our youth. our future.
Education & Youth Development
Opening doors to educational opportunity for every student
MBE will host annual education-based conferences, fairs, and summits to ensure that all students have access to quality educational and career- pathway options and outlets for academic and career advancement.
Youth Entrepreneur Series
Got a teenager already selling something on the side? Braids, T-shirts, resold sneakers, maybe a lawn care hustle that’s picking up more customers than they can handle. The Youth Entrepreneur Session is built for exactly that young person.
Local business owners, several of whom started with nothing more than a phone and a few hundred dollars, will break down the basics most schools skip entirely. How do you actually price a product so it covers your time and not just your materials? What does a business license require, and why is it worth getting one before a customer asks? And bookkeeping, boring as it sounds, is honestly the difference between a hustle that survives a slow month and one that doesn’t.
There will be time for real questions, not just a Q&A card at the end nobody uses. Our youth will leave with a short list of next steps they can act on that same week: opening a business bank account, pricing their next batch of product properly, whatever fits where they’re at.
Expect fewer slides and a lot more straight talk from people who’ve actually done it. Mistakes included.
Local business owners, several of whom started with nothing more than a phone and a few hundred dollars, will break down the basics most schools skip entirely. How do you actually price a product so it covers your time and not just your materials? What does a business license require, and why is it worth getting one before a customer asks? And bookkeeping, boring as it sounds, is honestly the difference between a hustle that survives a slow month and one that doesn’t.
There will be time for real questions, not just a Q&A card at the end nobody uses. Our youth will leave with a short list of next steps they can act on that same week: opening a business bank account, pricing their next batch of product properly, whatever fits where they’re at.
Expect fewer slides and a lot more straight talk from people who’ve actually done it. Mistakes included.
MBE Scholarships
This is the part of the weekend we’re proudest of. Metro Black Expo will be awarding scholarships to students who’ve shown up. Academically, in their communities, and in ways that don’t always show up on a transcript. We’ll present those awards live during the expo, in front of family, mentors, and the sponsors who made it possible.
Every dollar comes from local businesses and vendors who believe investing in a young person’s education pays off for the whole community, not just the individual receiving it. Some of these students have juggled schoolwork with jobs, family responsibilities, or circumstances most people never see.
This moment is meant to say, clearly and publicly, that the effort was noticed. We want every recipient walking off that stage knowing the belief behind the scholarship is now backed by something real. And we want everyone watching to understand exactly why that support matters.
MBE Educational Sessions
Not every path to success runs through a four year degree, and this session says so out loud, which is rarer than it should be. The Youth Educational Session brings in educators, school counselors, and tradespeople to walk students through the full range of what’s actually available after high school. Trade certifications in fields like HVAC and electrical work, community college transfer programs, HBCUs, registered apprenticeships that pay while you train.
Just as important is how to pay for each option without drowning in debt by twenty two.
Panelists will talk plainly about what a semester actually costs, how FAFSA works, and where students commonly get tripped up filling out applications. There’s no single track being pushed here. Some young people in the room will be headed to a four year school, some to a two year program, some straight into a trade, and the session is built to respect all three without treating any of them as the fallback option.
It’s for the student who wants their choices laid out honestly, by people who aren’t just repeating what a guidance pamphlet says.
Just as important is how to pay for each option without drowning in debt by twenty two.
Panelists will talk plainly about what a semester actually costs, how FAFSA works, and where students commonly get tripped up filling out applications. There’s no single track being pushed here. Some young people in the room will be headed to a four year school, some to a two year program, some straight into a trade, and the session is built to respect all three without treating any of them as the fallback option.
It’s for the student who wants their choices laid out honestly, by people who aren’t just repeating what a guidance pamphlet says.
College Fair
Saturday is College Fair Day, and the floor will be lined with recruiters and admissions reps from colleges, universities, and trade schools, all there to talk directly to students and families rather than hand out a brochure and move on.
Bring your questions. About financial aid packages, application deadlines you might be close to missing, what campus life is actually like versus what the website says, whatever’s genuinely on your mind. The people staffing these tables can answer on the spot, not redirect you to an email address you’ll never hear back from.
Some schools will have same day acceptance or fee waivers available right there at the table, so it’s worth showing up with an unofficial transcript if you’ve got one handy, along with a notebook for names and follow up steps.
Families are welcome to sit in on these conversations too. A lot of the financial aid questions parents have are exactly the ones these reps are prepared for.
Come with a list if you’ve got one, but honestly, showing up curious is enough.
Bring your questions. About financial aid packages, application deadlines you might be close to missing, what campus life is actually like versus what the website says, whatever’s genuinely on your mind. The people staffing these tables can answer on the spot, not redirect you to an email address you’ll never hear back from.
Some schools will have same day acceptance or fee waivers available right there at the table, so it’s worth showing up with an unofficial transcript if you’ve got one handy, along with a notebook for names and follow up steps.
Families are welcome to sit in on these conversations too. A lot of the financial aid questions parents have are exactly the ones these reps are prepared for.
Come with a list if you’ve got one, but honestly, showing up curious is enough.
Youth Leadership Session
Metro Black Expo’s Youth Leadership Session gives young people a real seat at the table. Not a lecture about leadership, but a room where they actually practice it.
Teens and young adults will work through group challenges designed to put them in situations where someone has to speak up, make a call, or pull a team back together after things go sideways. They’ll hear directly from community leaders, pastors, small business owners, local organizers, about the decisions and setbacks that shaped their paths, including the parts that didn’t go according to plan. That honesty matters more than the polished version most young people get fed.
Students will walk away with practical tools: how to speak in front of a group without freezing, how to disagree with someone respectfully, how to notice when they’re already leading even if nobody’s given them the title yet.
If your student has ever been told they’re “too quiet” or “too much,” this is the session that reframes both as strengths, and gives them language for it they can actually use at school, at church, or wherever they show up next.
Teens and young adults will work through group challenges designed to put them in situations where someone has to speak up, make a call, or pull a team back together after things go sideways. They’ll hear directly from community leaders, pastors, small business owners, local organizers, about the decisions and setbacks that shaped their paths, including the parts that didn’t go according to plan. That honesty matters more than the polished version most young people get fed.
Students will walk away with practical tools: how to speak in front of a group without freezing, how to disagree with someone respectfully, how to notice when they’re already leading even if nobody’s given them the title yet.
If your student has ever been told they’re “too quiet” or “too much,” this is the session that reframes both as strengths, and gives them language for it they can actually use at school, at church, or wherever they show up next.