Page 14 - Giving Guide 2017

JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT
OF WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
1500 Main St., Suite 217 P.O. Box 15167
Springfield, MA 01115
(413) 747-7670 www.jawm.org
President: Jennifer Connolly
YEAR ESTABLISHED
1919
SERVICE AREA
Serving youth in grades K-12 in Hampden, Hampshire, Franklin, and Berkshire counties and Vermont.
OPERATING BUDGET
$600,000
MISSION STATEMENT
JA’s mission is to empower young people to own their economic success. Since 1919, JA has provided programs that focus on entrepreneurship, financial literacy, and career exploration/readiness.
UPCOMING EVENTS
• March 22: EnTEENpreneur Challenge, a teen pitch contest, staged at the UMass Springfield Center;
• May 19: JA Bowling, Chicopee Lanes, Chicopee, 2-5 p.m.;
• June 8: 20th Annual JA Golf Tournament at Crumpin-Fox in Bernardston
WHO WE ARE AND WHAT WE DO
Junior Achievement (JA) has been serving the youth of Western Mass. for 99 years, providing programs that focus on financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and career exploration/workforce readiness. JA is an innovative partnership between the business community, colleges and universities, educators, and volunteers. JA
is an organization dedicated to empowering young people to own their future. JA provides its partners with a skilled future workforce, awareness opportunities, and a heightened profile in the community as a leader in corporate social responsibility. JA volunteers go into local classrooms and after-school programs and provide cutting-edge, hands-on financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and work-readiness education. JA programs provide students with the opportunity to build critical-thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making skills,
while enhancing the relevance of education and bridging the gap between what students are learning in school and how it can be applied in the real world. JA inspires success. Last year, more than 500 JA classroom volunteers completed 574 JA programs in 61 schools in 19 school districts, serving 12,063 students in K-12, and donating more than 83,800 volunteer hours.
GIVING OPPORTUNITIES
There are several ways to support JA:
• Monetary donations are essential to providing JA programs. Sponsor a JA event. Whether you like to golf, bowl, try your hand at the stock market, or are an entrepreneur who wants to support young entrepreneurs, JA has an event for you;
• In-kind gifts. Paper, pencils, water, gift cards for auctions or event prizes, auction items, and printing all help make JA run; and • Matching gifts. Many corporations and local businesses have
matching-gift programs in which the company may match an employee’s gift to a qualified charitable organization to greater or lesser degrees.
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
There are many ways you can volunteer for JA:
• JA Classroom Volunteers. Volunteer opportunities can be several hours (JA in a Day) or once a week for five to 13 weeks, depending on the grade level and program;
• Join a JA Committee: Golf Committee, JA EnTEENpreneur Challenge Committee, JA Stock Market Committee, or the JA Bowling Committee;
• Become a JAWM board member;
• Volunteer at a JA event: a judge for the JA EnTEENpreneur Challenge, a trader at the Stock Market Competition, or a volunteer at the Golf Tournament; or
• Ask others to join in giving. By doing so, you can make a difference, too.
A14 DECEMBER 2017
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Darlene Libiszewski, Co-chair Michael Healy, Co-chair Brendan Greeley, Vice Chair Sonja Shaw, Vice Chair Tracey Alves-Lear, Clerk Nicole Denette, Treasurer Phil Goncalves
Darren James Albert Kasper
Susan Majka Paul Nycz
Dawn Quercia Tanya Shut Lynn Starr
Kara Stevens Kyle Sullivan Donald Wesson Thomas Wolcott
Sponsored by: Savage Arms