Junior Achievement of West Kentucky, Inc.

Junior Achievement is the recognized leader in "empowering young people to own their economic success®" through volunteer-led, experiential learning. We are the nation's largest organization dedicated to giving young people the knowledge and skills they need to own their economic success, plan for their futures, and make smart academic and economic choices. Junior Achievement's programs—in the core content areas of work readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy—ignite the spark in young people to experience and realize the opportunities and realities of work and life in the 21st century.

Junior Achievement of West Kentucky inspires and prepares over 20,000 young people annually to succeed in a global economy.
At Junior Achievement, we give young people the knowledge and skills they need to own their economic success, plan for their future, and make smart academic and economic choices.

Our corporate and community volunteers deliver relevant, hands-on experiences that give students from kindergarten through high school knowledge and skills in financial literacy, work readiness, and entrepreneurship.

JA programs empower students to make a connection between what they learn in school and how it can be applied in the real world-enhancing the relevance of their classroom learning and increasing their understanding of the value of staying in school.

The envisioned future - what we aspire to become. Junior Achievement maintains an active vision, front and center, on how we can have a positive impact on the lives of more students - guided by our following core values:

BELIEF IN THE BOUNDLESS POTENTIAL OF YOUNG PEOPLE
COMMITMENT TO THE PRINCIPLES OF MARKET-BASED ECONOMICS AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
PASSION FOR WHAT WE DO AND HONESTY, INTEGRITY, AND EXCELLENCE IN HOW WE DO IT
RESPECT FOR THE TALENTS, CREATIVITY, PERSPECTIVES, AND BACKGROUNDS OF ALL INDIVIDUALS
BELIEF IN THE POWER OF PARTNERSHIP AND COLLABORATION
CONVICTION IN THE EDUCATIONAL AND MOTIVATIONAL IMPACT OF RELEVANT, HANDS-ON LEARNING

Junior Achievement of West Kentucky, Inc. serves the 24 counties in West Kentucky: (Jackson Purchase Region – Ballard, Calloway, Carlisle, Fulton, Graves, Hickman, Marshall, and McCracken) (Pennyrile Region – Caldwell, Christian, Crittenden, Hopkins, Livingston, Lyon, Muhlenberg, and Trigg) (Ohio Valley Region - Breckinridge, Daviess, Hancock, Henderson, McLean, Ohio, Union, Webster), as well as Perry County in Indiana.

Junior Achievement's unique delivery system provides the training, materials, and support necessary to bolster the chances for student success. The impact is measurable, too. Students who participate in Junior Achievement programs demonstrate a significant understanding of economics and business concepts. We invite you to take a closer look at our programs!

Our programs help prepare young people for the real world by showing them how to generate wealth and effectively manage it, how to create jobs which make their communities more robust, and how to apply entrepreneurial thinking to the workplace. Students put these lessons into action and learn the value of contributing to their communities.

Elementary School Programs
JA’s elementary school programs are the foundation of its K-12 curricula. Six sequential themes, each with five hands-on activities, as well as an after-school and capstone experience, work to change students’ lives by helping them understand business and economics.

Middle School Programs
The middle grades programs build on concepts the students learned in Junior Achievement’s elementary school program and help teens make difficult decisions about how to best prepare for their educational and professional future. The programs supplement standard social studies curricula and develop communication skills that are essential to success in the business world.

High School Programs
As high school students begin to position themselves for their future, there are many unanswered questions about what lies ahead. Junior Achievement’s high school programs help students make informed, intelligent decisions about their future, and foster skills that will be highly useful in the business world.

JA CORRELATES TO STATE STANDARDS!
Junior Achievement programs correlate to various national, state, and district educational standards.

RESULTS DRIVEN!
Survey results prove that JA is preparing students to develop successful financial management habits, empowering them to explore the potential of becoming an entrepreneur, and providing them the skills necessary to succeed in a global economy.

Junior Achievement® of West Kentucky was the fastest-growing JA area over the last decade with 389% growth since 2006 and ranks near the top each year with the lowest operating cost per student served!

Junior Achievement of West Kentucky has received the following recognition for the quality, capacity, and effectiveness of its programs and operation:

2005 - 2019

13 Summit/Five-STAR Awards from Junior Achievement USA®. In 13 of the last 14 years, our JA area has earned the National Summit/Five STAR Award. The purpose of the Five Star/Summit Award is to recognize staff and boards in Junior Achievement® Areas for operational soundness in the areas of financial solvency, program growth and quality and overall effectiveness as defined by Junior Achievement’s standards and policies.

2006- Phoenix Award from Junior Achievement. The award recognized our JA area as the most-improved operation regionally, based on fiscal solvency, and highest growth in students impacted by Junior Achievement programs.

2007 & 2008 - The Junior Achievement Karl Flemke Finalist and Junior Achievement Karl Flemke Award Winner recognition was presented to Dan Douglas, President of Junior Achievement of West Kentucky as a beginning Area Chief Staff Officer to acknowledge significant achievements and contributions.

2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012 & 2013 – Six Peak Performance Awards from Junior Achievement. Over the last decade, Junior Achievement® of West Kentucky has earned the Peak Performance Award on six occasions, recognizing superior annual performance over a two year period by a Junior Achievement Area staff team. The Peak Performance Award is given annually to the JA area who has achieved the highest combined level of student growth, increased market share and total revenue growth over a two-year period.

2017 - JA of West Kentucky was one of ten national organizations to receive the Mutual of America Community Partnership Award for the Soft Skills Certification Initiative.

Our programs are helping prepare young people for the real world by showing them how to generate wealth and effectively manage it, how to create jobs which make their communities more robust, and how to apply entrepreneurial thinking to the workplace. Students put these lessons into action and learn the value of contributing to their communities.

We gave grown and expanded our each by over 400% since 2006. We boast one of the lowest operating costs of any youth serving non-profit agency with a cost of around $20 per student served. With 108,000 K-12th grade students in our 25 county market operation, we are annually serving over 21,000 of them, or about 20%. But what about the other 80% who would value and be positively impacted by our programs?

You can help us reach more of the students in our area, who also need our financial literacy, work readiness, and entrepreneurial programs. With 25 counties in our area, we are only currently providing JA programs in 13 of those counties, with more support we can continue to expand our programs to meet the workforce needs in this 21st Century. The two biggest resources we need to move our mission forward in West Kentucky is more volunteers and more financial backing.

By volunteering for JA through your organization, you can be in the classroom during work hours and you can share your experience and inspire young people to pursue their dreams.

Is your company looking to partner with an organization that makes a difference in the lives of youth in your community? Junior Achievement provides programs that are delivered to students in the classroom or in a simulated community (depending on the location). JA programs are developed with a focus on several different critically needed areas; STEM, building Leadership Skills, Uplifting At-Risk Communities, Work Readiness and Soft Skills, Business Ethics, College Readiness, Career and Technical Education (CTE), Industry Focus (Manufacturing/Health), and Financial Literacy.

Not affiliated with a corporation partnered with JA? You can make a donation directly and personally to Junior Achievement!

Every single dollar makes a difference. Donating to Junior Achievement of West Kentucky will help to continually evolve JA's enriching programs, and help JA reach more students.

For larger donations, you can be a part of the prestigious JA's Free Enterprise Society. This support comes from individual, personal or family gifts of $10,000 or more on an annual basis.

Some faithful friends of JA have planned to support the organization beyond their lifetime. These caring individuals have taken deliberate steps to ensure and enhance JA's future.