State Farm Insurance has awarded a grant in the amount of $60,000 to Junior Achievement (JA) of Florida Foundation to support the implementation for financial literacy for low-to-moderate income youth. A budget of $60,000 enables over 5,000 Florida students statewide to participate in age-appropriate JA financial literacy programs during 2019. State Farm Insurance has provided support to Junior Achievement in Florida since 2011.
Of the total grant, Junior Achievement of North Florida has received $5,000 to help provide work-readiness programming for high school students in Duval County Public Schools. Junior Achievement helps students build a foundation upon which they can make intelligent financial decisions that last a lifetime, including decisions related to income, expenses, savings, and credit.
“JA programs benefit all students,” shares Julie Smith, Community Specialist, State Farm. “However, we target schools with a high percentage of low-to-moderate income students because they are more likely to derive greater benefit from the programs.”
The JA of North Florida area plans to use their $5,000 donation toward their local “JA Work$” program, which provides both a financial literacy and work-readiness JA program to high school students (taught by local professionals). Following the completion of the program, students are invited to apply and possibly interview for a position to teach an elementary school program to a nearby elementary classroom for a monetary stipend.
“Junior Achievement programs are dedicated to empowering youth K-12 to own their economic success, plan for their future and make smart economic and academic choices. JA Work$ allows students to go beyond the classroom and engage in hands-on learning to bridge the gap from school to the workplace,” shares Steve St. Amand, President of Junior Achievement of North Florida.”
JA staff will collaborate with local State Farm representatives to recruit State Farm associates and employees to be volunteer teachers of JA programs. This past year, 163 students from Atlantic Coast, Paxon School for Advanced Studies, William M. Raines and Andrew Jackson High Schools received the financial literacy and work-readiness programming, of which 50 of those were selected to teach at either San Jose, St. Clair Evans, and Biscayne Elementary Schools providing 482 students therein with JA programs.
