Billionaire philanthropist, McKenzie Scott, also known as the world’s wealthiest woman, has donated the Junior Achievement of San Diego County $1.1 million as a part of her larger gift to the national network.
The Junior Achievement (JA) of San Diego County is one of 26 communities that received a direct donation from Scott. The national sector of the nonprofit organization announced it received $38.8 million dollars to benefit all 102 operations country-wide.
Officials say it is the largest gift from a single donor in the organization’s 103-year history.
“We greatly appreciate the incredible generosity of MacKenzie Scott for this amazing gift to our organization,” said Jack E. Kosakowski, President, and CEO of Junior Achievement USA. “This investment will increase access to our learning experiences in underserved communities, as well as help us pay for things that are not usually top priorities for funders, such as updating our IT infrastructure. Increasing efficiencies in our day-to-day business operations will allow us to make better use of other donor contributions in terms of delivering learning experiences to the young people we serve.”
In a social media announcement, officials with the JA of San Diego County said “this gift affirms the need to motivate and empower young people to succeed economically, especially youth from underserved and underrepresented communities. We are excited to use the funds to inspire our future leaders through our experiential learning programs”.
The San Diego chapter of the organization has impacted over one million youth since 1950. It serves youth with Common Core Aligned K-12 programs, guided by the three pillars of financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and career readiness.
“There is much to do to achieve the larger goals of breaking the cycle of poverty and creating diverse talent pipelines — and this gift will help us progress forward,” officials wrote in a statement.
The JA of San Diego announced it recently launched a new cohort of JA fellows at the Chula Vista Learning Community Charter High School.
To learn more about the Junior Achievement of San Diego, visit https://jasandiego.org/about/ .
