Karl & Susan Hascall JA Finance Park®

A Financial Literacy and Career Exploration Program

Imagine a generation armed with knowledge to budget, save and invest; a generation of passionate students who are equipped to thrive in tomorrow's economy. That's the goal of JA Finance Park!

The Karl & Susan Hascall JA Finance Park^® is Junior Achievement’s capstone program for personal financial planning and career exploration. This program helps 8th – 12th grade students build a foundation on which they can make intelligent financial decisions that last a lifetime, including decisions related to income, expenses, savings, and credit. This educator-led classroom curriculum culminates with a visit to JA Finance Park, a realistic on-site facility where students put into practice what they’ve learned by developing a personal budget.

FINANCIAL LITERACY EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

Every child has a dream, a vision for what their future can be. Our mission is to provide students with opportunities to make those dreams a reality. Students will have the rare opportunity to experience their personal financial futures first-hand. Here, students participate in an immersive simulation that enables them to develop skills to successfully navigate today’s complex economic environment and discover how decisions today can impact tomorrow.

This space will serve as an innovative way to help them hone their financial independence skills. When students visit JA Finance Park, they will move from storefront to storefront, while learning about essential budget categories, average cost of living, and successfully complete a balanced budget. Finance Park 2.0 satisfies the half credit personal finance requirement that all Michigan high school students will need to graduate.

Learn how JA helps students and schools meet the new Michigan personal finance graduation requirement!

CAREER EXPLORATION

Additionally, students will learn about careers that interest them in Michigan and have time for career exploration after completing a balanced budget through “Here to Career”, a web-based career exploration tool that will expose middle, high school, and college students in our region to hundreds of career pathways. Students investigate careers, including salaries, education or training requirements and costs, and which companies are hiring.

Our community sponsors have designed their storefronts to give the town a realistic and immersive feel. We are proud to welcome Bibbgy Coffee, the Biggby Coffee cafe, Aquinas College, Bradford White Water Heaters, Fox Motors, Mercantile Bank, Northpointe Bank, and SpartanNash to JA Finance Park^®!

We still need storefronts in the following categories:

- Cable/Internet
- Car Insurance
- Cell Phone
- Childcare
- Clothing
- Dining Out
- Entertainment
- Furniture
- Health Insurance
- Investments
- Life/Disability
- Insurance
- Pet Care
- Utilities
- Vacation/Travel

Interested in owning a storefront in JA Finance Park? If you are a business interested in being a part of this innovative, one-of-a kind facility, please reach out for more information by emailing Jay Ediger, SVP of Development, at jay.ediger@ja.org or by calling (616)575-9080 ext. 2227.

Schools are signing up their students for the JA Finance Park^® Pilot! If you are affiliated with a school and want your 8th-12th grade students to take part in the JA Finance Park program, please contact Capstone Director, Clare Shubert, at clare.shubert@ja.org or by calling (616)575-9080 ext. 2239.

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