Future Builder Junior Achievement Hosts Greater Prince George’s Business Roundtable
There’s a reason why auto dealer Geoff Pohanka’s voice had an added edge July 11 when he spoke of the value of a program like Junior Achievement.
“I see a lot of credit reports,” said Pohanka, the president of Pohanka Automotive Group. “I see what happens when people are trying to buy a car and don’t know the rules and they don’t know their scores.”
It’s not an uncommon problem. Financial literacy – or the lack thereof – is a significant issue for consumers. The problem spans age demographics. A June 2018 study found that only 17 percent of millennials surveyed could answer five basic financial literacy questions.
Geoff Pohanka, President, Pohanka Automotive Group
Pohanka sees a real solution in Junior Achievement, a financial literacy boot camp of sorts that puts youth through real world fiscal scenarios in teaching them about managing money and their lives. He likes Junior Achievement so much that he suggested The Greater Prince George’s Business Roundtable (a business-first lobbying group) hold its July meeting on the Junior Achievement campus.
“I’m kind of responsible for you being here today,” said Pohanka, the secretary/treasurer of GPGBR, as he began his remarks to endorse Junior Achievement. “Junior Achievement does an incredible job of getting young people ready to be better consumers and fiscal managers of their lives.”
President & CEO of Junior Achievement of Greater Washington Ed Grenier introduced the group of nearly 70 business owners, county leaders, first responders and military officers to the value of JA and gave them details about the operation.
Ed Grenier, President & CEO, Junior Achievement of Greater Washington
“The kids come here not knowing what to expect,” Grenier says of the young people who may have challenges at home and a full load of work at school. “They learn as they move through this facility. They have to work with a [simulated] banking institution, insurance institutions and they even have to deal with setbacks like hospital situation or a car that needs repair,” he explained.