Description
Junior Achievement of Western Oregon inspires and prepares young people to succeed in a global economy through hands on programs that teach K-12 students skills about, work readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy. With 65 years of continuous operation in Oregon, JA is an affiliate of Junior Achievement USA which has worked since 1919 to provide economic and financial literacy education.
Curriculum ranges from educating students how to generate wealth and effectively manage it, to how to acquire, create and maintain jobs that make their communities more robust, to how to apply entrepreneurial thinking to their future workplace. While the specific program content varies by grade-level, much of our program curriculum leverages hands-on experiential learning and/or technology to deliver valuable economic content in a meaningful and resonant way. This school year alone, JA of Western Oregon is expected to reach 120 classrooms, impacting over 3,000 students across Lane County.
Fundamental to our unique approach is the use of 100+ trained community volunteers who deliver our age-appropriate programs. The dynamic interaction between our school partners, students and adult volunteers who share their firsthand business experience is difficult to overstate. Leveraging their own expertise, our volunteers help to facilitate a deeper understanding of our key economic concepts, and help to equip students with the competence and confidence to translate classroom theory into real-world application.
JA is governed by an 18-person Board of Directors which is comprised of business and education leaders. Junior Achievement is committed to providing a practical economic foundation for students across a diversity of ethnic and economic backgrounds. As we aim to promote equity and economic opportunity to all populations, in any given year, a significant portion of the youth we serve are economically disadvantaged; 40% of schools participating in JA have a high proportion of students who qualify for the Federal Free and Reduced Lunch program.
