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JA Facts What is Junior Achievement JA Worldwide ( Junior Achievement ) is the world's largest organization dedicated to educating students about work readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy through experiential, hands-on programs. Junior Achievement ( JA ) programs help prepare young people for the real world by showing them how to generate wealth and effectively manage it, how to create jobs which make their communities more robust, and how to apply entrepreneurial thinking to the workplace. Students put these lessons into action, and help strengthen their communities. Locally, Junior Achievement of the Heartland serves 24 counties in eastern Iowa, western Illinois and southwestern Wisconsin. Each year more than 60, 000 K-12 area students benefit from JA programs. JA reaches more than 60, 000 students each year with JA in-school programs, JA BizTown, JA Finance Park, JA Titan Competition, Executives for Ethics and a locally developed career exploration event, JA High School Trade Careers Expo. JA of the Heartland's 1, 700 volunteers help bring JA's curriculum to life. These dedicated individuals share their personal stories of success and struggles in the real world, helping students understand the relevance in their classroom learning. Volunteers come from all walks of life and include business people, college students, parents and retirees. Jim Spelhaug, superintendent, Pleasant Valley School District, is chairman of the JA of the Heartland board of directors and trustees. Barbara VenHorst is president of the organization. JA board members represent a wide variety of businesses and academic institutions within the area. Junior Achievement was founded in 1919 in Springfield, Massachusetts. What started as a collection of small, after-school business clubs has grown into an international program. JA of the Heartland ( formerly JA of the Quad Cities Area ) was founded in 1956. The organization is recognized as one of the Top 20 JA chapters in the United States.