Our 2022 Impact Report



This impact report highlights key accomplishments during fiscal year 2022 from July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022; and what a year it was!
First, you will notice our new organizational name, Junior Achievement of Greater Boston, new logo and branding colors. The name change reflects our desire to focus our and our partners’ resources to make significant impact in communities that have been historically underserved.
Our new strategic vision is to close the wealth and opportunity gaps for youth in our impact communities (currently Boston, Brockton, Chelsea, Lawrence, Lowell, Lynn, Quincy, Somerville, and Worcester) by creating middle school to career pathways, igniting youth entrepreneurship and preparing financially savvy youth.
We consider fiscal year 2022 one of the most successful in our 72-year history. We served 6,199 students versus 4,706 the prior year (+32% YOY), with an average JA instruction time per student of 12 hours up from an average of 9 hours per student the prior year. Ninety-six percent of students live in our impact communities. Seventy-two percent were in high school; 8% middle school; 20% elementary school, which aligns with our strategic vision.
We placed several JA alumni in full-time jobs and paid internships with JA partners. We signed a contract with Boston Public Schools to launch the first 3DE School in New England in fall 2023 (more on this to follow). We opened the JA Innovation Center @ RSM in honor of JA alumnus and benefactor Bill Schawbel. This is a new and innovative center that provides the region’s youth a safe space to meet with each other and their mentors, and with top of the line technology and tools to help them ideate, design, prototype and manufacture their innovative products. Kudos to RSM Boston for generously donating 2,000+ square feet of beautiful space, Wayfair for furnishing the Center and our philanthropic investors who helped make this dream a reality.
We continue to focus on ensuring our organization is representative of the communities we serve. As we write this letter in December 2022, 75% of our staff and 31% of our board are people of color or identify as multiracial. We also focused on recruiting diverse volunteers and hired vendors of color in our commitment to close the wealth and opportunity gaps.
Our new logo and branding are a combination of a local analysis of how JA is perceived in our communities, how we want to be known and a rebranding effort by our global organization, JA Worldwide, that resulted in a refreshed logo and branding across the United States and the globe.
In this report you will read many other accomplishments, meet some of our wonderful students, alumni and partners and get a glimpse into the increased impact Junior Achievement of Greater Boston is making in the lives of the youth we serve, our communities and the region.
We appreciate your partnership in our critical mission; we cannot do it without you. Thank you.
In August 2021, twenty-four high school students participated in the JA Summer Institute, which was delivered virtually over the course of three days. Each day kicked-off with an executive speaker who shared their career path, lessons learned, and words of advice, including Rana el Kaliouby, Deputy CEO at Smart Eye, former Co-Founder and CEO at Affectiva and author of Girl Decoded, who addressed the students from her home in Cairo, Egypt! Additionally, students went through a variety of workshops covering topics such as college and career financial planning, career research, budgeting, the design thinking process, soft skills,
CGI collaborated with JA to bring their IT Girl Challenge to Greater Boston for the first time. During ten sessions held virtually in as many weeks, five teams representing Burlington High School, where CGI’s offices are located, Lawrence High School, Notre Dame Cristo Rey High School, Boston Latin Academy, and Boston Latin School designed their own mobile apps under the guidance and direction of incredibly attentive mentors from CGI. The students created videos to showcase their mobile apps which were played for the judges during the
and interviewing skills. The program ended with a networking session where students connected with professionals from different industries to hear about their career paths in small breakout sessions. In total, forty-five corporate volunteers participated in this program. Thank you to our generous program supporters, Experian, Accenture, Avanade, Needham Bank, Deloitte, TIAA, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Eastern Bank Foundation, and FactSet. We look forward to sharing about the 2022 JA Summer Institute, which we were able to hold in-person again in next year’s impact report.
live pitch competition. The students then had a Q&A session with the judges. The apps ranged from a focus on mental health to learning efficient study habits. The winning team of two students from Lawrence High School created an app designed to tutor students who missed classes. They won a $20,000 scholarship, split evenly between the two students, one of whom was a senior and the other a sophomore who now has a healthy 529 account JA helped open to deposit the scholarship.
This past year, over 100 students participated in our flagship program, The JA Company Program. Under the guidance of our dedicated corporate mentors, students created fourteen different companies providing them with the hands-on experience of launching, operating and running their own businesses. The opening of the new JA Innovation Center gave students the opportunity to utilize manufacturing equipment such as laser cutters, vinyl cutters, and embroidery machines to create and customize their products for their start-ups.
The culminating event for students in the JA Company Program was to apply to compete as one of fifteen teams in the JA USA National Student Leadership Summit in Washington D.C. This year two of our student companies, TirSense and Botl+ were invited to attend, and participated in leadership and entrepreneurship workshops led by corporate partners such as Delta Air Lines and FedEx!
The JA Stock Market Challenge continued to be a virtual affair this year. Two hundred sixty-four students, 100% of them from our impact communities, participated in JA Take Stock in Your Future. During these lessons, students learned how the market works, the impact of current events on the stock market, and much more, all of which set them up for success while playing the online simulation for JA Stock Market Challenge. Thank you to our participating schools Boston Latin Academy, Boston Latin School, Lawrence High School, and Somerville High School. Additionally, thank you to board member, Chris Webster and volunteers from Wellington Management, Santander Bank, Northern Bank and Trust, and Citisoft for dedicating time to volunteer at these schools! All top three teams were from Lawrence High School. Each student from the winning team received a $500 gift certificate to stockpile.com, which they can use to buy their own stocks to practice what they learned in this program.
At the JA Be Entrepreneurial Challenge, six high schools from the Greater Boston Area are invited to send teams of four JA students to compete in a design thinking challenge centered around the topic of Barriers to Career Access. JA students learn and utilize the steps of design thinking to work on an assigned problem under the guidance of Suffolk University’s entrepreneurship undergraduate and graduate student mentors. High school students then create a lean canvas business plan and pitch their ideas to Suffolk University professors. Admission officers attend the event to speak with students about the college application process, and the financial aid opportunities available to potential applicants.
On November 5th The Newman School placed first and on April 8th Lawrence High School secured a 1st place win. Between both events the following schools have participated:
• Boston College High School
• Boston Prep Charter School
• Brockton High School
• The Jeremiah E. Burke High School
• Notre Dame Cristo Rey High School
• Excel Academy Charter School
• Lawrence High School
• The Newman School
Lawrence, Massachusetts
Of the 6,199 total students JA served in FY22, 3,011 of those students were from Lawrence, spanning all grades K-12 and engaging in a variety of JA’s offerings. Sixty-six percent of these students were in middle and high school. We believe that our partnership with Lawrence Public Schools and the relationships we are cultivating with individual schools is a model for partnership with the school districts in our other eight impact communities. Here’s a snapshot of what we accomplished in Lawrence:
• JA in a Days at South Lawrence East and Wetherbee Elementary Schools (1,017 students)
• JA Economics for Success with entire 8th grade at Parthum Middle School (156 students)
• The entire 10th grade curriculum in the Business Pathway is exclusively JA content (167 students)
• Eight students from Lawrence completed the intense Afterschool JA Company Program and were one of the first teams to utilize the JA Innovation Center @ RSM to create their product
• Lawrence High School (LHS) team won the JA Be Entrepreneurial Challenge at Suffolk University
• Three students were accepted and competed in the JA USA Social Innovation Challenge
• JA Financial Literacy (semester-course) taken by 200 LHS seniors
• JA Stock Market Challenge (100 students with LHS teams winning first, second, and third place in the competition)
• Team of two students won the first ever JA CGI IT Girl Challenge and each took away a $10,000 college scholarship
We opened the JA Innovation Center @ RSM on April 28, 2022 to great fanfare. This 2,000+ square feet of prime real estate in Charlestown’s waterfront is the gracious gift of RSM and allows us space to host young people for field trips and after school programs. Through the support of an anonymous foundation, we configured the space to better suit JA’s needs and outfitted it with equipment, such as laser cutters, 3D printers, a drill press, sewing and embroidery machines, and other tools. Wayfair so generously donated all the fun furniture and storage solutions. A very special thank you to Secretary Rosalin Acosta, Labor and Workforce Development for the Commonwealth for her support and remarks.
We honored longtime JA supporter and alum Bill Schawbel at the opening celebration. Bill’s JA roots go back to his high school days at Boston Latin School and he continues to give back in time and treasure to students in Greater Boston and around the world through JA Worldwide in his role as founder and CEO of the Schawbel Companies. He is an exemplar entrepreneur: his first job was running his mother’s yarn shop from their house in Roxbury, followed by the presidency of his JA Company in 1956, before taking the helm of international enterprises. We thank Bill for his generosity of spirit and deep commitment to our students.
teaching and mentoring people interested in careers in business. Since retiring from AIG, working with JA students has kept me engaged and energized, helping my transition into retirement by still giving back to the youth in my community.”
JA Board member and former AIG executive, Chris Webster is always eager to raise his hand at the opportunity to work with the middle and high school students we serve, which is critical to supporting the ever increasing demand for JA programming in Lawrence.
Last year Chris volunteered over 50 hours with Lawrence students at the Parthum School, Lawrence High School, and South Lawrence East. Chris has also been a dedicated volunteer with the JA Company Program, guiding students as they start their own business venture. We are grateful for Chris’ commitment to the students we serve at JA and look forward to his continued participation this coming year.
“JA has given me the experiences and opportunities needed to discover my passion for entrepreneurship and finance. Programs, such as the JA Company Program, taught me how to think critically and communicate effectively. The professionalism JA has instilled in me has carried over into college, whether it be in project presentations or class assignments. Most importantly, JA has shown me the power of education and the limitless possibilities it provides.”
Our JA Student of the Year for 2022 was Donald Le. Upon Donald’s graduation from Boston College High in June of 2022, Donald enrolled as a freshman at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, majoring in Finance and Entrepreneurship, with a minor in Computer Science.
Donald was a dedicated participant of the JA Company Program throughout his sophomore and junior year of high school, competing in two JA of Greater Boston pitch competitions in 2019 and 2020 and the prestigious JA USA National Student Leadership Summit in 2020. As a result of his efforts and dedication, Donald was awarded the Steve Sullivan Scholarship, making him our JA Student of the Year.
“Through my volunteering with JA, I realized I have a passion forChris Webster JA Board of Directors and Volunteer Donald Le 2022 JA Student of the Year
After hosting the event virtually for the past two years, we were excited to bring together our corporate, foundation, and school partners, sponsors, guests, and honorees for the fifth Spirit of JA Celebration on May 19th at the Aloft Seaport Boston Hotel.
Together, we raised a total of $188,750 to fund critical JA programs for youth in our impact communities.
It was a record-breaking fundraising year for our 24th JA Golf Classic on June 27th at the Black Rock Country Club. With our sponsors’ support, we raised $154,875. A very special thank you to our lead sponsors, Robert Half, Delta Air Lines, EY, People’s United Bank, and the Albrecht Auto Group.
This year’s honoree was Chip Barnes, former JA Golf Classic Committee Chair, who continues to support and attend the tournament! Despite the fickle New England weather, everyone had much fun and laughter. We reconnected old friends and made new ones.
Our students love to see Delta Air Lines! Its presence was a huge hit at the JA Summer Institute’s speed networking event, which they so generously supported alongside the JA Company Program Pitch Competition. We thank Delta for its Presenting Sponsorship of the Spirit of JA Celebration, where students were again able to meet the company’s dedicated and talented team members.
RSM US and the national RSM Foundation so generously supported JA through their 2021 Birdies Fore Love campaign. RSM is a beacon of support in Charlestown, and through their gift, the JA Innovation Center will have a significant impact on students in the Charlestown community. We thank RSM for its lead support of the JA Innovation Center and Entrepreneurship Room sponsorship at the Spirit of JA Celebration.
Santander’s generosity is felt in the classrooms as they always show up en force to teach JA lessons to our students. Santander also leads through its community giving and we thank the Bank for making our programs available to students and schools in our impact communities. Last year, Santander’s employees gave 15,000 hours of volunteerism to their communities, giving half through Junior Achievement chapters across the nation. We thank Santander for its values-led activity in our community.
We’re grateful to Wayfair for what they do best: customer service and furniture. They built on their financial contributions by providing tables, chairs, and workbenches for the Innovation Center @ RSM. In the space, students safely use light manufacturing equipment and materials to bring JA lessons to life. The Center hosts JA Company Program from November through May. These experiences are part of our new middle school to career pathway, and we are grateful for Wayfair’s visionary investment in the JA Career Pathway for Alumni. Thank you, Wayfair, for making the JA Innovation Center @ RSM feel like home!
AIG leads by example. Throughout our partnership, AIG consistently shows up for the JA Company Program, welcoming students into its office and mentoring them through their experience. We thank AIG for its commitment in the JA Career Pathway for Alumni. Our alumni look forward to internships this summer!
Following our middle school to career pathway strategy, the JA Career Pathway for Alumni connects JA Alumni with the skills they need to succeed and the networks to secure great, first employment opportunities from internships to entry-level jobs. Led by Val Brooks, Associate Director of the JA Career Pathway for Alumni, high school graduates and college students will embark on a JA work readiness internship over the summer, taking workshops presented by corporate partners and industry experts and in culmination, explore a real-life case study with mentors. Following this launchpad experience, alumni are then connected to employment opportunities with our partners. A very special thank you to early investors: Accenture, AIG, ALKU, Capital One Foundation, Delta Air Lines, Eos Foundation, JP Morgan Chase & Co, LendingClub Bank, Lincoln Financial Foundation, Mabel Louise Riley Foundation, RSM, TIAA, Wayfair, Webster Bank, Yawkey Foundation, and an Anonymous Individual. Bill Schawbel, ever the entrepreneur, challenged us to raise $500,000 for this initiative with a promise to match, bringing this first round of seed funding to $1,000,000. Thank you to our investors, and to those committed to ensuring JA Alumni have the mindsets and skillsets to succeed.
$100,00 and above
RSM US and The RSM Foundation Wayfair
$50,000 to $99,999 Delta Air Lines Santander Bank Anonymous (1)
$25,000 to $49,999 The Abbot and Dorothy H. Stevens Foundation
AIG
ALKU Capital One CGI Eaton Vance Eos Foundation Experian QAS EY Fidelity Investments LendingClub Bank Liberty Mutual Foundation Lincoln Financial Foundation PwC
Robert Half and Protiviti
The TJX Companies
UPS Foundation Voya Financial Webster Bank
Wellington Management Anonymous (2)
$10,000 to $24,999 Accenture Avanade Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts
CNA Comcast Dellbrook | JKS Deloitte
Eversource Energy FactSet Research Systems HarborOne Bank Horace A. Moses Trust JPMorgan Chase & Co. KPMG Northern Bank & Trust Company People’s United Bank TIAA U.S. Bank Foundation Waters Corporation Wilmington Trust and M&T Bank
$5,000 to $9,999 Aon Bloomberg Citisoft Cresa Boston CrossCountry Consulting Dee and Kingman Webster Legacy Fund for Greater Lawrence of the Essex County Community Foundation East Boston Savings Bank Gemline
Hologic
MDD Forensic Accountants Needham Bank New England Council Oliver Wyman PRW Wealth Management Red Sox Foundation Slalom Consulting State Street Global Advisors
$4,999 and below AccuRounds
AmazonSmile Foundation AT&T
The Barcomb Group BDO
Boston Museum of Science Clough Capital Partners
Cummings Foundation
Enterprise Bank & Trust, Co. Enterprise Holdings Fiduciary Trust Company Massachusetts Afterschool Partnership Morey Family Charitable Foundation New Balance
Ocean Spray Cranberries PA Consulting Retail Business Services Rollstone Bank & Trust Salesforce State Street Corporation Walgreens
$100,000 and above
William Schawbel Anonymous (1)
$25,000 to $49,999 Anonymous (2)
$10,000 to $24,999
William Herp
Pooja Ika
Eddie Perkin Andreana Santangelo Stephen G. Sullivan Anonymous (3)
$5,000 to $9,999
Chip Barnes Christine Barry Brendan Callahan
Charles Hoban Annette Leckie
Chris MacKenzie Timothy Marrs George Moore Suzanne Norman Heidi Pickett Mark Reilly Glenn Ricciardelli
$1,000 to $4,999
Marta Bergamaschi
James Boviard
John & Nancy Buckley
Daniel Budington
Kevin Callaghan
Lynne Ann Chase Chris DeMeo
Migdalia Diaz
Brian Diepold Bernard Dockrill
Michael Douvadjian Joshua Drew Kurt Edwards Natalie Fedyuk Paul Fehrenbach Amy Fracassini Jim Goodfield Thomas Halloran Craig A. Hillier Raymond C. Hoefling
Jonathan Isaacson Cynthia Izzo R. Bruce Journey Dan Kabat Brian Kalberer Matthew Katz Daniel Latimore Louis Leblanc Alvania Lopez Jared Marsh Mark Melito Smaiyra Million Gale G. Murray Russell Norris Timothy O’Neil Frank O’Neill Federico Papa Raju Pathak Paul Petry Calvin Place Rita Ryan Brendan Smyth James M. Suppelsa William “Ted” Truscott
Christopher B. Webster Richard White
Amy Zidow Anonymous (4)
$500 to $999
Tom Allen
Diana Barlow Christine Berberich Stephanie Bernard Kate Boucher Lydia Edwards Jordan Gauthier Marisa Gianino Philip Hartmann Michael Kelly Antonio Lopez Andrew Malachowski Taidgh McClory Erika Neilssen Peter Pedro Sean Rush Candice Stover Eric Taitano Rick D. Tyson Anonymous (5)
$499 and below
Ann Anderson
William Annino Jojo Antonio Breena Baird Casey Bangs Justin Barr Carolyn Bassett Tim Behling Jean-Philippe Bernard
$499 and below (continued)
Mark Blaisdell
Brian Brennan
Lauren Campson
Michael Carpentiere
Robert Coly
Brandie Conforti
Declan Crowley
Catherine Daley
Socrates Delacruz
Heidi Destino
Margaret Dunlap
Josephine Eugene
Kimberly Fendi
James Foote
Paulo R. Frade
William Frain
Darrel Frater
Jamie Frazier
Kay Frishman
Julie Furrier
Nicholas E. Grant
MaryKate Griffin
Robert D. Hazard
Junaid Hoosen
Angela Hourihan
Clyde Foster Jondro
Caroline Keady
Thomas Kelliher
Latia King-Fontanez
Christopher A. Lemone
Patience Lipede
Debbie Little Chiumento
Jesus Lopez
Benjamin Lyons
Esperanza Manukian
Elaine Marks
Brian Matt
Josh Mazerolle
Daniel McCarthy
Meaghan McGowan
Nichole McMaster
Blanca Mendez Kalkach
Sanjay Menon
Harsha Mishra
Oscar Moreno
David Mullin
Alan Mutke
Derek Nguyen
Jimmy Nguyen
Bill Nichols
Radhames Nova
Jason Pacor
Maria Paniagua
Jennifer Perry
Michael Preite
Matthew Protzmann
Hannah Pyenson
Heide Rosier
Laurence Rossi
Jonathan G. Rozier
Kelly Ryan
Emma Saliba
Daniel Sanchez de la Vega
Steve Schmidt
Brian Skaff
Tim Stack
Caroline Sullivan
Amanda Teti Javier Torres
Anonymous (6)
George Moore, Chair (as of July 1, 2022) Chief Technology Officer, Signant Health
Amy Zidow, Treasurer Assurance Partner, EY
Migdalia Diaz, Secretary
Chief Operating Officer, Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development
Jason Allen
Lead Portfolio Manager Impact Investments, MassMutual
Christine Barry*
Tim Behling
Vice President of Supply Chain, Gemline
Christine Berberich
James Boviard Assurance Partner, PwC
Daniel Budington
Chief Strategy Officer, Santander US
Brendan Callahan
Managing Director, JLL
Michael Carpentiere
Group Car Sales Manager, Enterprise Car Sales
Chief Operating Officer, Sanalife & Aqualite US
Chris
Vice President of Customer Acquisition, Retention & Advocacy, Workhuman
Brian Diepold
Head of Marketing & Sales Platforms, Wells Fargo
Bernard Dockrill
Senior Vice President, New England Operations, CGI
Josh Drew
Regional Director, Robert Half
Patrick Dunn
Managing Director, Providence Equity Partners – Providence Public
Kurt Edwards Founder & CEO, Pyxai
Lydia
State Senator, First Suffolk & Middlesex District, State of Massachusetts
Rommel Espinal
Vice President, Customer Inclusion Community Leader, Fidelity Investments
Natalie Fedyuk
Managing Director, Cybersecurity & Privacy, Protiviti
Vice President, Senior Mortgage Banking Officer – Residential & Consumer Lending, Webster Bank
Maricel Goris
Assistant Superintendent, Lawrence Public Schools
Tom Halloran
President, Cetera Wealth Partners
Robert Hazard
Group Manager, Commercial Banking Senior Vice President, M&T Bank
Sheryce Hearns-Brisbon
Director, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Dellbrook | JKS
Charlie Hoban
Partner, Health & Life Sciences and Boston Metro Leader, Oliver Wyman
Pooja Ika
Founder & CEO, eternalHealth
Cynthia Izzo Principal, KPMG
Brian Kalberer
Managing Director, Accenture
Michael Kelly
Client Director, AIG
Board of Directors (continued)
Founder and CEO, PeachBox Co.
End User Computing Senior Solutions Engineer, Healthcare, VMware, Inc.
Market Leader, Massachusetts, RSM US LLP
Partner, Deloitte & Touche LLP
Executive Director, Arthur M. Blank Center
fo Entrepreneurship; Director, Butler Institute for Free Enterprise through Entrepreneurship, Babson College
Oscar Moreno
First Vice President, Commercial Lending, Rollstone Bank & Trust
Chief Risk Officer, Voya Financial
Vice President & Deputy Treasurer, American Tower
Managing Director, Morgan Stanley
Chief Equity Investment Officer, Eaton Vance
Heidi Pickett
Director of Strategic Initiatives & Chief of Staff, The TIE
Senior Vice President of Government and Regulatory Relations, Comcast Corporation
Senior Partner, MDD Forensic Accountants
CFO, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts
District Sales Manager, New England | Global Sales, Delta Air Lines
Chief Revenue Officer, Touchplan
Associate, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
Rob Coly
Senior Vice President – Senior Credit Officer – C&I, M&T Bank
JP Bernard
Business Manager - Key Accounts, New Balance
Shauna Bernard Manager, Risk Advisory, RSM
Stephanie Bernard, Co-Chair Director, Advisory Services,Marcum LLP
Greg Boccio
Audit and Assurance Senior Manager, Deloitte & Touche LLP
Jojo Antonio
Director of Operations
Yanille Baez
Senior Education Manager, High School Partnerships
Ina Beinborn Marketing Coordinator
Val Brooks
Associate Director, Career Pathway for Alumni
Luiza deCamargo
Vice President, Development
Paulo Frade
Vice President, Finance and Technology
Jordan Gauthier
Executive Director, JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Dave Han
Hotel Manager, Omni Hotels & Resorts
Foster Jondro
Director- Mergers & Acquisitions, PwC
Josh Kanter
Senior Vice President, NNN Pro Group
Jack Kerins
Audit Manager, KPMG
Allie Ketzler
Industrial Engineering Supervisor, UPS
Erika Neilssen
Management Consultant, Accenture
Enda O’Shea
Senior, Technology Risk, EY
Jason Pacor
Client Service Partner, Slalom
Mike Preite, Co-Chair
Vice President, Healthcare Corporate & Investment Banking, Truist
Rebecca Risk Market Director, Robert Half
Tanuja Thikekar
Vice President, Consulting Services, CGI
Latia King-Fontánez
Chief of Staff
Jessika Lazala
Education Manager, JA Company Program & Innovation Center @ RSM
Melina MardueÑo
Development Officer, Annual Giving & Stewardship
Eva Maynard
Development Officer, Corporate Partnerships
Susan McDonald
Education Manager, High School Partnerships
Radhamés Nova President and CEO
Deirdre O’Connor Mitchell Chief Operations Officer
Bill Stiles
Director of Education
Sue Ung
Senior Education Manager, JA Inspire & Middle School Partnerships
Alexis Yang Events Coordinator