About

JA Worldwide® is the world’s largest non-profit education organization dedicated to teaching young people about business, economics, and free enterprise. In 1919, Horace A. Moses, President of Strathmore Paper Company, and Theodore Vail, Chairman of American Telephone and Telegraph in Springfield, Massachusetts, established Junior Achievement to introduce young people to the American business system. They established a “learning-by-doing” program that allowed students in organized groups to run small businesses under the guidance of experienced business owners/volunteers. These students graduated from high school with hands-on experience regarding business operations.

Today Junior Achievement is a partnership between the business community, educators and volunteers — all working together to inspire young people to dream big and reach their potential. JA’s hands-on, experiential programs teach the key concepts of work readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy to young people all over the world. Junior Achievement programs focus on seven key content areas: business, citizenship, economics, entrepreneurship, ethics/character, financial literacy, and career development.

Our mission at JA is: To inspire and prepare young people to succeed in a global economy.

It’s not an easy task. But it’s the kind of challenge that JA takes on with creative energy, fervor, and decisive action. Junior Achievement has recently adopted a strategic plan to guide the organization’s growth and development over the next several years. This plan will ensure that JA is vital to those who build the future.

Junior Achievement of East Tennessee’s mission is to ensure that every child throughout East Tennessee has a fundamental understanding of the free enterprise system. More directly, JA’s purpose is to educate and inspire young people to value free enterprise, business, and economics in an effort to improve the quality of their lives.

Click here for our 2015-2016 Participating Schools!