2020-2021 Annual Report
Dear Friends:
This past year has been one of rebuilding, unexpected challenges, and renewing our commitment to being an innovative, economic education solution provider. As our students get back to the classroom, they need the hope and inspiration that Junior Achievement learning experiences provide. More than ever, our local economy needs young people with skills, competencies, and motivation that JA values instill in them.
Our future is brighter than it has ever been. JA thrives through civic leaders who come together as role models, partners, and volunteer mentors to challenge the status quo. It’s because of our volunteers who were willing to teach classes virtually, that we were still able to reach thousands of students from a safe distance.
Junior Achievement is committed to promoting a more equitable and just tomorrow by providing students with tools, resources, and support that they need to reach their full potential. With your help we are changing the game for our region’s youth with relevant, experiential education to prepare them for the real world.
Thank you for your continued support for Junior Achievement of the Heartland and the young people who are our future.
Please explore our annual report to witness the positive difference you have made in the lives of our students.
Sincerely,
Dougal Nelson
President & CEO
JA of the Heartland
Ryan Weber
Davenport Office Leader, RSM US LLP
JA of the Heartland Governing Board Chair
JA Results
JA Alumni Survey Results
Report having a bachelor’s degree or higher. (compared to 33% of the U.S. population)
Say the JA program played an important role in fostering the belief that they could achieve their goals
Say the JA program played an important role in boosting their confidence in new situations
Report Junior Achievement played an important role in choosing their career path
Say they have worked in the same job or career as their JA volunteer
85%
Report that they were positively influenced by the JA program
45%
Report that the program had a positive impact on how they manage money
45%
Report that the program had a positive impact on their work ethic
Reported having started or owned a business
JA Alumni businesses have revenues of $5 million or more (compared to 4.5% of U.S. small businesses)
JA Statistics
3 Pillars
– Financial Literacy
– Work Readiness
– Entrepreneurship
24
Counties Serviced
65
Years of Empowering the Future
Each year, JA of the Heartland typically supports
50,000
Students Reached
1,600
Individual Volunteers
1,714
Classrooms
138
Schools & Youth Organizations
When faced with economic uncertainty, it is important to reflect on current practices and look for creative solutions. The great news is that JA teaches students these same qualities through lessons focuses on financial literacy, work readiness, and entrepreneurship.
Year in Review
JA Inspire Virtual Career Fair Helps Students Explore Careers During the Pandemic
JA Inspire Virtual Career Fair is Junior Achievement’s capstone career development program for 7th-12th grade students brought to life by our region’s employers. An online event, the JA Inspire Virtual Career Fair featured 51 local business exhibits for more than 3,040 students to explore and learn about various career opportunities. The virtual career fair helped fill a void in our community because in-person career expos had been canceled due to the pandemic. After participating in JA Inspire, 87% of students shared they feel better prepared to make informed decisions about future career plans.
Jersey Mike’s Month of Giving Raises $103,255 for JA in 2021
Throughout the month of March, the Jersey Mike’s team collected donations for Junior Achievement of the Heartland. On March 31, 100% of their sales were also donated to JA. With more than 2,500 Jersey Mike’s locations throughout the United States, the Davenport, Dubuque and Moline stores ranked in the top four for the amount raised. This was the fourth year of the partnership, and in that time Jersey Mike’s has raised a total of $195,594.45 to benefit local students.
A Real Piece of Work: The Job Podcast for Young People Launches
A Real Piece of Work: The Job Podcast for Young People features real people sharing real stories on how they found their passion and navigated their path to career success. Matt Rebro and former cohost, Melissa Pepper dig into personal and professional choices that led each featured guest to where they are today. The podcast introduces teens to careers they may or may not be familiar with and provides tips on finding the right career for them. Check out the series wherever you listen to podcasts.
JA Launches Virtual Learning Experiences to Accommodate Pandemic Atmosphere
Junior Achievement was able to keep students and local volunteers connected throughout the pandemic with video conferencing and recorded videos to present the JA lessons. There were 650 learning experiences offered; 518 included community volunteers beaming into the classroom or providing a recorded video. Educators were able to lead the balance.
JA LEARNING EXPERIENCES
OVERVIEW
9,226
Students
102
Volunteers
448
Educators
Junior Achievement’s unique delivery system provides the training, materials, and support necessary to prepare students for the real world. To address the challenges of the current educational environment, Junior Achievement is meeting students and educators where they are with learning experiences that are available through in-person, virtual, or self-guided options. Our commitment to proven student impact has not changed.
KINDERGARTEN
JA OURSELVES®
introduces the role people play in an economy. Young students learn about individual choices, money, the importance of saving and giving, and the value of work.
FIRST GRADE
JA OUR FAMILIES®
introduces the concepts of families, neighborhoods, money, and needs and wants. Students explore the ways in which businesses provide goods, services, and jobs for families.
SECOND GRADE
JA OUR COMMUNITY®
explores production methods through a simulation game. Students learn about taxes, decision making, and how money flows in an economy.
THIRD GRADE
JA OUR CITY®
introduces students to financial literacy, including how people manage their money and the importance of economic exchange within a city.
FOURTH GRADE
JA OUR REGION®
introduces students to entrepreneurship and how entrepreneurs use resources to produce goods and services in a community.
FIFTH GRADE
JA OUR NATION®
provides students with practical information about the U.S. free market system and how it serves as an economic engine for businesses and careers. Students examine the need for entrepreneurial and innovative thinking to meet the requirements of high-growth, high-demand careers in a global business economy.
THIRD - FIFTH GRADE
JA MORE THAN MONEY®
introduces students to financial literacy and entrepreneurship, including money-management skills, goods and services, and global markets.
K - FIFTH GRADE
JA CAREER SPEAKERS SERIES®
provides students with a guest speaker or video sharing information about his/her career, work, and education experience.
FOURTH - SIXTH GRADE
JA BIZTOWN®
introduces students to economics and business starting with four weeks of teacher-led classroom instruction, followed by a day-long, hands-on experience where students apply the learned concepts in a lifelike community at JA World. Students run various businesses, earn paychecks, open and manage bank accounts, and become full-fledged consumers making purchases at other student-run businesses. JA BizTown vividly illustrates the connection between hard work and tangible success while allowing students to gain firsthand understanding of their roles as citizens, consumers, and workers.
The JA BizTown learning experience can be enhanced using a new virtual extension of the program, JA BizTown Adventures™.
Program Reach
1,010
Students
39
Educators
JA BizTown Sponsors
MIDDLE GRADES (SIXTH - EIGHTH GRADE)
3,840
Students
22
Volunteers
47
Educators
JA CAREER SPEAKERS SERIES®
provides students with a guest speaker or video sharing information about his/her career, work, and education experience.
JA ECONOMICS FOR SUCCESS®
provides practical information about personal finance and the importance of identifying education and career goals based on a student’s skills, interests, and values.
JA IT'S MY FUTURE®
offers practical information to help prepare students for the working world. Students will develop the personal-branding and job-hunting skills needed to earn a job.
JA GLOBAL MARKETPLACE®
introduces students to the global marketplace and the ways in which countries buy and sell from each other. Students gain an understanding of producers and consumers in the interconnected global market.
JA EXCELLENCE THROUGH ETHICS®
introduces the importance of ethics and ethical decision-making and how ethical and unethical choices affect everyone in a community.
JA IT'S MY JOB (SOFT SKILLS)®
helps students understand the value of professional communication and soft skills, making them more employable to future employers across multiple career clusters.
JA IT'S MY BUSINESS®
encourages middle school students to turn their ideas into a business. The program introduces design thinking as a problem-solving process and provides students an authentic entrepreneurial experience that builds toward a pitch competition.
SEVENTH & EIGHTH GRADE
JA FINANCE PARK®
culminates with a visit to JA World, a realistic onsite facility or virtually in the classroom, where students engage with volunteers and put into practice what they’ve learned by developing a personal budget. Students select their career and define their future lifestyle and financial goals.
Program Reach
222
Students
5
Educators
JA Finance Park Sponsors
Program Reach
845
Students
18
Volunteers
18
Educators
HIGH SCHOOL (NINTH - TWELFTH GRADE)
JA ALL ABOUT CARS®
introduces students to the essential costs related to buying and operating their first car and offers tips.
JA BE ENTREPRENEURIAL®
is a modular program that teaches students about the mindset and skills needed by both aspiring entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs.
- JA Be Entrepreneurial®-Creative Problem Solving – introduces students to the concept and application of design thinking, an innovative process for problem solving used by entrepreneurs (and intrapreneurs) to brainstorm customer-centric ideas.
- JA Be Entrepreneurial®-Rapid Business Planning – teaches students about the foundations of lean business planning using Lean Canvas, a streamlined, one-page business plan template. Emphasizes rapid business planning to test and refine the approach in continuous improvement cycles.
- JA Be Entrepreneurial®-Think Like an Entrepreneur – teaches students to develop a mindset that enables opportunity identification, innovation, value creation, and problem solving. They learn the entrepreneurial principles, strategies, and skills through the experiences of others and apply them to their own lives.
JA CAREER SPEAKER SERIES®
provides students with a guest speaker or video sharing information about his/her career, work, and education experience.
JA CAREER SUCCESS®
equips students with the knowledge required to get and keep a job in high-growth industries. Students explore crucial workplace skills employers seek, but often find lacking in young employees.
JA EXCELLENCE THROUGH ETHICS®
gives students the chance to meet and interact with a business leader to learn about the importance of ethics in the workplace and everyday life.
JA FINANCE PARK ADVANCED®
is based on the JA Finance Park middle grades curriculum and simulation. The advanced curriculum gives high school students a more personalized focus and the advanced simulation allows students to see the long-term impact of their education, savings, and credit decisions.
JA IT'S MY JOB (SOFT SKILLS)®
helps students understand the value of professional communication and soft skills, making them more employable to future employers across multiple career clusters.
JA LAUNCH LESSON®
is a point-of-entry program delivered locally by entrepreneurs. Students learn relevant information firsthand about starting a company and the entrepreneurial journey.
JA PERSONAL FINANCE® 2.0
allows students to experience the interrelationship between today’s financial decisions and future financial freedom.
JA TAKE STOCK IN YOUR FUTURE®
students discover the benefits and challenges of investing in the stock market as part of a broader, long-term investment strategy and the risks and rewards of trading.
JA TITAN®
is a simulation-based program in which high school students compete as business CEOs in the phone industry, experiencing firsthand how an organization evaluates alternatives, makes decisions, analyzes the outcomes of those decisions, and then strategizes what to do next.
JA HIGH SCHOOL EXPERIENCE™ COURSES
is a series of semester-long, experiential, blended learning courses. Through a combination of instructional approaches, students progress from foundational principles through application, synthesis, and immersion in JA’s three pillars: entrepreneurship, financial literacy, and work readiness. Each course is accompanied by state-creditable instructional content (IC) that include projects and support career pathways aligned with JA’s areas of expertise.
JA HIGH SCHOOL EXPERIENCE COURSES ARE:
- JA Business Communications®
- JA Introduction to Business and Technology® 1 and JA Introduction to Business and Technology® 2
- JA Entrepreneurial Mindset®
- JA Financial Capability® 1 and JA Financial Capability® 2
- JA Financial Literacy®
- JA Marketing Principles® 1 and JA Marketing Principles® 2
- JA Economics®
I decided to continue volunteering for JA during the pandemic because the needs of the children in my community did not change when their learning environment did. Financial literacy and future goals are just as important now as they were prior to the pandemic, and it would be a shame for children to miss even more opportunities.
JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT
SPECIAL PROGRAMS
Drs. David & Agnes Palmer Junior Achievement Titan Competition
Major Sponsors: Vickie Anne Palmer and I.H. Mississippi Valley Credit Union
JA Titan allows high school students to apply their business knowledge by competing online in a fictional industry. While simulating business quarters, students make decisions on price, production, marketing, capital investment, and R & D. These decisions determine the success or failure of their virtual company.
Students within JA of the Heartland’s territory get to put their skills and knowledge gained from JA Titan to the test by competing in the Drs. David & Agnes Palmer JA Titan Competition. Top performing teams are awarded scholarship money for post-secondary education.
57
Student Participants
8
Schools
2
Virtual Events
JA Inspire™ Virtual
Major Sponsors: City of Moline, ILLOWA Construction Labor & Management, Iowa Workforce Development, The Moline Foundation, Nestlè Purina, and Vibrant Credit Union
JA Inspire Virtual Career Fair is Junior Achievement’s capstone career development program for 7th-12th grade students brought to life by our region’s employers. An online event, the JA Inspire Virtual Career Fair features local business exhibits for students to explore and learn about various career opportunities.
3,047
Students
15
Schools
51
Local Organizations
JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT
SPECIAL EVENTS
Junior Achievement’s signature events raise money to support our programs, as well as raise awareness about our mission.
JA Taste of Achievement
Major Sponsor: CBI Bank & Trust
1
Virtual Event
10
Vendors
JA triviaBowl
Major Sponsors: GreenState Credit Union, HNI Corporation, and Necker’s Jewelers
360
Attendees
1,813
Students Served
9
Virtual Events
JA Golf Classics
Major Sponsors: Free Enterprise Foundation, HNI Corporation, IMEG Corp., Iowa American Water, and Vibrant Credit Union
410
Golfers
3
Golf Courses
4,373
Students Served
Junior Achievement Business Hall of Fames
431
Attendees
2
Events
1,032
Students Served
GOVERNING BOARD
OF DIRECTORS
Chair
Ryan Weber
RSM US LLP
Immediate Past Chair
Mike Vondran
TAG Communications
Vice Chair
Ted Olt III
Lane & Waterman LLP
Treasurer
Chad Ulrich
First Central State Bank
Secretary
Chris Maiers
Dupaco Community Credit Union
Nick Kremer
Driven Leads
Lynn Gibson
Origin Design
Shannon Hunter
Honkamp Krueger & Company
Bob Howard
CBI Bank & Trust
CENTRAL REGION
BOARD
Chair
Nick Kremer
Driven Leads
Vice Chair
Lynn Gibson
Origin Design
Illinois Counties: Bureau, Henry, La Salle, Lee, Putnam, Rock Island, and Whiteside
Iowa Counties: Clinton and Scott
9,957
Students
99
Volunteers
361
Educators
Debbie Anselm
Quad-City Times
Beverly Barber
Community Volunteer
Cindy Barnett
Arconic
Karen Bonis
U.S. Bank N.A.
Brian Duffy
Per Mar Security Services
Christy Gause
IMEG Corp.
Lynn Gibson
IIW
Becky Hansen
Ascentra Credit Union
Brennan Hawley
Morgan Stanley
Mo Hyder
Rhythm City Casino, LLC
Jane Jansen
Encova
Reginald L. Lawrence II
Rock Island-Milan School District
Matt Maiers
DeWitt Bank & Trust Co.
Bob Marriott
Group O, Inc.
Joshua Maxfield
Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.
Ted Olt III
Lane & Waterman LLP
Bill Onions
Deloitte LLP
Matt Rebro
Russell Construction Company, Inc.
Rachel Savage
Moline-Coal Valley School District
Kerry Smith
ChalkBites, Inc.
Brian Strusz
Pleasant Valley Community School District
Joe Stutting
North Scott Community School District
Mike Thoms
City of Rock Island
Rob Tucker
Modern Woodmen of America
Chad Ulrich
First Central State Bank
Cale VanGenderen
Vibrant Credit Union
Eric Westphall
MidAmerican Energy Company
NORTH REGION
BOARD
Chair
Shannon Hunter
Honkamp Krueger & Company
Illinois County: Jo Daviess
Iowa Counties: Allamakee, Clayton, Dubuque, and Jackson
Wisconsin County: Grant
1,590
Students
19
Volunteers
50
Educators
Patrick Arnold
A.Y. McDonald Manufacturing Company
Kerry Azbell
RSM US LLP
Ken Brown
Northeast Iowa Community College
Danielle Campbell
Sedgwick Claims Management Services, Inc.
Rick Colpitts
Western Dubuque Community School District
Scott Dalsing
Premier Bank
Kevin Finke
Dubuque Bank & Trust
Kristi Foxen
U.S. Bank N.A.
Ted Huinker
Fuerste, Carew, Juergens & Sudmeier P.C.
Paul Kalb
Conlon Construction
Andrew Katrichis
U.S. Bank N.A.
Nelson Klavitter
Community Volunteer
Shannon Kloft
Dupaco Community Credit Union
Robert Lee
Andersen E-Series
Chris Maiers
Dupaco Community Credit Union
Justin Mottet
Alliant Energy
Scott Oppelt
John Deere Dubuque Works
Michael Pennington
Cottingham & Butler
Brock Renbarger
MidWestOne Bank
Lisa Sabers
Kendall Hunt Publishing
Tom Sharkey
Pomeroy
David Swisher
Benchmark Capital Group LTD
Travis Wills
GreenState Credit Union
Judy Wolf
Community Volunteer
SOUTH REGION
BOARD
Chair
Bob Howard
CBI Bank & Trust
Illinois Counties: Henderson, Mercer, and Warren
Iowa Counties: Cedar, Des Moines, Lee, Louisa, Muscatine, and Washington
2,375
Students
53
Volunteers
102
Educators
Kyle Fintel
Kent Corporation
Tracy McGinnis
CBI Bank & Trust
Sherry Miller
Bridgestone Commercial Solutions Group
Jim Nepple
Nepple Law PLC
Mark Post
Carver Pump Company
Teresa Schaper
First National Bank of Muscatine
Kim Swift
HNI – Stanley M. Howe Technology Center
The Free Enterprise Foundation was established to give our supporters the opportunity to make a lasting impact on future generations. While our education system is constantly changing, one constant remains the same; today’s children are our future. Through the work of Junior Achievement, children are assured an understanding of the opportunities our free enterprise system provides for future success.
The Free Enterprise Foundation provide funds to Junior Achievement of the Heartland by offering endowment giving opportunities that sustain JA’s core mission programs, increase the organization’s capacity to meet changing needs, and support strategic initiatives. Ultimately, the Free Enterprise Foundation is dedicated to ensuring the perpetuity of JA’s mission in our communities for generations to come.
Giving Options
- Planned
- Deferred
- Bequest in a will or trust
- Beneficiary of a life insurance policy
- Beneficiary designation of a retirement fund
- Tax advantages
Free Enterprise Foundation Board of Directors
Chair
Morgan Stanley
Vice Chair
Hanson Watson Associates
Community Volunteer
JA of the Heartland
Lane & Waterman LLP
Community Volunteer
RSM US LLP
HERITAGE
SOCIETY
Legacy Giving
A special thank you to the following individuals for their long-term commitment by including JA of the Heartland in their estate planning.
James & Pamela Anderson
Derek & Paula Cockrell
Lance & Sharon Heuer
Jim & Carol Horstmann
Gary & Christy Kunz
John & Susan Lawson
Carter* & Kaye LeBeau
Robert & Margaret Lee
Glenn* & Kathleen Medhus
Dougal & Pam Nelson
Mike & Carol* Plunkett
*deceased
STATEMENT OF ACTIVITIES
THANK YOU!
Design and Layout
