JA Finance Park - Central Ohio
Simulated Learning Programs
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JA Finance Park is all that, and more. These financial literacy laboratories exist to inspire and prepare youth to succeed. There is no question about it: Financial literacy and sound money management skills are essential to success. Today more than ever, young adults need a strong foundation for making intelligent, lifelong, personal financial decisions.
To improve the financial literacy of our future business leaders and employees, Junior Achievement has created an exciting reality-based learning environment for middle and high school students.
JA Finance Park allows middle and high-school grade students to see, touch, and live the experience of personal finance in a real-life setting of stores, shops, and financial institutions, by basically becoming "an adult for the day."
Program Goals
The goals of JA Finance Park are to:
- Teach students to develop and follow a monthly budget
- Help students to research and understand the actual "costs of living" for the basic necessities of life
- Encourage students to develop and demonstrate personal responsibility for learning and self-management
- Communicate and work with schools to promote the highest level of student achievement
- Challenge students to think critically, creatively, analyze tasks, and solve problems
At JA Finance Park, students are given a unique life profile after answering a series of future life-style questions. Their life profile includes an income, marital status, even kids! Using this new adult persona, students work to create a balanced monthly budget while making decisions regarding housing, transportation, insurance, savings, entertainment expenses and much more.
How You Can Participate
Volunteers are needed to mentor small groups of students throughout their day at JA Finance. No special budgeting expertise or preparation is necessary and thorough training is provided for all volunteers!
JA Finance Park in Action
In this video, you will learn about JA Finance Park, an experiential learning experience that teaches students how to save and spend money. About JA Finance Park: JA Finance Park educates middle and high school students on personal financial planning and career exploration. The program includes classroom lessons and a visit to JA Finance Park, where volunteers help students learn to manage their monthly expenses using an assigned Life Profile.
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