Junior Achievement (JA) Eastern Iowa, along with JA chapters across the country, prepares young people for economic success.
At Alliant Energy, we strongly believe in the power of youth to find success and innovate for a brighter tomorrow. That’s why we’ve been a long-time partner of JA both in Iowa and Wisconsin. Our managers and directors have served as JA board members, volunteers and donors for decades.
“Volunteering for Junior Achievement provides an amazing and rewarding experience. I go into schools to help students gain skills needed for an economically successful future,” said Deb Yoder, JA board member, JA volunteer since 2015 and finance director at Alliant Energy. “I use my professional and personal experience to help them connect what they learn in the classroom with real life. To see a child dream about what they want to do when they grow up and know I’m inspiring future generations, while also making a difference in our local community, is a great feeling.”
Alliant Energy recently made a three-year commitment to JA of Eastern Iowa’s mobile Finance Park. The program teaches kids to make intelligent financial decisions that last a lifetime.
It’s a real-life simulation that encourages learning by doing. Finance Park randomly assigns each student a life persona with job title, salary and description of their family. From there, students must balance up to 18 expenses without exceeding their budget.
“Education creates opportunities,” said Dennis Jordan, long-time JA board leader and director of customer, community and economic development for Alliant Energy Iowa. “It doesn't matter if we’re talking about a kindergarten student, an eighth grader, college student or adult learner. The more education a person has, the better their position for providing for themselves, their family and their community.”
In Wisconsin, we recently supported the first annual JA Community Scavenger Hunt, a month-long adventure allowing kids and community members of all ages to discover more about their home. The goal was to teach about nearby businesses, public institutions, diversity and green spaces.
“Alliant Energy’s sponsorship of the JA Community Scavenger Hunt made a positive impact in preparing and inspiring southern Wisconsin youth to make good academic and economic choices,” said Amber McPhail, executive board member of Junior Achievement.
Aimee Davis, our Foundation board chair and our company’s vice president of marketing, communications and community affairs, said activities like the JA Community Scavenger Hunt “give us an opportunity to encourage a future workforce that is innovative and could someday even develop new clean energy solutions for a brighter tomorrow.”
As a company with a firm commitment to workforce readiness, we’re proud to stand with Junior Achievement to help young people achieve economic success in their futures.