It is not cliché to say the youth are our hope for the future. I am passionate about helping support young people, which is why Omega has been in a partnership with Junior Achievement of Greater Washington for several years. We consistently offer our helping hands to this foundation because we love seeing the children learn life skills that will prepare them for future success.

In a pronounced shift from two years ago, teen girls now have the same income expectations as teen boys, according to a new survey from Junior Achievement USA and Voya Foundation. The survey, titled "2016 Teens and Personal Finance," shows that 41 percent of teen girls expect to make $35,000 or more in their first job, compared to 40 percent of teen boys. In 2014, only 35 percent of teen girls expected to make $35,000 or more in their first job, compared to 44 percent of boys. The survey of 1,000 teens was conducted in the first week of March 2016 by Opinion Research.

Junior Achievement USA and the Voya Foundation, the charitable giving arm of Voya Financial, conducted a poll about the repayment of student loans. Between March 1 – 6, the organizations asked 1,000 13-17 year-olds about loan repayment. Sixty-five percent of the teens said borrowers are responsible for paying off their student loans, 11 percent said the government should pay it off, less then seven percent said the college should be responsible, and five percent said the lender is responsible for the debt. 

April is National Financial Literacy Month, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Consumers are feeling more pinched each week with rapidly increasing gas and food prices and sluggish economic growth.  According to a recent survey by Career Builder, 77 percent of American consumers are living paycheck to paycheck. 

On Thursday, April 21, 2016 Junior Achievement of Greater Washington (JA®) will be partnering with the Center for Global Policy Solutions to support the efforts of the 2016 Color of Wealth Summit that will be hosted at the U.S. Capitol Complex.

The third annual Color of Wealth Summit, themed “The Inclusion Revolution: Race, Economic Mobility, and the Future of America,” will focus on strengthening entrepreneurship in communities of color and on ways to prevent gentrification from displacing existing residents. The summit seeks to engage Members of Congress, Congressional staff, the media, and the public in a dialogue about the racial wealth gap, its effect on marginalized households, its impact on the U.S. economy, and solutions for closing the gap.