Junior Achievement holds financial literacy event in Redmond

The flagship financial literacy program from Junior Achievement of Oregon & SW Washington (JA), JA Finance Park will be at the Deschutes County Fairgrounds from Monday through Wednesday of this week. Nearly 300 students from seven area middle and high schools will be participating in this exciting financial literacy experience.

JA Finance Park is part of a suite of programs centered around financial literacy, work readiness and entrepreneurship, delivered to K-12 students by Junior Achievement, whose mission is to inspire and prepare young people to exceed in the global economy.

JA Finance Park blends in-class learning with a high-tech, high-touch simulation experience. The program, which travels to several locations around Oregon and SW Washington, helps students develop crucial skills such as critical thinking, decision making, career exploration, and personal financial literacy.

Using an iPad and custom JA Finance Park App, the students are assigned a life scenario and move through the exhibit visiting 17 business kiosks, each representing a common household expense line.

The simulation empowers youth to utilize the knowledge they have acquired during the in-class portion of the program to complete the task of researching choices and costs of various products and services, while ultimately building a balanced family budget.

“We are excited to be serving over 1,800 Central Oregon students annually with our K-12 programs. JA Finance Park provides a turnkey solution for schools that are looking for a fun, engaging and effective financial literacy program for students,” says Ryan Deckert, President of JA of Oregon & SW Washington.

The JA Finance Park Tour is sponsored by First Tech Federal Credit Union and business kiosks within JA Finance Park, representing line items in the students’ family budget, are sponsored by businesses including: Cambia, Comcast, Columbia Sportswear, Delta Air Lines, Fred Meyer, KeyBank, Northwest Credit Union Foundation, Pacific Power, The Standard Insurance, State Farm, Unitus Community Credit Union and U.S. Bank. JA Finance Park is sponsored locally by OnPoint Community Credit Union and St. Charles Health System.

For more information on JA Finance Park visit https://jaorswwa.org/ja-finance-park.

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Junior Achievement of Oregon & SW Washington

Junior Achievement inspires and prepares young people to succeed in a global economy through hands-on programs that promote work readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy. Established locally in 1950, JA is an affiliate of Junior Achievement USA, which has worked for nearly a century to provide economic and financial education for K-12 students. This year, more than 4,700 volunteers will lead JA programs in 1,800 classrooms, serving over 46,000 students across Oregon and SW Washington. For more information, visit www.jaorswwa.org.