Finance Park offers students personal financial management and career exploration through classroom instruction
and active participation in a simulated community. Finance Park is a reality-based, hands-on simulation for
8th grade students. It enables students to build foundations for making intelligent, life-long, personal
financial decisions. It also assists students in developing a realistic understanding of the economic issues
they must deal with upon graduation from high school.
The curriculum is designed as an integrated unit, preparing students for an all-day visit to Finance Park.
Finance Park is designed to be a 3-6 week program. Educators teach prepare students through in class lessons
for the on-site experience. Near the culmination of the unit students visit the Finance Park and immerse
themselves in a reality-based, decision making process on issues such as transportation, investments, home
improvement, banking, housing, entertainment, health care and maintenance, utilities, food, home furnishings,
clothing, and education. On-site activities are designed to allow students the opportunity to “put into action”
what they have learned in the classroom and understand the necessity and basic steps in putting together a
realistic budget. These experiences help the student be better prepared for their future and assist in creating
life-long learners. Parent or adult volunteers assist students with their roles and responsibilities, acting as
coaches for the day.
There is no more thorough way to educate young people than by using a practical application of knowledge in the
academic curriculum. The best intellectual learning occurs in a context that illustrates its practical value.
JA’s Finance Park gives students the opportunity to combine practical applications with the general principles
they have learned in the classroom.
Student Survey Responses
Strongly Agree
Agree
Disagree
Strongly Disagree
JA Finance Park is an exciting way to learn about personal finances.
53%
45%
2%
< 1%
At home we talk about the things I learned as we prepared for Finance Park.
17%
45%
31%
7%
Finance Park helped me understand the importance of personal finances.
64%
34%
2%
0%
CONCEPTS LEARNED
SKILLS LEARNED
Banking
Budgets
Analysis
Applying Information
Buying
Careers
Budgeting
Cause and Effect
Choices
Credit
Critical Thinking
Computation
Debt
Exchange
Data Collection
Decision Making
Expenses
Income
Filling out forms
Graphing
Interest Rates
Investments
Interpersonal Communication
Interpreting Data
Money
Opportunity Costs
Listening
Negotiation
Saving
Scarcity
Planning
Problem Solving
Spending
Social Security
Reading
Research
Standards of Living
Taxes
Role Playing
Taking Responsibility
NEWS RELEASE
JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT AND CAPITAL ONE LAUNCH MOBILE FINANCIAL LITERACY PROGRAM Pilot program is expected to teach 1,000 Virginia students critical financial
literacy skills Colorado Springs, Colo., June 14, 2006 - Today JA Worldwide™ (Junior
Achievement) and Capital One announce a program to deliver essential financial
education skills to at-risk middle grade students via two 53-foot semi-trucks
which transform into a miniature city. This fall, at the mobile “Capital
One/Junior Achievement Finance Park,” students in Fairfax and Henrico Counties,
Va., assisted by their teachers and more than 200 trained Capital One volunteers,
will experience through interactive simulations the challenges of making financial
decisions while staying within a specified budget. In addition to supplying
volunteers, a $1 million grant from Capital One will underwrite the outfitting of
the mobile unit, the revision of the existing “JA Finance Park” curriculum, and
operating costs. “JA Finance Park,” a site-based program with eight U.S. locations,
reached more than 12,500 students in the U.S. last year, but is not available in
all areas. The mobile unit will enable this valuable curriculum to be taken to
1,000 Virginia students this fall teaching the basics of money management. The
program is expected to expand to other previously under-served areas in 2007.
“This program lets students be ‘adults for a day,’” said David S. Chernow,
president and chief executive officer of JA Worldwide. “They learn how to be
financially literate through invaluable experiential learning. Thanks to this
incredibly generous gift from Capital One, more middle grades students will have
first-hand experiences that will help them in all aspects of their lives, and help
prepare them for the real world.” “’Capital One/Junior Achievement Finance Park’
will spark the development of basic financial literacy skills. Capital One and JA
Worldwide share the belief that the earlier students learn about money, the more
successful they will be in the long run,” said Richard A. Woods, senior vice
president of Capital One. “We hope that this program can give kids an experience
that will last them a lifetime.” The program was developed by JA Worldwide and
Capital One based on their shared conviction that strong financial skills are a
crucial building block for future success. According to the Jump$tart Coalition
for Personal Financial Literacy’s biannual survey, of 5,775 high school seniors
polled on their knowledge of financial literacy basics, the average score was 52.4
percent. While up marginally from the previous year, these findings still
demonstrate there is much work to do to ensure that young people have the
knowledge to competently manage their finances.
About Capital One
Headquartered in McLean, Virginia, Capital One Financial Corporation
(www.capitalone.com) is a financial holding company, with more than 316 locations
in Texas and Louisiana. Its principal subsidiaries, Capital One Bank, Capital One,
F.S.B., Capital One Auto Finance, Inc., and Capital One, N.A., offer a broad
spectrum of financial products and services to consumers, small businesses and
commercial clients. Capital One's subsidiaries collectively had $47.8 billion in
deposits and $103.9 billion in managed loans outstanding as of March 31, 2006.
Capital One, a Fortune 500 company, trades on the New York Stock Exchange under
the symbol "COF" and is included in the S&P 500 index.
About JA Worldwide™ (Junior Achievement)
JA Worldwide is the world's largest organization dedicated to educating young
people about business, economics and entrepreneurship. Through a dedicated
volunteer network, JA Worldwide provides in-school and after-school programs for
students in grades K-12. JA Worldwide offers educational programs that focus on
seven key content areas: business, citizenship, economics, entrepreneurship,
ethics/character, financial literacy, and career development. Today, 142 offices
reach approximately four million students in the United States, with more than
three million students served by operations in 96 countries worldwide. For more
information, visit www.ja.org.
