In 2009, my YouthBuild students in Greensboro, Alabama were given a challenge to develop a product that would utilize a local ingredient. They came up with pecans! It started small with a few students making pecan brittle in the back of our small Pie Lab (www.pielab.org) and is now a full blown small business thanks to a Design Ignites Change grant we were awarded. Now the business even has a website (www.the-pecans.com)! *YouthBuild is a non-profit organization that serves out-of-school youth ages 16 - 24 through GED courses, job training and leadership development skills. Following the completion of the program, YB students are offered assistance in job and college placement.

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