“The market cannot take care of itself,” he said.  People are realizing that things are not working and want to get involved.  They’re reassessing their responsibility for the world they want to see.  In the last couple of years, more universities have been responding to the demand for this type of study.”
   So begins the article “Educate Yourself, Change the World” by Erika Prafder in the Education section of the 11/5/09 New York Post, and the above sums up the reasons, motives and blue print for R=U Properties, LLC (me) and The Green (eco-friendly) & R.E.D.(real-estate development) Project it runs.  I wanted to create a self-sustaining charitable, for-profit business that would make enough money to support my family and me while also helping as many others as much as possible.
   One of the differences between the above and this project is that I chose to work with high school kids instead of college kids and instead of having them pay me for the real-life business education they’re receiving, I pay them. I also give them and the charity of their choosing, the net profits generated by the sale of the home furnishings & accessories they created/refurbished to stage the homes. The businesses pay for themselves with the exception being overall project costs (storage & warehouse rental costs & tools, for example), payroll costs for the time spent teaching the kids what they need to know in order to run their businesses successfully and the financial bonus the winning team receives at the end.  Those costs come out of home renovation profits aka the money I make.

   The business provides all the same economic benefits as any other business, and by the nature of the business, it’s also meant to benefit the community and its residents.  The home improvements are eco-friendly (efficient insulation/windows/heating & cooling systems/energy star appliances etc) as is re-purposing used goods (a coffee table out of coffee cans, a plastic bottle fence and coat hooks out of old light bulbs, for example) and refurbishing home furnishings and accessories.  Buying second hand goods and improving them not only benefits the environment and the bottom line but also gives money directly to the thrift store charities where we’ve spent close to $25,000 on our beginning inventory for this pass of the project.

   Beyond the project lies the Senior class store which will work in tandem with the project and will still provide the same hands on business education and benefits but in a different setting and with additional goals and benefits.  In addition to being a retail store that's defined/run by the senior class, it will also be part community center, not just for the teens of the town but for other residents and organizations from the community to use when the store is not open as retail space as well as part artist studio/consignment store to provide an outlet for all those people with lots of talent but no place to work and/or show it off.

   The only remaining difference between the above article and the project is that to date, there is no link between the project and the high school curriculum which would make it even better and increase existing benefits while creating new ones, especially for the teachers, and ultimately, the tax-payers of the town where the project/store exist. 
   Would you like it in your town for your kids? Let us know as we’re looking for the town that would welcome the store, the project and a group of big kids with a lot of ideas and solutions to the problems we face as a society.