imagineCALGARY Partnership welcomes Junior Achievement
Junior Achievement of Southern Alberta became the latest addition to the imagineCALGARY Partnership when they signed on in December. Yvette Rasmussen, Junior Achievement’s Director of Resource Development, recently shared the reasons why the imagineCALGARY fit is a good one for her organization.
Q: What prompted Junior Achievement to join the imagineCALGARY Partnership?
A:Junior Achievement of Southern Alberta (JASA) is committed to creating opportunities for students to enhance their understanding of corporate citizenship, accountability and economic performance within the global perspective. By developing the skills, attitudes and awareness students require to positively impact our economic performance, social accountability and competitive advantage, we will create a community culture that allows Calgary to remain competitive within the global environment.
With economic success comes the increased opportunity for organizations and individuals to contribute to the social structure, arts and culture that preserve and sustain the community in which one operates. Corporate interaction with students through volunteer/mentor relationships provides evidence of the impact great corporate citizens have within the communities they serve. We have the ability to influence the beliefs students adopt as they gain increased social awareness regarding their actions as future business, community and government leaders. At JASA it is our mission to bring the leaders of today together with the leaders of tomorrow, providing youth with business and community role models who exemplify key messaging.
Joining imagineCALGARY provides JASA with the opportunity to engage with like-minded members of the community working together on the development and adoption of actions that positively impact the sustainability of our great city. It is especially important for JASA to remain connected to Partner organizations to create jointly sponsored engagements that reach an expanded audience.
Now more than ever, we need to explore our synergies to maximize our resources and impact. Partnership in imagineCALGARY provides a forum for collective action, meaningful communications and positive change.
Q: How do Junior Achievement’s goals/mandate/principles align with the imagineCALGARY Vision?
A:As a charter member of Junior Achievement of Canada, Junior Achievement of Southern Alberta has a mandate to deliver relevant, high-impact programs that prepare our youth for their roles as the business and community leaders of tomorrow.
Our key messages support the realization that with success comes social responsibility, and that neither exists independent of the other.
Together with our corporate, community and education partners, we have committed to provide Alberta students with the skills and attributes that they require to secure a vibrant economic and social future for generations to come.
This fundamental principle that guides our mandate aligns us with the imagineCALGARY Vision for the future. imagineCALGARY promotes a critically important culture with citizens connected to their communities. Junior Achievement programs provide an outcome that creates socially conscious and committed community members.
Q: How does Junior Achievement anticipate using the imagineCALGARY Plan?
A:Junior Achievement of Southern Alberta will utilize its role in the imagineCALGARY Partnership to support sustainable change through collaborative messaging. JASA believes that high school completion rates, informed and educated community leaders, strong social networks and healthy lifestyles all contribute to creating and sustaining vibrant, progressive communities.
As we become increasingly engaged in the global community, the practices that we adopt and communicate to our publics will resonate and define us in both the social and economic arenas. It is imperative that our future community and business leaders reflect this concern and vibrancy through their actions and interactions. At JASA, our business is providing free programs that develop critical skills for Calgary’s youth – our future leaders.
Through the imagineCALGARY Partnership we are provided with opportunities to engage and connect with like-minded organizations that share the same aspirations as JASA. Engaging with representatives from other organizations provides us with knowledge and connections to create networks that allow us to better communicate and achieve our goals.
Q:Are there any particular Targets within the imagineCALGARY Plan that Junior Achievement will work to achieve?
A:JASA is committed to continue engaging with the education and corporate communities to provide access to valuable training, programs and experiences that will positively affect sustainable change in the following areas: Economic well-being, meaningful work, sufficient income, creative self expression and life-long learning. These are areas in which JASA will focus the most attention and have the most impact.
Q: What benefits does imagineCALGARY offer the Calgary community?
A: The imagineCALGARY Plan for Long Range Urban Sustainability provides the city with a vehicle that has the ability to recruit, engage, unite and motivate independent organizations on a collaborative journey towards change. Often, one small voice in a chorus of messages is lost, and becomes a part of the buzz or perpetual noise we experience daily -- but a collective voice, like a choir, often rises above the buzz to echo throughout the community.
