Capital One / Junior Achievement Finance Park

Through a partnership with youth advocate Junior Achievement Worldwide, Capital One's mobile, interactive classroom known as Capital One/Junior Achievement Finance Park is an innovative financial education program that teaches young people how to prepare for the real world through practical lessons in money management.

First piloted in 2006, Capital One/Junior Achievement Finance Park is designed to introduce middle school students to money management basics. The program allows students the opportunity to experience life as an "adult for a day" through interactive learning. Finance Park marries Capital One's long-standing commitment to life-phase financial education with a comprehensive, hands-on curriculum developed by Junior Achievement Worldwide. The program begins in the classroom where students undergo a six-week financial education program. At the end of six weeks, students visit the Capital One / Junior Achievement Finance Park where their knowledge and skills are put to the test. In a vibrant community setting and assisted by their teachers and trained Capital One volunteers, students experience first-hand the challenges of making financial decisions that are within their means.

For more photos and videos from our live events check out the Multimedia Gallery.

Highlights of the experience Finance Park experience include:

• Students play the role of an adult with a specific salary and family situation
• The student is the sole provider for the family and creates a budget that accommodates the needs of the family without overspending
• Students buy a home, car, furniture, clothing, health care and other necessities; they invest and learn the value of saving
• Each student gets individual attention by working in small groups with volunteers

Throughout the day-long experience, they make choices to provide for their families' needs while staying within a budget, enabling them to apply their classroom learning to real-life circumstances.

Since the pilot in 2006, Capital One/Junior Achievement Finance Park will have helped more than 20,000 middle school students learn the basics of budgeting and money management. In 2008 Capital One/Junior Achievement Finance Park will visit Virginia, Texas, Louisiana, and New York and is expected to serve nearly 12,000 students.