Updated 4/8/2021 4:21 PM A program based in Palatine that teaches young students the skills to start a real-life business is in need of about 10 adult mentors beginning next week. The Young Entrepreneurs Academy, a national program, is offered to 12- to 14-year-olds by the Palatine Area Chamber of Commerce in partnership with Palatine Township Elementary School District 15.
Palatine's is the only Chamber of Commerce in Illinois that offers the YEA program, said Steven Gaus, executive director of the chamber. The chamber started offering it in 2013 in conjunction with Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211. It was so successful that a business incubator program was started at the high school, and the chamber then partnered in 2015 with District 15, Gaus said.