Junior Achievement USA®

Junior Achievement Sparks Student Success

Junior Achievement (JA) empowers young people to own their economic success. Our volunteer-delivered, K-12 programs foster work-readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy skills, and use experiential learning to inspire kids to dream big and reach their potential.

Junior Achievement impacts 4 million U.S. students in more than 173,000 classrooms. With the help of 171,000 volunteers, JA students develop the skills they need to experience the realities and opportunities of work and entrepreneurship in the 21st-century global marketplace.

Junior Achievement Enhances Communities

There are more than 120 JA Areas operating across the United States. Through an innovative partnership between the business community, educators and volunteers, these JA Areas help young people connect with relevant learning and the importance of staying in school. JA inspires students to develop competitive skills and confidence. Their success bolsters the local workforce and contributes to economic growth.

Junior Achievement:
A Solution to the Workforce Skills Gap

The workforce skills gap has a significant impact on our nation's productivity, economy, and global competitiveness. Learn more about this issue and how Junior Achievement is addressing it, by teaching students how to apply the knowledge they learn in the classroom to real-world problems and equipping them with the skills they need to be college- and career-ready.

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JA Graduation Pathways

As a complement to its focus on helping all students understand the importance of staying in school, Junior Achievement is helping to positively impact one of the biggest economic and social issues facing our country—the high school graduation rate. Read about JA’s comprehensive study to develop a model focused on increasing this important metric.

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2011 Free Enterprise Survey

Junior Achievement USA and the National Chamber Foundation recently conducted the first-ever national survey of high school juniors’ views of entrepreneurship, free enterprise and capitalism. See what the next generation of entrepreneurs had to say—read the results here.

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CNN/HLN Coverage:
JA Offers Tips About Kids and Credit

Only 10 percent of kids 12-17 say they have a credit card, but 60 percent say people should get one after high school. Watch this clip from CNN/HLN’s “Top Tips” where JA USA’s President and CEO Jack Kosakowski shared tips for teaching kids the value of credit.

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JA Finance Park® Virtual

See JA Finance Park Virtual in action! This new, online personal-finance simulation helps students learn how to budget, save, invest and spend responsibly. JA Finance Park Virtual was generously sponsored by Capital One Financial Corporation.

Junior Achievement Is Making a Difference: View an Inspiring Story of Students and Volunteers

View the video and get a better understanding of students’ excitement over Junior Achievement learning and volunteer mentorship—and the reciprocal feeling of reward and satisfaction that volunteers experience. While JA empowers young people to own their economic success, it also inspires JA volunteers.


Looking for Position Papers?

See these and many other Position Papers in the archive

  • Government Stimulus and Economic Recovery
  • How Business Can Help Attack the Dropout Crisis in America



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