Welcome to the Wednesday, September 23rd, 2026 special presentations of the Metropolitan Council.

We're going to begin this evening with uh Metropolitan Councilmember Rowdy Goday to recognize Paula Dawson of Junior Achievement.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you, Council members.

Um, I do want to I'll ask Miss U Paula Dawson to come on up and make some quick remarks.

And I would say Paula is the executive director and her board chair, Miss Sonella is here.

If you don't know Sanela, she runs Baton Rouge basically, you should get to know her.

Uh, she's amazing and her husband's awesome.

So but to Paula, uh, I was gonna come up here and tell you about junior achievement and our great meeting that we had where I learned about some of the activities and assets that they deploy across East Baton Rouge Parish and why I felt it was appropriate uh that Miss Paula come and inform our community and all of us about the good work.

Uh but when she and I were visiting just prior to this, uh Sharonica from the staff here came over and talked about how in her high school year of freshman year, she was part of junior achievement and she still remembers the activities she went through and still has the plaque that she was awarded that she went through.

And so it was I told Sharonica she should come make the presentation because it was just a a really great moment.

Just kind of one of those moments where we happen to be in the same place, and she talked about how much junior achievement impacted her life.

Uh I hope she can hear me wherever she is.

So that I think is the more apropos uh introduction uh of Miss Paula.

So uh so I I asked her if she would wouldn't mind come making a presentation and uh tell us about some of the great, great work that she and her team are doing here in Baton Rouge.

So, Miss Paula, please.

And I think Justin, she's got something queue up.

Yes.

Awesome.

Thank you so much.

I'm really excited to be here with you all today to share a little bit more about junior achievement.

Um, it is certainly inspiring to hear the stories um of our past J students, and we get that all of the time because we work with so many students throughout the capital area.

Um, and I think it's gonna be important for you all to know how we're working with the schools and your constituents on a daily basis and what we're doing with them because the work that we're doing is really empowering our future to um help make the workforce and our city better in the future.

So thank you.

I appreciate that.

I also want to thank Councilman Kenny.

Um we actually host one of our events, which is our BizTown and Our Finance Park at Jewel Newman Community Center, and I'll share a little bit more about that in our videos so you'll kind of get to know what our programs are.

Um, but we work with three pillars financial literacy, work readiness, and entrepreneurship at junior achievement in grades K through 12.

So we're really preparing those kids and working with them with different programs.

Um, and most importantly, bringing mentors from the business community to actually spend time with these students so that they can learn the skills that they need to be successful in life.

Um we're serving families in your district over 20,000 students every year.

So we are busy, 11 staff and over a thousand volunteers that we need to be successful each year.

Um I do want to show a quick video.

This is a four-minute video, and I I thought this would be a very quick way to introduce you to junior achievement because I really want you to get a vision for what those programs are, and also you know, to be able to give you some insight.

You might want to volunteer or come visit us.

The core mission of junior achievement is to inspire and prepare ye for the global economy, focusing on three initiatives financial literacy, work readiness, and entrepreneurship.

And our whole goal is to provide really engaging programs for the community to ensure the students are ready and prepared for life after high school.

Starting with the youngest students, JA in a day is a half-day program where volunteers from high school ROTC units and the business community teach JA activities in grades kindergarten through Fed.

Focusing on skills such as leads versus wants, earning and saving, how a city works, entrepreneurship, and job skills.

Our volunteers are prepared with fun games and curriculum to make the day engaging and fun.

Middle school is a critical time to impress financial literacy, work readiness, and career exploration.

The JA Discovery Center Mobile delivers two immersive learning experiences.

JA BizTown lets students run a pop-up city for a day, taking on roles as consumers and producers, voting, taking out and repaying business loans, all while putting workforce development skills into action.

JA Finance Park transforms students into adults for a day using an iPad.

Students receive a persona and details like income, credit score, and family size, creating a realistic family budget and witnessing firsthand the tough financial decisions adults have to make.

I will say my son is more careful with his spending.

We're not just always swiping the car now, but more of looking at his account.

Before he would never look and see what his balance was, but now he's paying attention to that.

The JA leading ladies and mentoring men programs are designed to inspire high school students to build their confidence and develop critical life skills.

What it means to me to be able to experience the JA programs is to be able to know how to manage everything I need to because I feel like if I didn't know how to do these things, I would run into a lot of problems.

It's really brand new how to be a man and better handling the money as a husband for my wife and kids in the future.

Students connect with business mentors from various industries who share their life experiences and insight.

The programs focus on budgeting, workforce development, entrepreneurship, and soft skills.

Meeting a critical need in our community, JA's financial literacy course provides a year-long curriculum designed specifically for high school students in Louisiana, providing the required course objectives for graduation and tops eligibility.

They're more confident to have a discussion with you when you're having uh participatory exercises where you ask volunteers, their hand goes up.

So I've just seen a great deal of self-confidence build up in these children.

So between volunteers and funding, those are always the two biggest needs of any nonprofit, particularly junior achievement.

This is our home, so we need to take care of our next generation.

Junior achievement has a huge impact on the future by giving these students the opportunity to learn and engage from mentors.

We're setting them up for success, and that's what's gonna help our community in the future.