Junior Achievement and EY Offer Two Initiatives to Teach Teens About Entrepreneurship During National Entrepreneurship Month
Colorado Springs, Colorado – For the fifth year in a row, Junior Achievement and Ernst & Young LLP (EY US) will connect entrepreneurs with high school students across the country during November, National Entrepreneurship Month, to share their experience with teens and to encourage them to consider business ownership as a career option. The initiative, known as JA Launch Lesson, has traditionally involved entrepreneurs acting as mentors in the classroom. But given the “new normal” this school year, JA is offering virtual and remote options. Over the past five years, JA and EY US have reached more than 210,000 high school students with this learning experience.
Additionally, JA and EY US have teamed up for JA Connect Entrepreneurship, a new and engaging online experience that helps teens gain an understanding of what it takes to start and successfully run a business. The site uses bite-sized content that is easily relatable to today’s teens and helps them start the journey to becoming tomorrow’s successful business owners. JA Connect Entrepreneurship is available at www.connect.JA.org.
“Small business continues to play a critical role in the economic well-being of communities,” said Jack E. Kosakowski, President and CEO of Junior Achievement USA. “The earlier young people are provided access to entrepreneurial experiences, the more likely they are to consider careers in entrepreneurship as adults. We greatly appreciate EY for their vision and support of these two important initiatives.”
“EY has a long heritage of empowering the next generation of entrepreneurship and we’ve loved exposing JA students directly to entrepreneurs accordingly,” said Marna Ricker, EY Americas Vice Chair – Tax Services. “Junior Achievement’s latest initiatives, specifically focused on teens and business ownership, will help young minds thrive in their entrepreneurial journey as they look to make an impact in their communities and in building a better working world.”
JA Launch Lesson is a 50-minute educational experience built around the theme of entrepreneurship that creates a point-of-entry for students, volunteers, and educators. It is delivered locally by entrepreneurs virtually, in classrooms, and in other student venues around the United States during National Entrepreneurship Month. Entrepreneurs are provided with a guide by JA that gives them the opportunity to connect with students, offer relevant information about their company and entrepreneurial journey, and share advice and next steps for students who are interested in starting their own business.
JA Connect Entrepreneurship provides self-guided, on-demand learning experiences and resources to high school students interested in entrepreneurship. The site’s content and resources are designed to offer different learning experiences: augment and extend JA Entrepreneurship Pathway programs, explore entrepreneurial ideas independently and guide JA students in the next steps of their entrepreneurial journeys (planning, incubating and launching their own startups).
About Junior Achievement USA® (JA)
Junior Achievement is the world's largest organization dedicated to giving young people the knowledge and skills they need to own their economic success, plan for their future, and make smart academic and economic choices. JA programs are delivered by corporate and community volunteers, and provide relevant, hands-on experiences that give students from kindergarten through high school knowledge and skills in financial literacy, work readiness and entrepreneurship. Today, JA reaches more nearly 3 million students per year in 104 markets across the United States, with an additional 5.2 million students served by operations in 100 other countries worldwide. Junior Achievement USA is a member of JA Worldwide. Visit www.ja.org for more information.
About EY
EY exists to build a better working world, helping create long-term value for clients, people and society and build trust in the capital markets.
Enabled by data and technology, diverse EY teams in over 150 countries provide trust through assurance and help clients grow, transform and operate.
Working across assurance, consulting, law, strategy, tax and transactions, EY teams ask better questions to find new answers for the complex issues facing our world today.
EY refers to the global organization, and may refer to one or more, of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients. Information about how EY collects and uses personal data and a description of the rights individuals have under data protection legislation are available via ey.com/privacy. EY member firms do not practice law where prohibited by local laws. For more information about our organization, please visit ey.com.
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