Partner Spotlight: Primerica

Our partners are integral to our success at JA of Georgia and they support our organization in every sense of the word. They're support goes much further than just a financial donation. Their employees give their time to volunteer with our students, their leaders help guide our organization in the right direction, and their brands infuse our programs with authenticity.

Primerica is store front sponsor at the JA Discovery Center at Gwinnett in JA Finance Park presented by Assurant. Recently their staff volunteered for a day of inspiring students' independence, and they documented the experience on their blog!

Check it out here.

Publix Supermarket Charities gives $41,000 to support JA of Georgia learning solutions

Publix Super Markets Charities has given more than $41,000 through their ongoing partnership with Junior Achievement (JA) of Georgia to support various learning solutions. Publix Super Markets Charities has maintained a storefront sponsorship in JA Finance Park at the JA Chick-fil-A Foundation Discovery Center since 2013, and they opened a storefront space in August in JA Finance Park presented by Assurant at the JA Discovery Center at Gwinnett. 

Their storefront offers middle school students the opportunity to experience their financial futures first hand. JA Finance Park arms students with the knowledge to budget, save and invest through an immersive and authentic simulation experience. After being given a life scenario with details such as their education level, income and family structure, students must decide how to save, spend and invest their money at 18 different businesses. Their decisions range from needs like housing and food, to wants like entertainment and luxury cars. 

At the Publix store, students make budgeting decisions around providing food for themselves and their families. Do they have enough room in the budget for fresh produce every week, or do they need to make compromises elsewhere to achieve a healthy diet? What is the cost difference in preparing meals at home versus eating meals out? These are just a few of the questions that volunteers help students answer during their time in the Publix store. 

Publix Super Markets Charities’ support of JA’s learning solutions goes beyond their storefront sponsorships in the metro-Atlanta area. The grant funding supports learning solutions across multiple regions in the state, including the Southern Coastal, Northwest, Northeast and West Central Georgia areas, to help JA serve nearly 170,000 students annually. 

Metro Atlanta teens provided hands-on experiences through AT&T job mentoring

Atlanta, GA – Junior Achievement (JA) of Georgia collaborated with AT&T on September 22 to provide more than 60 students from the Junior Achievement Magnet Business Academy (JA-MBA) at Banneker High School with job mentoring. The teens participated in a job shadow event with AT&T employee mentors as a part of the AT&T Job Mentoring Program. This event was one of many that will be held at JA Areas across the country during the 2015-16 school year. AT&T is seeking to increase the number of students with impacted by mentors in their lives, and intends to spend 1 million hours mentoring students by the end of 2016. 

The JA-MBA is a comprehensive high school program that creates immersive and authentic experiences by integrating real-world experiences and opportunities to transform the traditional high school experience. In its first year at Banneker High School, the freshman class of 150 students is led by six JA-trained teachers who deliver a blended curriculum consisting of traditional common core standards, interdisciplinary studies, and site visits like the AT&T Job Mentoring Program.  

The AT&T Job Mentoring Program aligns with this mission by enabling students to get out of the classroom, engage with the community and get the hands-on training to develop skills for future success. 

"We are grateful to AT&T for giving their efforts and time to provide an authentic experience for our students," said Jack Harris, President & CEO of JA of Georgia. "They not only learn, but actually get to experience corporate culture and some of the challenges that today's employers are facing."

Building on the success of the earlier AT&T/JA Job Shadow initiative, which provided students with more than 100,000 job shadow opportunities, AT&T employees shared life experiences and career advice through project-based activities during the workday. The students were exposed to things as simple as dressing the part and seeing a board room for the first time, to more intricate parts of the business world like balancing client relationships and international business. 

To learn more, visit: about.att.com/content/csr/home/possibilities/at-t-aspire.html

About Community Engagement at AT&T

At AT&T, Community Engagement means engaging our employees to build healthy, connected, and thriving communities where we live and do business. Employees are focused on three key issues: improving educational outcomes, building sustainable communities and promoting the responsible use of technology. In 2013, AT&T employees and retirees volunteered more than 5.3 million hours of time in community outreach activities worth more than $118 million and pledged more than $35 million for charities of their choice through employee giving. Employees also committed to more than 23,500 sustainable choices through Do One Thing (DOT), which invites employees to make small, everyday choices that add up to a big positive impact for themselves, the community and/or the company.

About Philanthropy at AT&T

AT&T Inc. is committed to advancing education, strengthening communities and improving lives. Through its community initiatives, AT&T has a long history of investing in projects that create learning opportunities; promote academic and economic achievement; or address community needs. In 2013, more than $130 million was contributed or directed through corporate-, employee-, social investment- and AT&T Foundation-giving programs. AT&T Aspire is AT&T's signature education initiative that drives innovation in education by bringing diverse resources to bear on the issue including funding, technology, employee volunteerism, and mentoring.