Who We Serve
At Junior Achievement, we’re committed to reaching a diverse student population, supported by diverse volunteers and partners. We want the JA family to reflect the beauty and dimension of our own community. This includes diversity in areas such as race, ethnicity, culture, gender/gender identity, economic background, education, language, physical and mental ability, and more. Our community will be strengthened by a robust, shared commitment to support all AZ students.
WHY IT MATTERS
JA is committed to promoting a more equitable and just tomorrow. Our shared future depends on how prepared today’s kids — from all backgrounds — are to navigate the realities they will face as adults. Lasting, institutional change is only possible if the people most likely to benefit are prepared with the information and skills necessary to navigate a changing landscape.
We know that education is an equalizer in the world of opportunity. Our proven approach gives today’s kids that power in the form of financial capability, workforce readiness, and entrepreneurship. These skills will not only improve their lives, but will bolster their families, their communities, and our nation.
0%
of JA alumni are financially independent from their parents (age 18-29)
0%
of JA alumni have their dream job
0%
of JA alumni say JA influenced the belief they could achieve their goals
Our innovative programs allow us to reach students from all different geographic areas of Arizona, ranging from rural, suburban, urban, and tribal communities. Most importantly, our programs are designed to achieve outcomes that are equitable. Our current educational partners include over 400 public, private, charter, and homeschool K-12 partners who see the benefit in Junior Achievement programming and help us reach more than 170,000 primarily low-income, diverse students annually. Within those schools, we have more than 3,200 teacher partners who integrate our career and financial literacy programming into their classroom curriculum.
- Commitment to further diversifying our student reach
- Prioritizing schools with high populations of students that are under-resourced, and/or are minority
- Partnering with other non-profit organizations and government groups to reach vulnerable youth populations — specifically focused on foster care and juvenile detention centers
- Piloting a career-readiness and entrepreneurship program, specifically enrolling two cohorts of minority youth in Arizona
- Increasing access to JA programs
- Developing free, online Spanish content
- Creating more virtual programming for students in rural areas to have equal opportunity to receive JA
- Commitment to further diversifying volunteer demographics
- 60% of Black alumni, 45% of Hispanic alumni, and 49% of white alumni say Junior Achievement gave them confidence in new situations, according to the Ipsos survey
- The survey demonstrated 60% of Hispanic alumni, 52% of Black alumni, and 51% of white alumni have started one or more businesses during their careers
- The 2016 survey also shows a statistically significant shift in those reporting an increase in their standard of living between childhood and adulthood, a strong indicator of economic mobility