Junior Achievement USA And Teach For America Announce National Partnership To Share Expertise, Expand Educational Opportunity For Students

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., Nov. 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Junior Achievement USA^® (JA) and Teach For America today announced a new national partnership. The collaboration will tap into the expertise of both organizations to increase access to Junior Achievement's work-readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy programs for kindergarten through high school students, with a focus on reaching at-risk youth.

Through the partnership, Teach For America will publicize the opportunity for its corps members to bring JA to their classrooms and will introduce alumni to Junior Achievement volunteer and employment opportunities. Likewise, Junior Achievement USA will introduce their volunteers to additional ways to expand educational opportunity for students growing up in low-income communities through the teaching corps. The two organizations will work together to investigate opportunities to partner around training, curriculum, evaluation and resource generation.

"We are excited about this collaboration which will align both organizations' staff and volunteers to support a shared vision of economic empowerment for America's students in the 21^st-century marketplace," said Jack E. Kosakowski, president and CEO of Junior Achievement USA. "We believe this partnership will help to drive our complementary missions and knowledge-sharing that will result in greater opportunity for more U.S. students."

As a thought leader and creator of innovative work-readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy programs, Junior Achievement inspires and prepares young people to succeed in a global economy. Teach For America is a national nonprofit organization that aims to eliminate educational inequity by enlisting high-potential recent college graduates and professionals to teach for two or more years in low-income communities throughout the United States and become lifelong leaders in the effort to expand educational opportunity.

Teach For America corps members and alumni—now more than 37,000 strong—work at every level of education and across sectors to ensure that all children can receive a high-quality education. Junior Achievement and Teach For America share the belief that high-quality educational opportunities are critical to success in the 21^st-century marketplace.

"The Teach For America and Junior Achievement partnership will increase the number of students growing up in low-income communities whose life paths are influenced by Junior Achievement programs," said Grant Besser, vice president of recruitment at Teach For America. "Beyond the immediate impact this collaboration will have in the classroom, the partnership will also enhance Teach For America's efforts to build a teaching corps that is diverse in every aspect, including professionals from all career sectors, many of which have been inspired to make a difference in the classroom through programs such as Junior Achievement."

The two organizations will also explore regional collaborations to capitalize on their complementary expertise.  

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 4.2 million students per year in more than 120 markets across the United States, with an additional 6.5 million students served by operations in 117 other countries worldwide. Visit www.ja.org for more information.

About Teach For America
Teach For America works in partnership with communities to expand educational opportunity for children facing the challenges of poverty. Founded in 1990, Teach For America recruits and develops a diverse corps of outstanding individuals of all academic disciplines to commit two years to teaching in high-need schools and become lifelong leaders in the movement to end educational inequity. Today, more than 10,000 corps members are teaching in 46 urban and rural regions across the country, while nearly 28,000 alumni work across sectors to ensure that all children have access to an excellent education. For more information, visit our website and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

SOURCE Junior Achievement USA