JA of New Jersey and CNBC Prepare New Jersey’s Students for Economic Security Through Financial Literacy with Virtual Event

June 2, 2022, Edison, NJ – In celebration of Financial Literacy Month, JA of New Jersey (JANJ) and 28 CNBC volunteers empowered 87 students from Parsippany High School by helping them imagine their futures and gain the knowledge and skills needed to take control of their financial success. Hosted by Kate Dore, a CNBC Personal Finance Reporter, this exclusive interactive event gave teens direct access to the country's most knowledgeable experts on financial literacy. As an extension of JANJ’s digital and experiential learning resources, this financial wellness and education collaboration allowed for a robust virtual discussion about economic empowerment.

While every month at JA of New Jersey (JANJ) is Financial Literacy Month, featuring this partnership during a nationally recognized month to highlight the importance of financial education was important and purposeful. As ample research points out, the optimal time to teach new concepts is when learners are young. When it comes to learning new subject matters, teens are much faster learners than adults, which is why teaching the importance of financial literacy at a young age is crucial in setting up the next generation for success. This virtual event was a unique opportunity for students to get a head start on responsibly planning their futures and obtain valuable advice from business professionals with extensive years of life and work experiences. 

Facilitated by Kate Dore, a CNBC Personal Finance Reporter and a Certified Financial Planner professional, the virtual event unpacked the value of learning critical skills, like effective money management, budgeting and investing. Prior to the event, JANJ Staff held planning sessions with CNBC, implemented a lesson from the JA Finance Park Advanced curriculum to be used in a breakout session, and designed a mentor guide for CNBC volunteers.

With CNBC leaders from a variety of career stages and backgrounds, the discussed cost of living and wages, budgeting and saving skills, and advice about setting financial goals for the future. To tie the program together, the diverse group of panelists recommended straightforward strategies to help inspire students to work hard and persevere.

Students and CNBC volunteers were assigned breakout rooms to engage in an informal setting. After the discussions, students were encouraged to use the chat feature to post additional comments and questions, in which volunteers were able to see the impact of their breakout room discussions, and students shared their own reactions and feedback to the points made by the speakers through a post-event survey. In reflecting on her experience, Genevieve, a Parsippany Hills High School student expressed “Working with my volunteer helped me understand the basics of adulting, living cost + median wage. To know if you make enough to live (cover food, rent, taxes, utilities, etc.) from the wages you should roughly earn from your job. I didn’t understand how important it was to know.”

Ahmed Kandil, the Personal Finance teacher at Parsippany Hills High School shared his thoughts of the event “The last two years have been challenging for teachers, but especially for our students. I’m so appreciative of having JA bring CNBC volunteers to our students to help them think about the future, a thought that they may not be thinking about since most are living day-to-day. I get so used to seeing them in class, that it was refreshing to see these students “all in” with their volunteers.”

As the nation's largest organization dedicated to empowering young people to take ownership of their personal economic achievement and plan for their futures, JANJ understands the significance of infusing these core values into their practices. There exists a continual opportunity, through in-school programs provided by JANJ, to educate young people in grades K-12 about the economics of life.  To learn more about these learning initiatives, provided at no cost to schools and students statewide, click here.

To watch Kate Dore’s speech to the students from the virtual event, click here.

About JA of New Jersey (JANJ):

NJ is an award-winning, best-in-class JA operation. With its headquarters and Capstone programs located in the JA Education Center, in Raritan Center, Edison, NJ, JANJ is a free educational resource dedicated to giving all young people the knowledge and skills they need to own their economic success and plan for their futures. JA’s learning experiences primarily focus on career readiness, financial empowerment, entrepreneurship, and life skills, and are held at the JA Education Center, in schools, on college/university campuses, in corporate facilities, and online through digital learning experiences. For more information, visit janj.org and follow JANJ on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.

About CNBC:

CNBC is the recognized world leader in business news, providing real-time financial market coverage, business content and general news consumed by more than 547 million people per month across all platforms. The network’s 15 live hours a day of news programming in North America (weekdays from 5:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. ET) is produced at CNBC’s global headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., and includes reports from CNBC News bureaus worldwide. CNBC at night features a mix of new reality programming, CNBC’s highly successful series produced exclusively for CNBC and a number of distinctive in-house documentaries.

CNBC also offers content through its vast portfolio of digital products such as: CNBC.com, which provides financial market news and information to CNBC’s investor audience; CNBC Make It, a digital destination focused on making you smarter about how you earn, save and spend your money; CNBC PRO, a premium service that provides in-depth access to Wall Street; a suite of CNBC mobile apps for iOS and Android devices; Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple Siri voice interfaces; and streaming services including Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV and Samsung Smart TVs. To learn more, visit https://www.cnbc.com/digital-products/