Enova’s 2026 Partnership with Junior Achievement of Chicago: Investing in the Next Generation

Financial literacy is not a given for everyone. It is taught, practiced and reinforced. For many students in Chicago, the classroom is the only place those lessons happen. For the second year, Enova has partnered with Junior Achievement (JA) of Chicago to widen that access. 

The 2026 partnership supported 37 education partners across Chicago, including elementary schools, high schools and community organizations. Together, these partners delivered 123 classes reaching over 2,400 students. Junior Achievement works with a wide range of school communities, where the share of students from low-to-moderate-income households runs from under 15% to 95%.

What makes the model work is its ability to adapt. Elementary students at Ashburn Community Elementary School completed “JA Our City” and “JA Ourselves.” Chicago Park District sites ran “JA More Than Money” across 12 classes. At Robert J. Richardson Middle School, where 88% of families qualify as low-to-moderate-income, eight classes of students worked through “JA Economics for Success.” High schoolers at Perspectives Charter School participated in “JA Town” across eight classes. A kindergartener and a high school senior encounter different lessons, but each leaves with skills matched to where they are in life.

That range matters because the gap Junior Achievement works to close is not evenly distributed. According to the 2026 State of Financial Education Report from Next Gen Personal Finance (NGPF), 35% of public high school students in the class of 2026 were required to take a standalone personal finance course. This figure shrinks to 15% in schools where more than 75% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The students least likely to receive financial literacy lessons at school are often the same students with the fewest resources at home to fill the gap.

Junior Achievement closes that gap through application, not just lectures. Students build mock businesses, manage simulated portfolios and make important decisions inside an environment built for learning. Enova employees have seen this firsthand. Last year, team members supported JA Town, working alongside students as they navigated budgeting and salary challenges. Employees have a running list of volunteer opportunities, from in-person JA lessons to virtual career day presentations that give students visibility into careers across finance and tech.  

The gap is close to home. In Illinois, where Enova is headquartered, NGPF found that only 24% of public high school students have a local requirement to take a standalone, one-semester personal finance course before graduating. That requirement comes from individual districts rather than the state, which means access depends largely on where a student happens to enroll. For the roughly 75% of Illinois students without that requirement, programs like Junior Achievement’s are often the only structured financial education they will receive.