TripAdvisor Charitable Foundation Awards Nonprofit Minding Our Business $25,000

Funds to provide operating support for organization that provides entrepreneurship training to low-income students

Lawrenceville, NJ – October 7, 2015 – As nonprofit Minding Our Business educates middle school students on how to be successful entrepreneurs, the organization instills in these future business leaders the importance of giving back to their community once they make it big. This message resonated in Jeremy Hopewell, who as a graduate student at Rider University, worked for MOB as a field supervisor and mentor in the program. With Jeremy’s recommendation and his support, MOB was recently awarded a $25,000 grant from the TripAdvisor Charitable Foundation.

Mr. Hopewell, who is employed at Cruise Critic, which is part of TripAdvisor, explained, “After working as Dr. Sigfredo Hernandez’s graduate assistant at MOB, I jumped at the chance to be able to give back to such a wonderful organization and to show my support. One of the greatest benefits from working at TripAdvisor is that the company strongly believes in supporting charitable organizations, and they are always looking to give back to local communities. I look forward to being a part of the future partnership between MOB and TripAdvisor.”

MOB began in 1997 as a community outreach program of Rider University’s College of Business Administration and received its own 501(c) 3 designation in November 2012. Since its launch, MOB has taught entrepreneurship education to more than 3,000 low-income students through a variety of programming for young adults. MOB currently offers both an after school Service-Learning Program and a Summer Program that targets middle school students and teaches them how to run their own business. By the end of each program, students launch their business venture and sell their products and services.

Our employees are the heart and soul of our foundation,” said Tali Golan, Research Manager, TripAdvisor Charitable Foundation. “We are proud that our foundation is driven by individuals, like Jeremy Hopewell, who are passionate about giving back and serving great organizations such as Minding Our Business which is helping to serve a critical gap in the education system and change the lives of local youth and adults. As with others, we hope this example inspires other TripAdvisor’s employees to volunteer their time and skills for organizations and causes they care about.”

“The grant from Trip Advisor will allow us to cover the new operating costs that we are facing as a startup organization,” said Dr. Hernandez, who is also the Co-Founder of Minding Our Business. This generous gift will help us build the capacities needed for viability, and in the future, to achieve impact expansion beyond our core programs.” Kevin Wortham, Executive Director of Minding Our Business, added, “The grant award will be used by MOB toward operating costs that are essential to the organization’s ability to provide our high-quality entrepreneurship programming to more students than ever before.”

For further information about Minding Our Business, please visit www.minding-our-business.com.

Pictured, left to right: A student from the MOB program with Jeremy Hopewell from Trip Advisor

Pictured, left to right: A student from the MOB program with Jeremy Hopewell from Trip Advisor

 

About Minding Our Business

The mission of Minding Our Business is to improve academic, leadership, and entrepreneurship skills, and to boost self-confidence among at- risk middle school students using a unique hands-on approach involving entrepreneurship education and mentoring. The vision is that MOB will one day be the leading model for entrepreneurship education for urban youth nationally. For further information about Minding Our Business, please visit www.minding-our-business.com.