Merchants of Hope
The Thomas Jefferson High School of Entrepreneurship is a new project that emerges from both a $5 million planning grant to the Rochester (NY) City School District from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and a $3.5 million grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation to the University of Rochester (UR). The aim of the Gates planning grant to the RCSD was to enable more students from the city of Rochester to attend college by fostering creative partnerships between individual schools and Rochester area colleges and universities.
Jefferson High School received a small portion of these funds for Gates-related activity. Through the Kauffman grant, the University has established entrepreneurship as a centerpiece of its educational mission. The current proposal is a product of the resulting partnership between Jefferson High School and the University of Rochester.
Through its College of Arts, Sciences and Engineering, the UR will supply resources in entrepreneurship—credit-bearing courses and internships in entrepreneurship, workshops, faculty expertise, student partnerships, scholarships, and other resources—to the teachers and students of Jefferson High School to enable the School of Entrepreneurship to fulfill its mission. The partnership already has enabled Jefferson High School and the University of Rochester to lay a strong foundation and to make substantial
