This is a FREE event, celebratory refreshments and snacks will be provided. If you are interested

in RSVPing for this event (walk-ins are also welcome), please visit the punchbowl invite here:

tinyurl.com/YEPpitch

The Youth Entrepreneurship Program could not have been successful without its sponsor,

Northwest Oregon Works (NOW). NOW is a champion for impactful workforce solutions, acting

as a catalyst in workforce development to provide leadership, foster partnerships, and

make investments that address the employment needs of individuals and the business

community in Benton, Clatsop, Columbia, Lincoln, and Tillamook counties.

EDALC's entrepreneurial events, including the YEP pitch competition, are funded in-part from

grant dollars from Business Oregon's Rural Opportunity Initiative (ROI) program. The ROI

program provides funding and technical assistance to rural organizations and partnerships to

foster the awareness (and future success) of our local entrepreneurs - they are truly an

essential foundational element of our local economy here in Lincoln County.

The Economic Development Alliance of Lincoln County (EDALC) is an independent Oregon

501(c)(6) nonprofit economic development organization. EDALC staff members work every day

to attract, support and grow businesses in Lincoln County to ensure community-wide economic

well-being and an improved quality of life. EDALC has served Lincoln County for 30 years and is

governed by a passionate, local board of directors. We receive our funding from local

governmental units, our local business community and grant dollars. Learn more

at BusinessLincolnCounty.com.

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