Teaching teens comprehensively about money

Published in the Atlanta Journal Constitution on 9/23/15

Jack Harris, President & CEO, JA of Georgia

Are we doing everything we can as a community to ensure today’s students are prepared for the demands of tomorrow’s economy? This question is frequently deliberated by parents, educators, business leaders, and community activists.

With the rapid shifts in technology and connectivity, many of our children will be applying for jobs that do not exist today. Beyond this, only 11 percent of business leaders strongly believe that recent graduates have the skills to meet their current needs.

These intensified demands will not be solely linked to the workplace. The shifts will continue to heighten the complexity of the economic environment and require greater understanding to successfully navigate financial intricacies.

Atlanta currently ranks highest in the nation for income inequality. Even more astounding is that a person born into poverty in Atlanta has less than a 5 percent chance of upward mobility. Clearly, we cannot continue on this trajectory. Our children deserve more than a 5 percent chance to achieve the American Dream.

If a child never has the opportunity to experience a prosperous future, how do we expect them to deem it a possibility? If a student does not understand the relevance of standard curriculum, how do we expect them to stay engaged?

We have to provide meaningful opportunities that engage students in education and equip them to become financially independent, building a better future for themselves and the community.

Across various sectors, groups have taken steps to address these issues, and progress has been made. Yet, overall awareness among the public continues to lack. Envision the possibilities if everybody leaned in.

Imagine a generation where young people, no matter their background, know how to budget, save, and invest; a generation of tenacious individuals armed with the confidence, knowledge and capabilities to take control of their financial futures, their careers, and achieve their dreams.

To achieve this there is no single bullet. Transformational shifts cannot rest solely on the efforts of a school, school district, business or industry. To provide sustainable solutions that reverberate throughout metro Atlanta this must be a collaborative effort among the entire community.

Late August the second Junior Achievement Discovery Center was launched in metro Atlanta. These centers are collective efforts from five school districts, including Atlanta Public Schools, DeKalb County Schools, Fulton County Schools, Gwinnett County Public Schools and Marietta City Schools, more than 70 partners, such as Assurant, AT&T, Chick-fil-A, Cisco, Delta Air Lines, The Home Depot, and SunTrust, and 11,000 volunteers. Through these efforts, more than 60 percent of metro Atlanta middle school students are provided opportunities to develop skills for financial and professional success in an unmatched learning environment that is highly relevant, experiential, and authentic.

When students understand how academic lessons apply to the real world, they are more motivated in the classroom and ultimately achieve higher academic success. Since 2013, 65,000 students have experienced the JA Discovery Center, and the results show these programs produce mindful shifts. Ninety percent of students state that they now connect the relevance of education to future opportunities. Months following the simulations nine out of 10 teachers observe a sustained higher level of engagement and effort by their students.

The JA Discovery Centers have become a platform to re-imagine the high school experience. JA and Fulton County Schools recently partnered to launch the Junior Achievement Magnet Business Academy at Banneker High School. This program takes key aspects from the centers and applies them into the daily learning experience. The first class of students have accepted the challenge and are already excelling in their interdisciplinary studies.

True learning comes from doing, and when given the right tools there are no bounds to the potential of our youth. There is no greater cause for our community than the future of our children. I invite you to join JA, school systems and our partners, and become part of the movement to redefine a generation and place all students on a path to success.

Metro Atlanta teens provided hands-on experiences through AT&T job mentoring

Atlanta, GA – Junior Achievement (JA) of Georgia collaborated with AT&T on September 22 to provide more than 60 students from the Junior Achievement Magnet Business Academy (JA-MBA) at Banneker High School with job mentoring. The teens participated in a job shadow event with AT&T employee mentors as a part of the AT&T Job Mentoring Program. This event was one of many that will be held at JA Areas across the country during the 2015-16 school year. AT&T is seeking to increase the number of students with impacted by mentors in their lives, and intends to spend 1 million hours mentoring students by the end of 2016. 

The JA-MBA is a comprehensive high school program that creates immersive and authentic experiences by integrating real-world experiences and opportunities to transform the traditional high school experience. In its first year at Banneker High School, the freshman class of 150 students is led by six JA-trained teachers who deliver a blended curriculum consisting of traditional common core standards, interdisciplinary studies, and site visits like the AT&T Job Mentoring Program.  

The AT&T Job Mentoring Program aligns with this mission by enabling students to get out of the classroom, engage with the community and get the hands-on training to develop skills for future success. 

"We are grateful to AT&T for giving their efforts and time to provide an authentic experience for our students," said Jack Harris, President & CEO of JA of Georgia. "They not only learn, but actually get to experience corporate culture and some of the challenges that today's employers are facing."

Building on the success of the earlier AT&T/JA Job Shadow initiative, which provided students with more than 100,000 job shadow opportunities, AT&T employees shared life experiences and career advice through project-based activities during the workday. The students were exposed to things as simple as dressing the part and seeing a board room for the first time, to more intricate parts of the business world like balancing client relationships and international business. 

To learn more, visit: about.att.com/content/csr/home/possibilities/at-t-aspire.html

About Community Engagement at AT&T

At AT&T, Community Engagement means engaging our employees to build healthy, connected, and thriving communities where we live and do business. Employees are focused on three key issues: improving educational outcomes, building sustainable communities and promoting the responsible use of technology. In 2013, AT&T employees and retirees volunteered more than 5.3 million hours of time in community outreach activities worth more than $118 million and pledged more than $35 million for charities of their choice through employee giving. Employees also committed to more than 23,500 sustainable choices through Do One Thing (DOT), which invites employees to make small, everyday choices that add up to a big positive impact for themselves, the community and/or the company.

About Philanthropy at AT&T

AT&T Inc. is committed to advancing education, strengthening communities and improving lives. Through its community initiatives, AT&T has a long history of investing in projects that create learning opportunities; promote academic and economic achievement; or address community needs. In 2013, more than $130 million was contributed or directed through corporate-, employee-, social investment- and AT&T Foundation-giving programs. AT&T Aspire is AT&T's signature education initiative that drives innovation in education by bringing diverse resources to bear on the issue including funding, technology, employee volunteerism, and mentoring.

The Goizueta Foundation and Joseph B. Whitehead Foundation grant $2 million for the development of the JA-MBA

Grants will support Junior Achievement's efforts to develop an innovative high school model that prepares students for personal and professional success.

The Goizueta Foundation and Joseph B. Whitehead Foundation have each awarded $1 million to Junior Achievement (JA) of Georgia to support the development of the Junior Achievement Magnet Business Academy (JA-MBA) that will be piloted on the campus of Banneker High School in Fulton County. 

Called "JA-MBA" for short, the innovative high school model is the first of its kind in Georgia. The launch of the JA-MBA represents a partnership between Fulton County Schools and Junior Achievement that provides students the opportunity to participate in hands-on, full immersion learning with a business and entrepreneurial focus. Students will complete three pathways – Business & Technology; Entrepreneurship; and either Marketing & Management or Financial Services. The funds will support curriculum development, teacher professional development, case studies and specialized activities aligned to the business community.

The JA-MBA will be piloted at Banneker High School, located in the southeastern corner of the county, beginning this August. It is open to all rising ninth grade students who reside within Fulton County Schools attendance zones. Initially the program will house 150 students in ninth grade, with the program growing in size as students matriculate to the next grade level and a new freshman class enrolls. At full attendance, the JA-MBA program will serve approximately 600 students by 2018.

JA-MBA will operate as a "school within a school," with the overall goal of driving students to achieve greater educational, personal and professional success. The benefits of the program are expected to extend far beyond the JA-MBA school walls by achieving systemic impacts on Banneker's surrounding school population.  

"The JA-MBA is designed to provide unmatched business connectivity to expose students to professional opportunities and deliver experiences where they can apply their knowledge in real-world situations," said Jack Harris, president and CEO of Junior Achievement of Georgia. "Thanks to the partnership with Fulton County Schools, experiential and authentic learning will be the foundation of the high school experience for the students enrolled in the JA-MBA." 

Ken Zeff, Interim Superintendent for Fulton County Schools, agreed. "We are excited to bring this option to families," he said. "Finding, developing and supporting community engagement and leadership is a hallmark of our charter system model and we are pleased to have established this productive partnership with Junior Achievement to the benefit of students from across our school district."

Programs like the JA-MBA also serve as a way to combat the skills gap and income inequality that plague much of the country, including Atlanta. In fact, according to a recent report issued by the Brookings Institution, Atlanta currently ranks highest in the nation for income inequality. JA has worked hand-in-hand with leaders from the business and education communities to discuss the needs and develop viable education options that are authentic, relevant and engaging to cultivate a generation of highly aspirational and skillful individuals. 

The JA-MBA is designed to provide rigorous standards-based education infused with relevant and engaging learning experiences that prepare students to thrive and meet the demands of today's economy.  Through interdisciplinary case studies and business challenges, students will explore careers while developing an understanding of essential business concepts. The curriculum also will give students hands-on experience through internships, collaboration teams, job shadowing and executive guest lecturers. 

"We have high expectations for the JA-MBA and believe that piloting the program with Fulton County Schools at Banneker High School is the ideal launching point. The overall vision for the JA-MBA extends beyond the initial location with plans to develop a model that is scalable to other schools and districts. JA is grateful to The Goizueta Foundation and Joseph B. Whitehead Foundation for their support in developing an innovative learning model to empower young people with the skills and knowledge to achieve a lifetime of success," said Harris. 

Click here to find out more about the JA-MBA.  

About the Fulton County School System

The Fulton County School System is the fourth largest school system in Georgia. Approximately 96,000 students attend 100 schools in the cities of Alpharetta, Chattahoochee Hills, College Park, East Point, Fairburn, Hapeville, Johns Creek, Milton, Mountain Park, Palmetto, Roswell, Sandy Springs and Union City. The district also serves students in unincorporated Fulton County. For more information, visit www.fultonschools.org.