Our History
Junior Achievement, Inc. (JA) was founded nationally in 1919 as a non-profit organization teaching economic education in an after-school setting.  JA programming came to RI in 1921 and has been a vital resource to Rhode Island youth and the business and education communities ever since. With the assistance of twenty-two local business leaders, the state organization formally incorporated into Junior Achievement of Rhode Island, Inc. in 1948 in order to maintain a permanent, long-term presence in the Rhode Island.  Since then, Junior Achievement of Rhode Island's purpose has been to educate and inspire young people to value free enterprise and understand business and economics to improve the quality of their lives. Junior Achievement is the world's largest and fastest-growing non-profit economic education organization. Our programs are taught by classroom volunteers from the business community all across Rhode Island and in over 150 countries worldwide.

Junior Achievement is a volunteer driven, non-profit organization. This year more than 650 business professionals, parents, retirees and college students will enter our schools to teach Junior Achievement programs. These volunteers use their personal experiences to make the Junior Achievement curricula practical and realistic. Providing children with positive adult role models, who illustrate ways to build self-confidence, develop skills and find avenues of success in our free enterprise system, is a hallmark of Junior Achievement.