More lively morning rush hours, back-to-school sales galore, cooler (at least slightly) temps…yep, it is that time again.

Last week marked the completion of our fourth annual Young Entrepreneur Mentorship Program (YEMP). The program is funded by a generous grant from the JPMorgan Chase Foundation and from operating funds of the Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Business Improvement District.

Fifteen local teens were placed with Myrtle Avenue businesses for a seven week summer experience which included 20 work hours per week. MARP recruits the students, schedules interviews with participating merchants, handles all of the employment paperwork, and pays their wages for the summer. Myrtle merchants oversee the teens and serve as supervisors and mentors to the local high school students.

A couple of the teens were hired by local businesses upon completion of the program, and thus will be continuing on in an after-school capacity.

We are grateful to the following students and employers for their commitment to making the fourth year of the program a major success:

Dejon Allen (Wally’s Square Root Cafe, 584 Myrtle); Ashley Andrews (Walgreen’s, 379 Myrtle), Efun-Sade Cadle (Optimum Care Rehab, 474 Myrtle), Devante Carolina (PrattStore, 550 Myrtle), Kadijatou Diallo (Green in BKLYN, 432 Myrtle and Karen’s Body Beautiful, 436 Myrtle), Danielle Faulkner (Root Stock & Quade, 471 Myrtle), Justin Felton (Root Stock & Quade, 471 Myrtle), Michael Greene (Miracle’s Unisex Barber Shop, 473A Myrtle), Ahtivah Lawton (Clinton Hill Animal Clinic, 476 Myrtle), Krishjan Moore-Snell (Sandbox, 487 Myrtle), Dwayne Carolina (PrattStore, 550 Myrtle), Miguel Morales (Bravo, 331A Myrtle), Quatayga Smith (Fort Greene SNAP, 324 Myrtle), ShaQuira Williams (Associated, 492 Myrtle) and Marcos Morales (Walgreen’s, 379 Myrtle).