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Junior Achievement USA® (JA) is 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 was founded in 1919 by Theodore Vail, president of American Telephone & Telegraph; Horace Moses, president of Strathmore Paper Co.; and Senator Murray Crane of Massachusetts.

Junior Achievement USA is headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Local volunteer boards of directors comprised of business, education, and civic leaders set the policy and direction for each of 120 local offices in all 50 states. JA programs are taught by volunteers to more than four million students per year in 178,000 classrooms and after-school locations.

Junior Achievement's programs focus on work readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy for students in kindergarten through high school to inspire and prepare young people to succeed in a global economy.

Its first program, JA Company Program®, was offered to high school students on an after-school basis. In 1975, the organization entered the classroom with the introduction of Project Business for the middle grades. Over the last four decades, Junior Achievement has expanded its activities and broadened its scope to include in-school and after-school students.

Junior Achievement’s current elementary school curricula include six sequential programs for kindergarten through fifth-grade students and one capstone experience. Students learn the basic concepts of business and economics and how education connects to success in the the workplace. The sequential activities build on studies from each preceding grade and prepare students for secondary school and lifelong learning. Junior Achievement's middle grades programs build on concepts the students learned in its elementary school program and help teens make important decisions about how to best prepare for their educational and professional future. JA programs align with state learning standards and help students develop critical 21st-century skills such as leadership, critical thinking and problem solving that are essential for success in the global marketplace. Junior Achievement’s high school programs include economic and business curricula, an after-school student-led enterprise, and a one-day workplace capstone experience.