By this time next week, we will be closing the books on an outstanding 2014-2015 school year, and we are just a few short months away from the opening of our second financial literacy center in the region, JA Finance Park® Prince George's County where we will inspire 9,000 Prince George's County Public School students a year.
Junior Achievement USA® (JA) and ALPFA, Inc. (the Association of Latino Professionals For America) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in Washington, D.C. The two organizations have agreed to work together on the shared goal of preparing young people to be work-ready and to provide them with a valuable means to explore career opportunities, entrepreneurship, and financial literacy. As part of this partnership, ALPFA Chief Executive Officer Charles P. Garcia today joins the Junior Achievement USA board of directors. Additionally, ALPFA will encourage its membership to become involved as volunteers and board members with JA's 115 local offices across the United States. Finally, Junior Achievement USA will increase staff capacity to help manage the partnership.
A new national survey of teens released today by Junior Achievement USA (JA) found that 61 percent of 13-17 year-olds plan to get a summer job this year. Teens' optimism about finding summer employment contrasts with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' (BLS) March 2015 employment report which said that 17.5 percent of youths ages 16-19 are currently unemployed (seasonally adjusted), compared to 5.5 percent unemployment among the general population. Additionally, last July, the month during which youth unemployment is typically at its lowest, the BLS found 14.3 percent unemployment among 16-24 year-olds.
For this week's One-On-One, Cooper caught up with Seth Goldman, co-founder and TeaEO of HonestTea. Goldman spoke about the birth of HonestTea, and how the company does business and remains Washington-based. Goldman is one of this year's inductees to the Washington Business Hall of Fame. Junior Achievement of Greater Washington, the Greater Washington Board of Trade and Washingtonian magazine sponsor the initiative. JA EVP and COO Amy Marcenaro stopped by to tell us more about the ceremony and this year's laureates.
Students in Future Business Leaders of America spent the day teaching Westbriar Elementary School students in Vienna about financial literacy during “JA in a Day.” Junior Achievement of Greater Washington partnered with FBLA in Marshall High School in Falls Church to bring the program to the elementary school children. Both groups of students were encouraged to dress up in the professions they want to pursue.
Junior Achievement USA® (JA) and The Allstate Foundation released today surprising findings from the annual Teens & Personal Finance Survey, which was expanded this year to include parents for the first time.
The 2015 survey reveals that nearly half of teens (48 percent) think their parents will help pay for college but only 16 percent of parents (of teens) report planning to pay for post-secondary education. Junior Achievement USA has commissioned the Teens & Personal Finance Survey for the last 16 years. The 2015 study was conducted online on Junior Achievement's behalf by Harris Poll in January 2015 among 801 parents of teens ages 13-18 years old and 800 teens ages 13-18 years old.
The Washington Post reported last week that “for the first time in at least 50 years, a majority of U.S. public school students” in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade live in poverty. In Maryland, 43 percent of students live in poverty. In Virginia, 39 percent. In the District of Columbia, the poverty-rate for school-aged children is an alarming 61%. Read more about why this matters and what Junior Achievement of Greater Washington is doing to address this critical issue.
