Reflecting on National Financial Literacy Month
Author: Ashlyn Lower
Financial Literacy
Published:
Tuesday, 09 May 2023
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Image caption: Volunteer teaching students critical financial skills
Financial literacy is one of the three main pillars we are built on at Junior Achievement. We believe in the power of financial freedom, and we help students start a lifelong education around understanding finances and their importance in our lives.
The power of JA lies within our nationally recognized curriculum and the volunteers that deliver it. Our programs, taught to students K-12, focus on providing students at every stage of their lives the relevant information they need to be successful, confident members of society.
We start with our youngest JA students, teaching them the fundamental Needs verses Wants lesson. The JA Ourselves® program introduces the idea of money, ways to earn, and the importance of saving. This program sets the foundation for financial literacy before they can even spell it. Check out Joe Gianni's,President, Bank Of America Greater Hartford and 2023 JA Hall of Fame Laureate, experience!
As our students grow, so does the programming. JA More than Money® introduces elementary aged students to money-management skills, the basic steps of starting a business, the advantages and disadvantages of borrowing money, and the opportunities of global markets.
JA Economics for Success® teaches middle school students to develop an awareness of their individual preferences toward work and financial goals, to associate current values, skills, and interests with future success in a dynamic and changing workforce, and to think critically to connect today’s financial choices with their future in the ever-changing economy.
With our older students, JA offers many different programs including our intensive Entrepreneurial Academies built around financial literacy and entrepreneurship and run in partnership with area companies including The Hartford, Pratt & Whitney, and Stanley Black & Decker. Students in these academies work together with peers from suburban and urban schools to start and run their own company with elected positions, board meetings, and suppliers with quotes coming in higher than anticipated. From selling stock through liquidation, students learn what it means to be an entrepreneur in today’s economy. Listen to Dev Goel’s experience here.
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