The Citizen Entrepreneur Explorer Program (CEEP) gives educators a proven, flexible framework to cultivate socially conscious, community-first entrepreneurs — students ready to lead in a world shaped by AI and rapid change. This guide is your launchpad.
Why CEEP?
Traditional education is having a hard time getting results with students using AI. CEEP goes further — equipping students with empathy, civic awareness, and real-world problem-solving rooted in their own communities. For faculty and administrators, CEEP is a turnkey framework that transforms any classroom into a laboratory for social innovation.
Community-First
Students learn by engaging real neighborhoods, not hypothetical case studies.
AI-Ready
Integrates generative AI tools at every step of the research process.
Flexible
Adapts to 6-, 8-, or 16-week terms across disciplines and program types.
CEEP's Core Mission
What We Believe
Effective leadership goes beyond individual competence. It demands a deep understanding of — and contribution to — the communities one serves. CEEP bridges the gap between entrepreneurship education and community-based experience.
What You Get as an Educator
- A structured, research-backed curriculum
- Tools for fostering student retention and engagement
- A framework aligned with NACE employer competencies
- Resources for integrating AI and experiential learning
Start Where It Matters: The Community
Community discovery is the heart of CEEP. Rather than proposing solutions in isolation, students immerse themselves in the cultural, social, and economic fabric of local neighborhoods — identifying real gaps, unmet needs, and opportunities for social impact.
For Educators
Facilitate structured community visits, guide critical questioning, and encourage ongoing reflection. Your role is to open the door — students walk through it.
For Students
Build trust with community members, observe daily life, and listen deeply. These insights become the foundation for every business strategy that follows.
Community Engagement as Leadership Training
CEEP redefines leadership education. Students don't just study leadership — they practice it by collaborating with real stakeholders, navigating diverse perspectives, and co-creating solutions that serve their communities.
Stakeholder Collaboration
Students build lasting partnerships with community members, organizations, and local agencies — learning negotiation and collective action firsthand.
Inclusive Problem-Solving
Exposure to lived community experiences cultivates empathy and informs decisions that truly address the needs of those students aim to serve.
Reflective Practice
Structured reflection builds self-awareness, resilience, and the adaptive leadership styles that employers and communities demand.
From Classroom to Community: Service-Learning in Action
Service-learning is the conduit that connects theory to practice. Through CEEP's structured community projects, students apply academic knowledge in authentic settings — strengthening critical thinking, adaptability, and problem-solving while making real contributions to the communities they serve.
Experiential Learning Drives Retention
Students who own their learning stay enrolled. CEEP's six-step journey transforms passive observers into active researchers — invested in their projects, their communities, and their own growth. Reflection, peer collaboration, and mentorship create a community of learners that sustains engagement semester after semester.
Integrated Steps
Each building ownership and purpose
Term Lengths
6-, 8-, and 16-week options
Community Impact
Every project serves a real audience
Take It Further: Academic Research Conferences
Example Research Presentation
Weeks 13–14 and the BMCC Academic Research Symposium (BARS) in May give students a platform to present research posters to academics, entrepreneurs, and community leaders — at CUNY and nationally.
Poster Development
Visually engaging research posters with faculty mentorship throughout.
Presentation Skills
Workshop on engaging conference attendees and fielding questions.
Networking
Connections with researchers, industry professionals, and community leaders.
Your Step-by-Step Implementation Guide
Bringing CEEP into your classroom, afterschool program, or educational initiative is straightforward. Follow these steps to get started:
Introduce CEEP
Share the mission, six steps, and NACE alignment with your team or department.
Plan Your Curriculum
Select your term length (6, 8, or 16 weeks) and map activities to your calendar.
Train & Develop
Attend faculty development sessions on community-first practice and experiential learning.
Facilitate & Mentor
Guide community engagement, support reflection, and champion student growth throughout.
Amplify CEEP Beyond Your Campus
Hashtags to Use
#SocialImpact
#CommunityFirst
#EntrepreneurshipEducation
#CEEPStudentResearchers
#CivicEntrepreneur
Connecting to Current Conversations
Align CEEP messaging with ongoing dialogues around AI in education, community engagement, and experiential learning. Share student success stories, community partnerships, and innovative research projects across platforms to grow your program's reach and inspire other educators.
Scholarly Foundation
CEEP is grounded in peer-reviewed research across empathy, self-efficacy, community-first practice, and AI in education.
Empathy & Self-Efficacy
- Singer & Klimecki (2019). "Empathy and compassion." Current Biology
- Wei & Ran (2021). "Enhancing empathy through mindfulness." Social Work Research
- Bandura (2020). "Toward a psychology of human agency." Perspectives on Psychological Science
Community Research & AI
- Ortega & Aguilar (2019). "Community-based participatory research." Journal of Social Distress
- Wilkins (2021). "Community-first approaches in practice." Journal of Higher Education Outreach
- Alpaydin (2020). "Machine learning for citizen science." IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks
Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 — Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International
Join the Movement: Reinvent Engagement
CEEP transforms students into compassionate, AI-ready entrepreneurs — and it starts with educators like you choosing to lead with community first.
The expansion of CEEP is made possible by the support of Borough of Manhattan Community College and the Kauffman Foundation. Special thanks to the CEEP faculty and staff team: Monika Mitchell, Mahatapa Palit, Romina DeNicola, Juan Sanchez, Tristan Rodriguez, Tiffany Schreane, and Jessica Pitts.
Reinventing Engagement for the Age of AI