New Junior Achievement Center Eliminates Obstacles to Student Success

LAS VEGAS – Obstacles to students’ educational and economic success were hammered away during a barrier-breaking ceremony today for the new Junior Achievement of Southern Nevada Inspiration Center. The multimillion dollar development will be the permanent home to the nonprofit organization’s financial literacy, career exploration and entrepreneurship efforts for more than 60,000 local K-12 students – three times more youth than it currently serves.

Rep. Dina Titus, Clark County Commissioner Tick Segerblom, and Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman joined Junior Achievement board, staff, donors, partners and other supporters for the event that marked the start of the refurbishment project. Attendees used hammers to pound through various targets on an interior wall of the building. The targets denoted barriers to students’ ability to learn and future prosperity, such as illiteracy, food and housing insecurity, poverty, and health and transportation issues.

“The Junior Achievement of Southern Nevada Inspiration Center is a giant step forward in preparing our community’s youth for the ‘business of life,’” said Michelle Jackson, president and CEO of Junior Achievement of Southern Nevada. “It will allow us to triple our impact with local youth, which equates to 84 percent of all fifth graders being able to attend JA BizTown and 84 percent of all ninth graders going to JA Finance Park. Schools just don’t have the resources to effectively provide financial literacy curriculum and many youth do not learn these lessons at home, so Junior Achievement partners with schools to provide it. For many kids, the lessons can mean breaking the cycle of generational and situational poverty.”

Located at 4440 E. Tropicana Ave., the 40,000-square-foot former 24 Hour Fitness Center is being renovated to house Junior Achievement’s capstone programs, JA BizTown and JA Finance Park. The state-of-the-art center also will include an Entrepreneur Incubator Hub, Career Center and multi-purpose area, and it will be the home to Junior Achievement administrative offices.

Nevada is one of the few western states without a permanent location for the two signature JA programs which teach youth how to manage their finances and find their place in the job market. That will change with the completion of the Inspiration Center expected in the second quarter of 2024 with the first students participating in onsite programming in late spring. Its impact will grow to more than 60,000 students, and it is expected to breathe new economic life in the area. The building has been vacant since March 2020.

To make the Inspiration Center a reality, Junior Achievement embarked on a capital campaign to raise $18 million. More than $14 million has been raised, and there are still

various naming options and other donation and participation opportunities.

“This barrier-breaking event symbolizes a tremendous milestone in the journey of Junior Achievement for Southern Nevada since beginning operations in 1996,” said Sandi Milton, chairwoman of the nonprofit’s board and senior vice president for marketing communications and events for Nevada State Bank. “The Inspiration Center is the culmination of the time and passion of hundreds of board members and community leaders for the JA mission of giving young people the knowledge and skills they need to own their economic success. The JA BizTown and JA Finance Park mission also will have broader, long-term outcomes for Nevada’s economic stability and workforce needs.”

Among the major donors are Engelstad Family Foundation, The Cashman Family Foundation, Luna Foundation, Joe and Sunshine Micatrotto, Penta Cares Foundation and Hosts Vegas.

Storefront partners include: Nevada State Bank, PNC Bank, Lexicon Bank, United Healthcare, Caesars Entertainment, University of Las Vegas-Nevada, The Venetian and Palazzo Las Vegas, The City of Las Vegas, Hirschi Companies, RSM Audit & Tax Consulting, Nevada Contractors Association and FIVE GUYS.

“PNC Bank and PNC Foundation are proud to support Junior Achievement of Southern Nevada,” said Denette Suddeth, PNC regional president for Nevada. “PNC Bank will have a meaningful impact on the students in the greater Las Vegas valley through its investment in the experiential learning activities at our JA BizTown storefront inside the JA Inspiration Center. We look forward to seeing future bankers serving their customers as banking is an integral part of JA BizTown. PNC Foundation supports Junior Achievement’s financial literacy programming to assure that the students in Southern Nevada learn critical grade-appropriate lessons, helping them succeed in school and in life. Our funding contributes to valuable JA experiences for thousands of students annually.”

Michael Crome, senior vice president and CFO for the Las Vegas Raiders and Allegiant Stadium, is a past Junior Achievement of Southern Nevada board chair and current volunteer and is leading the Inspiration Center capital campaign. “I was a JA student, and its impact really works. I invite the community to join us as a donor or volunteer in making a positive impact in local children’s lives.”

To get involved, visit https://southernnevada.ja.org/donor/fundable-opportunities or contact Michelle Jackson at michelle.jackson@ja.org or 702-214-0500.

The JA BizTown curriculum provides educators with lessons and resources to effectively integrate work and career readiness and financial literacy into the classroom. The program supports students’ critical thinking skills and engagement and helps them connect the dots between what they learn in the classroom or remote learning and the real world. At the Inspiration Center, students will participate in a vibrant economy, operate businesses, receive paychecks, make bank transactions and go shopping.

JA Finance Park helps students build a foundation upon which they can make intelligent financial decisions based on income, expenses, savings, and credit through in-class learning and a hands-on budget simulation. During the simulation, students receive an adult persona including age, family, marital status, job, income, credit score, and education level. Based on these factors, they must create a balanced budget with more than 20 categories such as housing, food, transportation, childcare, insurance and entertainment. This will be brought to life at the Inspiration Center with various businesses hosting their own stores where the students will visit to learn about the financial considerations for that item (e.g., utilities).

Junior Achievement’s existing comprehensive online and in-school K-12 curriculum will continue uninterrupted during the renovation.

About Junior Achievement of Southern Nevada

Junior Achievement of Southern Nevada, Inc. was founded locally in 1996. The nonprofit organization is dedicated to providing financial education to K-12 students, with a curriculum that spans from budget management to economic principals, workforce skills and credit. Junior Achievement of Southern Nevada currently reaches more than 20,000 students annually in the Las Vegas area with the help of 285 businesses and 6,800 business role models. Upon completion, the new Junior Achievement of Southern Nevada Inspiration Center will impact more than 60,000 local youth. It will be a permanent site for its two capstone programs: JA BizTown and JA Finance Park. For more information visit https://jasnv.org/ and follow on Instagram and Facebook.

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