Here is a message from JAGFC Board Chair, Mike Steinharter:
I have been involved with Junior Achievement – in New York and in Connecticut – for almost 20 years, and have long appreciated its mission:
“Junior Achievement (JA) empowers young people to own their economic success. JA’s volunteer-delivered, K-12 programs foster work-readiness, entrepreneurship, and financial literacy skills, and use experiential learning to inspire kids to dream big and reach their potential.”
JA provides an opportunity for volunteers like me to invest in the youth of our communities. Our traditional method of delivery has been either in-classroom or afterschool programs. I have found teaching in the classroom to be incredibly rewarding and know that on those occasions when I have reached a child that we have made a difference.
The world is changing so fast now that it’s important to recognize how JA is changing and the important role it will play in the ‘new normal.’ It is hard to predict how much in-class presence will be feasible in the near term. Frankly, I think that a mix of in class, virtual, and hybrid delivered content is going to be appropriate for the future, however we define it. JA is already delivering outstanding content virtually while schools are closed and will offer alternatives going forward – for summer classes and for whichever educational strategy is deployed in the Fall.
Parents will be interested – Junior Achievement brings complementary teaching in Financial Literacy, Work Readiness, and Entrepreneurship. We bring it via volunteers from your community who are role models from the business world. Your kids respond to this and their teachers welcome it, as incremental value to what they get directly from school.
I am proud to be part of JA, now more than ever, when investing in our youth is one of the best strategies we can embrace…and we can always use more volunteers!
-Mike Steinharter