Marla Black was recently appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of Junior Achievement in San Diego County.  She has more than 35 years of financial service and sales management experience.  She leads the organization’s mission to prepare young people for the real world. 

 

Junior Achievement teaches young people how to get a job, how to start a business, and how to manage money by using 21st-century learning techniques and technologies.  Junior Achievement of San Diego County will reach almost 68,000 students this fiscal year with 22 employees, over 5,300 volunteers, and an operating budget of $3 million.

 

Marla started the presentation with a video of Why Junior Achievement?  The video explained that Junior Achievement teaches children financial literacy, work readiness, and how to prepare to open and run a business.

 

She followed up the video by explaining that schools get an F in teaching children financial literacy. Junior Achievement is there to teach them those skills, from kindergarten through the 12^th grade.  Seventy-three percent of children in San Diego County participate in a school lunch program.  They not only need financial assistance but a key contacts to provide work readiness opportunities and create self-worth.

 

Junior Achievement was founded in 1919 and started in San Diego in 1950.  It reaches over 4 million children in 36 schools in San Diego County.  In the United States, there are 102 Junior Achievement organizations. The organization also provides programs in over 120 countries.

 

The goal of Junior Achievement is to touch children through financial teaching programs, i.e., BizTown for fourth graders, Finance Park for high schoolers, and job shadow programs that empower them to own their economic success.  In providing these programs, they ask that the school support some of the cost; however, most of the funds are provided by corporations.

 

Board members are a key to the success of Junior Achievement programs by providing volunteers and financial support.  A mission of Junior Achievement is to have businesses and educators recognize that it is a premier organization for enabling young adults to become contributing members of society by getting better jobs to improve their standard of living.

 

Marla then introduced Jessica Saddler, Education Manager of North County Inland, who began working in Junior Achievement in 2005, moved to the East Coast and then returned on November 5, 2012.

 

Jessica stressed that Junior Achievement is a bridge between the classroom and the real world.  She went on to say that children are not learning the practical side of life and do not have real world connections.  Junior Achievement has in-class programs that are taught by volunteers with kits, provided by Junior Achievement, that engage the class and builds relationships.  She concluded by talking about volunteers that are needed to work in the classrooms with these kids to provide them a better future.

l to r: PDG Carl Kruse, Jeanne MacLaren, Pres. Craig Brown, Heather Ray, Bellamy Ray, William Ray, Bree Shea, Savannah Shea, and Jon Shea

 

These presentations complete the  recently resurrected tradition of newborn children of RB Sunrise Rotary Club members receiving a Paul Harris certificate award in their name.  All children born in the future will receive this award.