Neighbor-to-Neighbor

Challenge:
Ensuring better academic preparedness of elementary school students, raising the
number of middle school students transitioning to high school on time, and reducing
absenteeism rates among high school students that are truant, at danger of dropping
out, or who have dropped out of school.
Initiative:
Lead Partner:
Economic and Personal
Finance Education For Youth
Junior Achievement
Description:
Through a dedicated volunteer network, Junior Achievement (JA) of Central Virginia
provides in-school and after-school programs for K-12 students which focus on three
key areas: work readiness, entrepreneurship, and financial literacy. JA’s mission is to
participate in the education of students in Central Virginia so that each child understands
and believes in their potential to succeed in our free enterprise society and in
life. The purpose for JA’s programs is to bring role models from the business community
into classrooms and deliver educational programs about free enterprise, economics,
and personal finance - enhanced by their own real world experiences.
For the 2009-2010 school year, JA worked with over 1,200 volunteers and brought JA
programs to more than 20,000 students in the Greater Richmond area. JA provides
curriculum and training for volunteers from the community who then get matched
with a local classroom. JA’s programs span grades k-12 with age-appropriate curricula
designed to teach elementary students about their roles as individuals, workers, and
consumers and to prepare middle grade and high school students for key economic
and workforce issues they will face. In addition to bringing the free enterprise system
to life in the classroom, JA’s programs teach youngsters the importance of staying in
school. JA also offers programs for young people who may have difficulty graduating
from high school.
In 2010, JACV had a class fill rate of 82%, filling 230 classes out of 280 requests.
As of January 2010, approximately 300 teachers with an average class size of 20
children expressed an interest in this curriculum. However, with a lack of volunteers,
this request, which would impact 6,000 students, has gone unfulfilled. In partnership
with N2N, JACV will increase its programs in Richmond City Public Schools through
increased traditional programming, creative partnerships, and exciting new programs. By
increasing class requests by 25 per year and increasing class fill rates by 5% per year
(peaking at 97% to allow for drops by teacher or matched volunteer due to external
factors), the projected classes/volunteers is expected to increase to 355 volunteers/
7100 students served (366 class requests) in the year 2014. This growth is fueled by
the support N2N will provide - and will ultimately lead to improved academic performance
and financial literacy.
www.richmondgov.com/neighbortoneighbor
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