EverBank partners with Junior Achievement to teach financial litearcy

Thanks to partners like EverBank, we’re able to bring financial literacy lessons to thousands of students in Duval County Public Schools each year! EverBank created this great video showing our partnership.

The following originally appeared on EverBank’s website:

“For reasons that should be pretty clear to all, we place great importance on the value of sound money management skills and training as well as financial discipline. To help support a stronger financial future for individuals throughout our communities, we proudly assume responsibility for sharing our financial expertise and knowledge in a variety of unique and exciting ways. Junior Achievement shares in our passion for financial literacy. And together, we’re helping to make a difference one person at a time.” -EverBank

Introducing the Junior Achievement Financial Literacy Center

The JA Financial Literacy Center sponsored by Bank of America and the Economics of Healthy Eating program sponsored by the Jim Moran Foundation was officially launched on Friday, April 8. The JA Financial Literacy Center will provide day-long programs to third grade students. Housed in the Mitchell Community Center, the JA Financial Literacy Center was introduced by Martha Barrett of Bank of America, Councilman Garrett Dennis, and Superintendent Nikolai Vitti.

Superintendent Vitti has placed the JA Financial Literacy Center into the rotation of enrichment programs for students attending Title I schools. ALL third grade students in Title I schools in Duval County will visit The JA Financial Literacy Center. Approximately 10,000 students annually will spend the day at the JA Financial Literacy Center and receive the JA Our City program, The Economics of Healthy Eating program and a shopping visit to the Jacksonville Farmers Market.

The JA Financial Literacy Center is the first of its type in the country. The Economics of Healthy Eating was developed by the Brooks College of Health at UNF and is also the first healthy eating program with an economic basis being offered in the country.

JA received Bank of America’s 2014 Neighborhood Builders Award in the amount of $200,000 to fund the New Town initiative and also received $146,000 from The Jim Moran Foundation to create and implement the new Economics of Healthy Eating initiative as well as support the Center’s programming.

View more photos from the JA Financial Literacy program launch by clicking here.

Stay connected: Facebook // Twitter // LinkedIn // Google+ // Website

Sandalwood High School seniors experience JA Job Shadow at the Microsoft Store

Twenty-one seniors from Sandalwood High School visited the Microsoft Store at St. Johns Town Center today for JA Job Shadow. Prior to their visit they completed classroom lessons about resumes, job hunting and career exploration.

Today they experienced those concepts first-hand when they interacted with Microsoft store employees, learning about the jobs and careers available at Microsoft and what it takes to successfully land a job.

      

An ice breaker activity had each student name their favorite cereal, car, and ideal career. Several students expressed an interest in the technology field as a career – making their experience at the Microsoft store that much more beneficial.

The students learned about the different store positions and qualities Microsoft looks for in employees. Even if they are not interested in a career with Microsoft, the students were able to understand the importance of team work in any workplace.

For the students who were unsure about which career to pursue, the Microsoft employees inspired them to seek careers associated with what they’re interested in.

To round out their visit to the Microsoft store the students had the opportunity to demo the latest phones, tablets and Xbox games.

To learn more about JA Job Shadow please visit our website.

Recap: 2015 JA Hall of Fame honoring Baptist Health CEO, Hugh Greene

Approximately 400 people attended our annual Hall of Fame luncheon held Feb. 20 at University of North Florida’s University Center.

The support of this great community was positively felt throughout the room as we reflected on the past year and discussed our future initiatives, and honored the supporters and volunteers who make what we do possible.

Receiving the 17th Annual Thompson S. Baker Award was Hugh Greene, President & CEO, Baptist Health. The Baker award is given to an individual in the community who has demonstrated excellence in business, educational and philanthropic involvement.

Inducted into the JA Hall of Fame was Don Cameron, PwC, and Jennifer Chapman, Fidelity Investments (pictured below).

Congratulations to our top 3 volunteer companies!
1. BBVA Compass
2. Florida Blue
3. Bank of America/Merrill Lynch

Click below to view the entire photo gallery on our Facebook page:

Our first-ever Financial Literacy Center will expose Jacksonville students to a world of possibilities

JA will transform the Mitchell Community Center located in New Town, a low-income neighborhood on Jacksonville’s Northside, into a hands-on financial literacy center.

Below is a letter to the editor of the Florida Times Union by JA of North Florida President, Steve St. Amand. The letter was published on February 20, 2015.

If you’re born into a world of limitations because of poverty or financial illiteracy, then what are your chances for a future of greater possibilities?

Junior Achievement of North Florida knows the answer, and it’s among the reasons we decided to open our first dedicated financial education center.

Furthermore, we will create this financial literacy center in one of Jacksonville’s most economically depressed neighborhoods as part of the New Town Success Zone.

Our move into New Town begins with the renovation of the Mitchell Community Center, a project the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation will oversee. The renovated facility will be home to the Bank of America/JA Financial Literacy Center.

The name recognizes Bank of America’s support for the financial literacy center: a $200,000 grant that Junior Achievement recently received as the bank’s 2014 Neighborhood Builders Award recipient. We committed the grant to the New Town center.

Scheduled to be fully operational by 2016, the financial education center will expose an estimated 2,500 second-graders and third-graders a year from throughout Jacksonville to topics such as zoning, taxes, banking and personal money management.

Students from all Duval County elementary schools will have the opportunity to view New Town and learn about life from the New Town perspective. Program participants also will “open” their own restaurant, a virtual experience in running a business, as well as learning how money flows through the economy.

We hope to keep them in Junior Achievement as their education progresses and provide financial literacy, workforce preparation and entrepreneurship programs to older students in the future.

We look forward to the day the Bank of America/JA Financial Literacy Center opens in New Town.

While it will mark a new and exciting initiative for Junior Achievement of North Florida, the center more importantly will open young minds to a world that’s filled with possibilities.

Steve St. Amand, president,

Junior Achievement of North Florida

Bank of America donates $200,000 to Junior Achievement to establish financial literacy center on Jacksonville’s Northside

From left, Greg Smith, president of the Northeast Florida region for Bank of America, JA North Florida President Steve St. Amand, and JA Board Chair Charlie Kauffman at the award ceremony on Dec. 17.

Bank of America Charitable Foundation and a local market selection committee have named Junior Achievement of North Florida as the 2014 Neighborhood Builders® Award recipient.

JA of North Florida plans to use the Neighborhood Builders Award’s $200,000 unrestricted grant to fund a new initiative that targets second- and third-grade students living in New Town, a low-income neighborhood on Jacksonville’s Northside.

JA of North Florida will transform the Mitchell Community Center into the New Town Financial Literacy Center, allowing students to participate in the JA Our City program — an interactive, hands-on program that teaches students about skills people need to work in specific careers, city planning, and how business contributes to the life of the city.

“Junior Achievement of North Florida has done so much to help raise the awareness of financial literacy among schoolchildren in the Jacksonville area,” said Gregory B. Smith, Northeast Florida market president, Bank of America. “Our local market selection committee, made of members of the community, recognized the impact JA has on young lives and determined that the organization deserved to receive Bank of America’s highest philanthropic honor. The Neighborhood Builders Award will help empower JA to build leadership capacity and expand to meet the evolving needs in our community.”

Scheduled to open in 2015, the New Town Financial Literacy Center at Mitchell Community Center will seek to reach 2,500 students per year, teaching them the fundamentals of banking, business and taxes as well as financial literacy skills.

The center will start out teaching second- and third-grade students from the neighborhood and across Duval county, then expand to teach middle and high school students as the center becomes established.

“We are thrilled to receive Bank of America’s Neighborhood Builders Award and be recognized as a high-performing nonprofit,” said Steve St. Amand, CEO of Junior Achievement of North Florida. “The award’s $200,000 grant and leadership training will help JA better serve the greater Jacksonville community through programs that seek to encourage young people to become financially successful.”

Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown said: “Junior Achievement’s planned Financial Literacy Center will go a long way toward making Mitchell Community Center an even more valuable asset to the community, as well as educating and inspiring young people in New Town to pursue a brighter future. On behalf of the City of Jacksonville, I thank Bank of America for their generous support of these efforts.”

View photos from the award reception

Junior Achievement selected by Delores Barr Weaver as 1 of 20 local nonprofits to receive funding “in perpetuity” from newly established fund

Delores Barr Weaver (front row, center) with representatives from the selected organizations including JA of North Florida President, Steve St. Amand (back row, center).

Delores Barr Weaver (former owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars alongside husband, Wanye Weaver) has established a $4 million endowed fund to help Northeast Florida nonprofits with their annual fundraising events.

Beginning in 2015, the endowment will provide an annual grant of $10,000 to 20 local organizations to support their fundraising events “in perpetuity.”

Junior Achievement of North Florida has been selected as one of 20 organizations to receive the funding. 

JA of North Florida’s annual $mart Women Make Change event, which benefits its JA Girl$ initiative, will be supported by the grant from the Endowed $10,000 Event Grant Fund est. 2015 by Delores Barr Weaver.

About the Endowed $10,000 Event Grant Fund est. 2015 by Delores Barr Weaver
Delores Barr Weaver established this Fund in 2015 to provide a $10,000 grant annually to support a premiere fundraising event in perpetuity at 20 local nonprofit organizations. This grant will provide a permanent source of income for organizations that Ms. Weaver has generously supported for many years. It is her hope that other individuals will make similar permanent gifts to organizations that have been important to them. This Fund is one of a collection of Funds established by Delores Barr Weaver at The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida. Mrs. Weaver has an extraordinary legacy of philanthropy, and she has provided transformative support to dozens of nonprofit organizations that uplift, enlighten and advance our community. Her establishment of the Delores Barr Weaver Fund ($50 million) in 2012 was the largest gift in The Community Foundation’s history.

About The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida
Celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2014, The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida (www.jaxcf.org) is Florida’s oldest and largest community foundation. The Foundation works to stimulate philanthropy to build a better community – helping donors invest their philanthropic gifts wisely, helping nonprofits serve the region effectively, and helping people come together to make the community a better place. The Foundation has more than $300 million in assets and has made grants in excess of $278 million since 1964.