Junior Achievement (also JA or JA Worldwide) is a non-profit youth organization founded in 1919 by Horace A. Moses, Theodore Vail, and Winthrop M. Crane. Junior Achievement works with local businesses and organizations to deliver experiential programs on the topics of financial literacy, work readiness, and entrepreneurship to students in kindergarten through high school.
History
Boys' and Girls' Bureau of the Eastern States League was founded in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1919 to help educate young people moving from rural America to the country's booming cities about the means of production and free enterprise. The following year, the organization's name was changed to the Junior Achievement Bureau. The name was modified in 1926 to Junior Achievement, Inc.
Following World War II, the organization grew from a regional into a national organization. In the 1960s, JA began its growth into an international organization.
For more than 50 years, the organization was known mostly for the JA Company Program, an after-school program where teens formed student companies, sold stocks, produced a product and sold it in their communities. The student companies were overseen by volunteer advisers from the business community. In 1975, Junior Achievement introduced its first in-school program, Project Business, featuring volunteers from the local business community teaching middle school students about business and personal finance.
Today, Junior Achievement is the world's largest organization dedicated to giving young people the knowledge and skills they need to own their economic success, plan for their future, and make smart academic and economic choices. JA programs are delivered by corporate and community volunteers and provide relevant, hands-on experiences that give students from kindergarten through high school knowledge and skills in financial literacy, work readiness, and entrepreneurship. JA annually reaches 4.8 million students in more than 100 markets across the United States. Programs are delivered by more than 237,000 Junior Achievement volunteers. Globally, JA Worldwide reaches 10.6 million students in 117 countries.
Today, Junior Achievement Worldwide has regional offices in Junior Achievement USA, JA Middle East and Africa (INJAZ Al-Arab), JA YE Europe, JA Asia Pacific, JA Americas, and JA Africa.
Several other organizations have joined Junior Achievement, such as Vlajo in Belgium.
References
External links
- Junior Achievement Worldwide
- Junior Achievement Americas
- Junior Achievement USA
- JA Titan
- Junior Achievement archives
