Junior Achievement of Central Carolinas

What Junior Achievement of Central Carolinas does

Junior Achievement of Central Carolinas (JACC) is a Charlotte, NC-based nonprofit affiliate of Junior Achievement USA, chartered in 1958 to deliver K-12 financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and work readiness education across 52 counties in North Carolina and northern South Carolina. The organization operates from a primary headquarters at 1701 N. Graham Street, Suite 100, and a 30,000 square foot experiential learning facility — TowneBank Opportunity HQ at Camp North End — that houses JA BizTown and JA Finance Park simulations. In its most recent reporting period, JACC reached 29,741 students across 852 classes at 133 schools, supported by 1,614 volunteers and 260,479 contact hours.

JACC's product portfolio is structured as a K-12 curriculum ladder with two flagship simulation products (JA BizTown for grades 4-6 and JA Finance Park for grades 7-12) layered over structured classroom curricula including JA Career Success, JA Job Shadow, JA It's My Future, JA High School Heroes, JA Economics for Success 2.0, and JA Be Entrepreneurial. Underlying technology includes the JA Connect self-guided learning platform, JA Here to Career (career exploration with assessment matching), JA Money Quiz, and the JA Ignite virtual career exploration fair. The organization delivers programs at no cost to qualifying schools — specifically those with 50% or higher free/reduced lunch populations — under an "equity first" approach.

The revenue model is donation-based, sourced from corporate sponsorships, individual donations, and foundation grants; JACC charges no fees to schools or students. Distribution occurs through school district partnerships (Mecklenburg, Chester, Lancaster, York counties), individual school registrations, on-site visits to the experiential learning center, and virtual program delivery. Major financial and strategic partners include TowneBank, Microsoft, EY, KPMG Foundation, The Hartford, Allstate, U.S. Bank, Accenture, FedEx, and Teach For America. Current leadership is Melissa Kilby as President & CEO, following the 2022 appointment of Dorothy Gorman and the earlier 2021 resignation of Sarah Cherne.

Name

Junior Achievement of Central Carolinas

Legal name

Junior Achievement of Central Carolinas, Inc.®

Website

https://centralcarolinas.ja.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1958

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Junior Achievement of Central Carolinas is a Charlotte-based nonprofit delivering K-12 financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and work readiness programs to 29,741 students across 52 counties in North and South Carolina through school district partnerships, volunteer-led curricula, and simulation-based learning centers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Youth Financial Literacy and Workforce Education

NAICS

Educational Support Services (611710)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

K–12 Core Curriculum Small-Group Tutoring Centers (Math/ELA/Science/Social Studies) (EDANAHAA)

Keywords

• Youth financial literacy
• Entrepreneurship education
• Work readiness programs
• Experiential learning simulations
• K-12 career education

Headquarters

HQ city

Charlotte

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Corporate Sponsorships and Donations: The organization operates as a nonprofit relying primarily on corporate sponsorships, individual donations, and foundation grants. Major corporate partners fund specific programs and provide volunteers.
2. Impact Partners Program: Corporations and individuals partner to fund programs delivered to local students. Partners receive recognition and involvement opportunities in exchange for financial support.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Junior Achievement of Central Carolinas (JACC) is a nonprofit organization that delivers K-12 educational programs in financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and work readiness to students across 52 counties in North Carolina and northern South Carolina. Programs combine teacher-led in-class curriculum with experiential learning simulations (JA BizTown, JA Finance Park) and volunteer-led instruction from local business professionals, and are offered at no cost to schools with 50% or higher free/reduced lunch populations.

Product overview

Junior Achievement of Central Carolinas offers a comprehensive K-12 educational platform focused on financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and work readiness. The portfolio consists of core simulation-based programs (JA Finance Park for grades 7-12 covering personal financial planning and career exploration; JA BizTown for grades 4-6 featuring a simulated town experience) alongside structured curriculum programs including JA Career Success, JA Job Shadow, JA It's My Future, JA High School Heroes, and JA Economics for Success 2.0. These are supplemented by digital tools including JA Connect learning platform, JA Here to Career career exploration tool, JA Money Quiz, JA Ignite Virtual Career Exploration Fair, and multiple downloadable resources. The programs are delivered through classroom instruction, volunteer-led presentations, experiential learning centers, and virtual implementations, serving students across elementary, middle, and high school levels with pathways that progress from foundational concepts to advanced simulations.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• JA Finance Park

Quantifiable outcome

• 29,741 students reached locally with measurable outcomes
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered major, strategic and core.

• U.S. BankmajorGTM or Marketing Partner · 2 March 2021U.S. Bank presented the Leading Ladies program, a two-day career development event for 9-12 grade girls featuring panel discussions with businesswomen.
• AllstatemajorGTM or Marketing Partner · 2 February 2021Allstate served as presenting sponsor for the JA Ignite Virtual Career Exploration Fair, a program reaching 12,000 students across 53 counties.
• Teach For AmericastrategicStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 November 2012National partnership to increase access to JA programs with focus on reaching at-risk youth. Corps members bring JA to classrooms; JA introduces volunteers to teaching opportunities.
• TowneBankcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerTowneBank is a key strategic partner hosting JA BizTown and JA Finance Park at TowneBank Opportunity HQ located at Camp North End in Charlotte, NC. The partnership provides the physical infrastructure for JACC's flagship experiential learning simulations.
• EY (Ernst & Young)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEY partners with JA on research surveys about teen career and financial literacy attitudes, and provides volunteer support. EY leaders serve on local JA boards.
• Allstate FoundationmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Allstate Foundation partners with JA USA since 2005 to provide financial literacy programs like JA Economics for Success, reaching over 1.2 million students.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Junior Achievement of Wisconsin: Regional JA affiliate operating the same JA BizTown and JA Finance Park simulations, delivering K-12 financial literacy and career readiness programs to Wisconsin schools through corporate volunteer networks.
• Junior Achievement of North Central Ohio: Regional JA affiliate delivering the identical JA program suite to Ohio schools, with the same corporate-funded, volunteer-delivered operating model and experiential learning center structure.
• EVERFI: Digital education platform providing K-12 financial literacy, career readiness, and workforce preparation content to schools with lower coordination overhead; competes for the same school curriculum adoption decisions and corporate sponsorship dollars.
• Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE): National nonprofit delivering entrepreneurship education to K-12 students with a comparable classroom-and-experiential model; serves as a direct competitor in youth entrepreneurship curriculum, competitions, and corporate-sponsored programming.
• Junior Achievement of Georgia: Regional JA affiliate serving students across Georgia with the same JA BizTown, JA Finance Park, and JA curriculum suite, sharing the nonprofit, sponsor-funded, volunteer-delivered operating model.
• Junior Achievement of Southwest Florida: Regional JA affiliate delivering the same portfolio of K-12 financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and work readiness programs (BizTown, Finance Park) to schools in Southwest Florida, using the same corporate volunteer and sponsor operating model as JACC.
• FoolProof: Provider of K-12 financial literacy curriculum and teacher resources; competes directly for school and district adoption of personal finance instructional content with a digital-first delivery approach.
• Junior Achievement of South Texas: Regional JA affiliate delivering the same JA BizTown, JA Finance Park, and supplemental curriculum portfolio to South Texas schools under the same nonprofit sponsor-funded model.
• Junior Achievement of New York: Major regional JA affiliate delivering the same experiential learning and in-class curriculum suite to NYC metro schools, with comparable Fortune 500 corporate sponsor base and experiential learning centers.

Broad incumbents

• Junior Achievement USA: National parent organization of which JACC is a regional affiliate. Provides overarching brand, curriculum frameworks, and national program standards, operating at much larger scale across 100+ regional areas and serving as the umbrella under which JACC delivers its programs.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/JACenCarolinas
• Xx.com/JACenCarolinas
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/jacencarolinas

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Junior Achievement of Central Carolinas