LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ -- A program created by a Rider University marketing professor to teach entrepreneurial and business management skills to Trenton sixth and seventh graders has helped lead to the creation of a summer-long urban flea market for regular vendors and students alike to showcase and sell their products.

The Trenton Flea Market and Market Fair, a joint venture between the West Ward Community Partnership Corporation (WWCPC) and Rider University's College of Business Administration (CBA), will open to the public on Saturday, July 12, 1997, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and run every Saturday through September 27, 1997. It will be located in a lot adjacent to 38 North Hermitage Avenue, between West State Street and Bellevue Avenue.

Since the early 1980's, Trenton's West Ward has experienced a decline in population and income that has negatively impacted the retail potential of the area. The lack of economic opportunity in the area has also led to an increasing rate of poverty, drug abuse, and crime among the high percentage of unemployed West Ward teens.

The Flea Market and Market Fair is intended to foster community development by providing a place for West Ward residents to shop, socialize, and learn, as well as provide employment opportunities for Trenton youths during the summer months. Cultural events will be scheduled that feature speakers and local performing and visual artists.

At present, no such summer market exists in the City of Trenton.

"We want to try to stimulate the economy in the West Ward," said WWCPC executive director Robert Abdullah, whose two-year-old community development group initiated the idea of creating and managing a summer marketplace. "We also want to bring a lot of people together and provide cultural entertainment anything that benefits the West Ward and provides community atmosphere and pride."

The vending center will also provide an opportunity for children participating in Rider's Minding Our Business (MOB) Summer Program to run their businesses in a safe community environment. The MOB Summer Program is the continuation of the original MOB program implemented in January by Rider in the Arthur J. Holland Middle School in the West Ward. The program organized 11- and 12-year-old students into teams who, under the guidance and direction of CBA students, developed business plans, presented the plans to an advisory board of CBA faculty members and local business leaders, and received funding based on their presentation to create and run their businesses.

"The market will benefit the community by contributing to the revitalization of the West Ward community, while also benefiting our MOB students by giving them a safe place to continue to conduct business over the summer," said Dr. Sigfredo Hernandez, associate professor of marketing at Rider and creator of the MOB program.

The MOB Summer Program involves three days of training on Rider's Lawrenceville campus, a field trip to the New York Stock Exchange and the city's wholesale district, and follow-up contact every two weeks during the summer to chart the progress of the students and their businesses. Parents will also be required to attend an evening session at Rider for guidance training in support of their children's entrepreneurial initiatives.

MOB Summer Program students will unveil their businesses at the Trenton Market Fair and Flea Market beginning on July 12.

Vendors wishing to secure an area at the Flea Market and Market Fair should contact Mr. Abdullah at (609) 393-0116 or Kevin Wortham, president of Youth Works Distribution, at (609) 396-3693.

For more information on the MOB Summer Program, contact Dr. Hernandez at (609) 895-5509.