Description
Lemonade Day is a free, community-wide educational initiative designed to teach children how to start, own, and operate their own business - a lemonade stand. Students grades 2nd to 8th work with teachers or afterschool instructors through a 12 step business planning process. The curriculum culminates in the city wide event of Lemonade Day where elementary and middle school students put their planning into practice. In 2013, Lemonade Day is scheduled for June 8th.
Lemonade Day started in Houston, Texas in 2005 and has since expanded to engage 125,000 students aross the nation. In the next three years, our goal is to offer Lemonade Day free of charge to one millon youth. In our first year in Chicago, Lemonade Day offered almost 4,000 opportunities to participate in the program. 2013 will be a big year of growth for the program. We'll be offering programs to at least 15,000 students.
Students keep their profits from their stands and learn valuable lessons in the financial literacy through the "Spend, Save, Share" model. All materials and a variety of support services are provided free of charge to community partners. Lemonade Day Chicago provides trainings for instructors, mentoring services from local business groups, microloan funding to cover start-up costs, and willl host a series of city-wide competitions in the lead up to Lemonade Day.
Lemonade day is sponsored by the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, CME Group Foundation, Chicago Public Schools and the City of Chicago.
