Junior Achievement to Bring Experiential Learning Center to Cleveland, Announces Capital Campaign

Nearly $2 million raised toward $3 million goal

Author: Tyler Adams
Financial Literacy
Published: Tuesday, 17 Jun 2025

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Image caption: Upon entering the JA Experiential Learning Center, students will complete a career interest survey to match their skills and interests with career pathways and opportunities in Northeast Ohio and beyond.

Junior Achievement of Greater Cleveland is excited to announce the launch of the public phase of its Transforming Lives to Empower Tomorrow's Leaders capital campaign. The campaign aims to raise a total of $3 million to support the construction and operations of the organization’s new JA Experiential Learning Center in downtown Cleveland.

Having already raised nearly $2 million during the quiet phase of the campaign through generous contributions from area industry partners and early donors, Junior Achievement is now inviting the broader community to contribute and help close the gap to reach the final goal of $3 million ahead of their anticipated 2026 grand opening.

“The Junior Achievement Experiential Learning Center in downtown Cleveland will be a hands-on space for young people in our community to learn important life skills,” Junior Achievement of Greater Cleveland President & CEO Al DiFranco said. “Students will participate in a variety of programs in the space, including our Finance Park® real-world simulation that helps young people learn to budget, save, and invest money wisely, while networking with and learning from professionals from our region.”

Image caption: The Veale Entrepreneurial Hub is where students will attend workshops led by some of our region’s most successful entrepreneurs to learn about ways products are created and taken to market.

In addition to Finance Park, the JA Experiential Learning Center will also include the Veale Entrepreneurial Hub where students will attend workshops led by some of our region’s most successful entrepreneurs to learn about ways products are created and taken to market. The Veale Foundation contributed the campaign’s first major gift of $500,000.

“The Veale Foundation has established a strong and trusted partnership with Junior Achievement of Greater Cleveland through longstanding collaboration and support of educational programs for high school students,” Chairman of The Veale Foundation Daniel P. Harrington said. “Tinkham Veale championed Junior Achievement for over 15 years, and the Foundation’s trustees are proud to continue this legacy by supporting the new initiative aimed at expanding access, increasing student engagement, and introducing the principles of entrepreneurship to a broader audience of young learners.”

A key element that makes the JA Experiential Learning Center a unique learning experience is its collaboration with local industry partners and educational institutions, who will have storefronts within the center’s space. Students will visit and interact with each business during the program’s simulation-based delivery to not only understand the importance of budgeting for needs and wants, but also to gain a better understanding of local jobs and careers from Greater Cleveland’s own businesses.

Image caption: The JA Experiential Learning Center will feature over a dozen local businesses and leading industry partners to bring students the most impactful, real-world simulation. Students can expect to interact with and learn from a wide range of industries, such as finance and banking, healthcare, food and hospitality, insurance, STEM, manufacturing, and more.

The goal for Junior Achievement is to introduce another program called BizTown® within the JA Experiential Learning Center, which allows students to connect the dots between what they learn in school and the real world with tasks such as operating banks, managing restaurants, writing checks, and even voting for mayor. The tentative launch for this program is 2028.

"Our family is happy to support the JA Experiential Learning Center in Cleveland, and the programming and experience it will bring to the young people of Greater Cleveland is groundbreaking,” Junior Achievement of Greater Cleveland board of directors chairperson Theresa Mistysyn said. “Our city needs talent to grow the great companies here, and JA of Greater Cleveland will educate our youth to the local opportunities and help them develop the skills to be successful and fill the community needs.”

A public open house for the new learning center will be held on Thursday, Aug. 7 from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. The event will provide more details about the transformative educational programming coming to Greater Cleveland as well as ways to support the vision.

To learn more, see renderings, or donate, visit sites.google.com/view/jagcelc.

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