Junior Achievement of Central Carolinas

The mission and purpose of Junior Achievement (JA) is to inspire and prepare young people to succeed in a global economy with an end result of empowering young people to own their economic success. Nearly a century old, Junior Achievement is the world’s largest organization dedicated to educating students about workforce readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy through experiential, hands-on programs. Organization Goals: The goals of Junior Achievement of Central Carolinas are: • To empower young people to own their future economic success by enhancing the relevancy of education. • To ignite the spark in young people to experience and realize the opportunities and realities of work and life in a 21st century global marketplace. • To create direct connections between the business world and young people in order to introduce them to the opportunities and principles of a free market economy and to stimulate economic success. JA Programs: JA programs help prepare young people for the real world by showing them how to generate income and effectively manage it, how to create jobs to make their communities more robust, and how to apply entrepreneurial thinking to the workplace. Students put these lessons into action and learn the value of contributing to their communities. Junior Achievement of Central Carolinas offers programming through a variety of initiatives and delivery methods. Our capstone programs, JA BizTown®, JA Finance Park®, and JA Job Shadow™ combine in-class curriculum and a visit to hands-on learning environments. JA’s in-classroom programs bring volunteers from the community into the classroom to deliver powerful curricula while sharing their experiences with students. Embodying the heart of JA, classroom volunteers transform the key concepts of our lessons into a message that inspires and empowers students to believe in themselves, showing them they can make a difference in the world.