Junior Achievement of Rochester acquires operating rights in CNY

ROCHESTER — Junior Achievement (JA) of Rochester today announced it has expanded its service area to include the territory that Junior Achievement of Central New York formerly covered.

The organization now operates the largest geographic territory of any single Junior Achievement chapter in New York, delivering programs in 25 counties, it said in a news release.

 The organization recently changed its name to Junior Achievement of Central Upstate New York, Inc. to reflect the expanded geographic area.

JA’s office in Rochester will serve as its headquarters, with offices in Syracuse and a Twin Tiers location in Elmira, the organization said.  

Patricia Leva, who formerly served as president and CEO of Junior Achievement of Rochester, is leading the new organization, JA said.

Junior Achievement is the “world’s largest” organization dedicated to youth development, education development, and economic development, according to its news release.

Corporate and community volunteers deliver JA programs and give students in kindergarten through high school knowledge and skills in financial literacy, work readiness, and entrepreneurship, the organization said.

JA of Rochester served more than 14,000 students in a nine-county region in 2013. It was one of 12 recipients of Junior Achievement USA’s Peak Performance Award for “exceptional growth and financial stability,” JA said.

Junior Achievement of Central New York, formerly comprised of a 15-county region spanning from the North Country through Syracuse and Binghamton, reached about 5,000 students in the 2011-2012 academic year, JA said.

The new organization anticipates having an annual budget in excess of $1million.

The two affiliates’ boards of directors of the have been working on this consolidation for the past year, JA said.

The renaming and redistribution of the territory had the support of the organization’s national office, Junior Achievement USA, the organization added.

The acquisition will allow JA to “expand and strengthen” services throughout the entire area, Leva said in the news release.

It’ll also provide a “renewed focus” on fulfilling the organization’s mission of “empowering young people to own their economic success,” Leva said.

“This consolidation will provide for more efficient and effective delivery of JA programs in the greater Syracuse and Binghamton areas, and will ensure that the students there continue to receive critical life skills through JA programming,” she added.

The organization will announce a location for a new Syracuse office and a local staff later this spring, JA said.

The counties that Junior Achievement of Central Upstate New York now serves include Broome, Cayuga, Chemung, Chenango, Cortland, Delaware, Franklin, Jefferson, Lewis, Livingston, Madison, Monroe, Oneida, Onondaga, Ontario, Oswego, Otsego, Schuyler, Seneca, St. Lawrence, Steuben, Tioga, Tompkins, Wayne and Yates, the organization said.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com