Capital One and Junior Achievement Education Partnership
Capital One Financial Corporation and Junior Achievement (JA) have partnered to launch two new education programs aimed at teaching underprivileged kids financial necessities for the future. One program aims to educate 1,000 Virginia kids using an interactive ‘Finance Park.’ The other, ‘Sliding into Succe$$’ teaches up to 1,000 DC area kids financial management by simulating the creation and management of a baseball team. Capital One has donated both financial support and intellectual support to the Virginia initiative, with $1 million and 200 trained employee volunteers for the park. In this case, Capital One is helping JA expand the successful ‘JA Finance Park’ program, which already operates in 8 US cities, to new areas that need help. The program focuses on experiential learning for middle school students, as the park simulates a real city. ‘Sliding into Succe$$,’ by contrast, is a new program, and has the additional help of Washington National’s Chad Cordero. It aims to combine the resources of the three organizations to reach previously un-reachable kids and increase their financial literacy. It also focuses on requiring that students work both independently and as part of a team, a necessary skill for the ‘real world’. JA is a non-profit that reaches about 7 million children a year, with the aim to create a ‘bridge between education and business.’ In this pursuit, it is especially enthusiastic regarding partnerships with businesses to bring real-world know-how to children. More examples of corporate partnerships can be found on their website listed below. Capital One is involved in other community education programs as well, which appears to be a theme in their community involvement and philanthropic programs. Another example is the alliance with non-profit Heart of America to provide educational books to underprivileged children. Over the past four years this initiative has distributed over $3.5 million in new books to approximately 300,000 to at-risk students. As part of this program, employees of Capital One also volunteer books and time to read and mentor children during the Capital One Literacy Celebration and book drive. For more information please visit the CSR press releases at: http://www.csrwire.com/article.cgi/5776.html and http://www.csrwire.com/article.cgi/5766.html and http://www.csrwire.com/PressRelease.php?id=5871 Capital One homepage: http://www.capitalone.com/ Junior Achievement homepage: http://www.ja.org/ Heart of America homepage: www.heartofamerica.org
