Junior Achievement of West Kentucky, Inc.
Empowering Young People to Own Their Economic Success
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
WHY JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT? JA helps students realize that the education they are getting today will help them to have a bright future tomorrow. JA's unique, volunteer delivered programs, show them all of the possibilities that lay before them. They realize they can choose different paths; College? A specific trade? Start their own business? Through your participation and support of Junior Achievement, as an organization or as an individual, these statistics below can begin to change in your community: 20% of U.S. students will not complete high school on time and earn a diploma. 49% of U.S. employers recognize that talent shortages impact their ability to serve clients and customers. 36% of Americans say that they have at some point in their lives felt their financial situation was out of control. 91% of millennials wish they had greater access to entrepreneurial education programs.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
JA K- 12th Grade Programs
Through age-appropriate curricula, Junior Achievement programs begin at the elementary school level, teaching children how they can impact the world around them as individuals, workers and consumers. Junior Achievement programs continue through the middle and high school grades, preparing students for future economic and workforce issues they'll face.
Where we work
External reviews

Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Evaluation documents
Download evaluation reportsNumber of students enrolled
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth
Related Program
JA K- 12th Grade Programs
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
JA of West Kentucky has been one of the fastest-growing JA areas over the last decade with 489% growth since 2006 and ranks near the top each year with the lowest operating cost per student served.
Total number of classes offered
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth
Related Program
JA K- 12th Grade Programs
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
JA of West Kentucky has been one of the fastest-growing JA areas over the last decade with 407% growth since 2006 and ranks near the top each year with the lowest operating cost per student served.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
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.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
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.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
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.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
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.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We share the feedback we received with the people we serve
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, The people we serve tell us they find data collection burdensome, It is difficult to find the ongoing funding to support feedback collection, Staff find it hard to prioritize feedback collection and review due to lack of time, It is difficult to get honest feedback from the people we serve
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
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- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Junior Achievement of West Kentucky, Inc.
Board of directorsas of 07/28/2023
Nick Thompson
Thompson Homes, Inc.
Term: 2023 - 2025
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 07/28/2023GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.