Cast your vote...

And help JA of the Chisholm Trail win $20,000!!!

Hello, Junior Achievement supporters!

We need you to get out the vote for Junior Achievement in Wells Fargo's Someday Stories contest. With your help, Junior Achievement of the Chisholm Trail could win $20,000!Wells Fargo has selected five finalists in the Someday Stories contest. Through November 10, you can vote for a Someday Story finalist and for Junior Achievement!

It's easy:

1. Go online to the Wells Fargo Someday Stories site: http://wellsfargo.com/somedaycontest/ja.
   
2. Watch the short finalist videos and vote for your favorite story.
   
3. Select Junior Achievement as your favorite cause! Voting is limited to (1) vote per person and per valid email address.

Tell everyone you know, and ask your friends and family to vote, too!

Thanks for your support of JA!

VOLUNTEERS: DON'T FORGET!!!!

Volunteers, don't forget to fill out the

FIRST CLASS VISIT FORM

after you teach your first class.

All classes must be started by Nov. 1.

Credit Unions join forces in program to educate students

By Randal Mays
Special to the Business Press
Fall 2008 Private/Public School Guide

With an ever-changing and unpredictable economy, the need for financial literacy education is crucial to prepare our next generation leaders. Educators and policy makers all over the country are making efforts to increase the requirements for and access to financial literacy education in
public schools.

Community members and financial institutions also are joining forces to help prepare and guide students to make wise and informed financial decisions. During the past school year, local credit unions and Junior Achievement of the Chisholm Trail in Fort Worth joined in a unique effort to
increase community involvement in financial literacy education. JA is a youth development organization that provides hands-on classroom instruction focusing on work and college readiness, financial literacy and dropout prevention.

The Fort Worth Chapter of Credit Unions, the Texas Credit Union Foundation and JA created a pilot program through a first-of-its-kind collaboration that will be replicated across the state. There are 26 credit union chapters in Texas, and each has an emphasis on improving the financial literacy of students. Organizers developed the Fort Worth initiative to model how other
credit unions chapters can work together to achieve that goal.

Here’s how it worked: Through its membership, the Fort Worth Chapter of Credit Unions provided 30 volunteers to deliver JA programs to every kindergarten, first- and second-grader at Sam Rosen Elementary in Fort Worth Independent School District and Webb Elementary in
Arlington Independent School District. The member credit unions combined to provide $7,500 in funding, and the Texas Credit Union Foundation matched it to fully sponsor JA programs
at both schools.

Volunteers spent about an hour each for five weeks in classrooms teaching students how money is earned, used and saved. Students learned the importance of determining needs versus
wants in purchasing items, how money moves through the economy and the role of taxation. Students also learned important concepts and skills relating education to the workforce and how to make informed financial decisions.

The program launched this past spring and will be expanded this fall. By the time the pilot phase ends, more than 1,000 students at both schools will have benefited from this collaboration. The goal is to continue collaborating each year in order to reach every
student in both schools.

“With financial education as our key focus, we are proud to be a part of this groundbreaking partnership,” says Jill Pharr, executive director of the Texas Credit Union Foundation, a 501(c)3
charitable organization representing more than 500 credit unions in the state. The foundation promotes financial literacy with community and statewide grants for financial education
programs as well as partnerships with credit unions and other organizations to offer financial education to their communities and members.

“In the current economic climate, it makes great business sense both for credit unions and the foundation to bring the JA program to Texas students,” Pharr says. “More importantly, helping
to ensure that more young Texans have the knowledge and skills to build a better financial future for themselves and their families is a cause we all share.”

In April, the Fort Worth Chapter of Credit Unions won the Foundation’s prestigious FOCUS award recognizing its commitment and efforts to promote financial education throughout the
state. This is the third time the Fort Worth Chapter has been awarded this honor by the Texas Credit Union Foundation.

“Promoting financial literacy through the JA partnership lines up perfectly with the mission of credit unions to give back to our local communities,” says Cindy Baker, recently appointed
chair of JA’s Board of Directors. “As a credit union employee, and the board chair of JA, it is terrific to witness this level of partnership coming to fruition.”

JA’s programs prepare students for college and the workplace, provide financial literacy skills, develop future entrepreneurs and motivate students to stay in school. By emphasizing the need to prepare students to be future leaders and teaching them the skills they need to know today, we can be assured that the future of our country and economy will be in the hands of informed and educated leaders.

Randal Mays is president of Junior Achievement of the Chisholm Trail Inc., a youth development organization based in Fort Worth that serves children in Tarrant, Parker, Johnson, and Wise counties. For more information, visit http://www.jafortworth.org/.