Junior Achievement of the Heartland

Mission:  To inspire and prepare young people to succeed in a global economy.

Junior Achievement empowers young people to own their economic success.  We do this by providing programs focused on work readiness, financial literacy and entrepreneurship to students in grades K-12.

JA teaches young people the knowledge and skills they need to own their economic success, plan for their futures, and make smart fiscal choices. Students put these lessons into action and realize the realities of work and life in the 21^st century. 

A unique component to JA’s success are the trained community volunteers who teach JA’s proven curriculum and experiential learning activities.  The volunteers serve as adult role models to the students by sharing their personal stories of success and struggles as it relates to the lessons.  The JA experience helps students connect classroom learning to the real world and gives them a sense of purpose and self-belief that they can reach their full potential. 

We partner with local schools throughout the Quad Cities and surrounding area to provide JA programs during regular school hours.  Community volunteers teach JA in a classroom setting either in-person or virtually.  JA’s core-mission program includes 5-7 lessons.  Each lesson runs approximately 45-60 minutes in length.  JA Volunteers are provided with a program kit that includes easy to follow lesson plans and hands-on learning activities for the students.  Additional one-time volunteer experiences are also available through the JA Career Speaker Series.