TEP Empowers JA Arizona

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Customers can join us in helping local students build a more secure financial future.

Through the TEP Gives program, TEP will make a donation to a local nonprofit group for each account holder who signs up for Budget Billing, e-bill or Auto Pay. TEP’s donations in the third quarter of 2021 will go to JA!

TEP’s contributions to JA and other charities are funded from corporate resources that won’t be recovered through TEP’s rates. The additional donations that result from TEP Gives will help JA expand its reach and impact in our community.

Frank Marino, TEP’s Chief Financial Officer, serves as chairman of JA’s state board of directors. So he knows well that JA has a positive impact on graduation and college admissions rates, in part by providing content that students typically aren’t exposed to in their traditional school curriculum.

“Through my work with Junior Achievement, I have seen how financial literacy education can help our youth succeed as they move forward in their lives,” he said. “Junior Achievement helps ensure that all students can access this essential information in an effort to help power their future success.”

TEP’s longstanding partnership with JA is an important part of their support of education in the community, one of TEP’s philanthropic focus areas.

“Strengthening education is one of the most effective ways to secure a better economic future, to advance social impact and to make sure our community remains on a path of sustained growth,” said Wendy Erica Werden, TEP’s Manager of Community Investment and Philanthropy.

TEP employees volunteer in Tucson classrooms every year, delivering JA lessons that teach students how to make smart money choices, learn job skills, and plan for future careers. They also help Southern Arizona high school students participate in the JA Student Stock Market Challenge, which teaches more than 500 local high school students about the stock market, investing, risks and rewards through an investing competition.

Rocco, a JA student and Young Ambassador, said additional support would be welcome. “The skills I have learned from my JA experience will help me be more prepared for my life as a future businessperson.”