An Army of Normal Folks - Inside the Town Run Entirely By 10-Year-Olds | Junior Achievement

Episode Date: August 11, 2026

7 out of 10 kids who go through Junior Achievement find a career they're excited about. However, only 3 out of 10 believe they can actually get there. That gap is exactly what keeps Leigh Mansberg up at night. In this conversation with Bill, Leigh breaks down how Junior Achievement uses experiential learning to unlock economic mobility for kids K-12 - and why giving a child hope might be the most important thing a community can do. This episode will change how you think about education, opportunity, and what it means to invest in the next generation. ARMY ACTIONS Subscribe to the podcast and rate & review us! Signup to join the Army, visit NormalFolks.org Follow us on social media @ArmyofNormalFolks Join or start an ANF local service club at https://normalfolks.org/service-clubs/ Take The 10 Level Challenge, "the hero's journey for service" at 10LevelChallenge.org Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/#joinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our generation knew how to do better than our parents, and that is diminished by 45%. It is becoming harder and harder to outperform your parents, to achieve more. For generations, we've viewed the American dream as our children building a better life than we did, or at least having the same quality of life that we did, but the ability of our children to actually achieve that has declined by 45% according to the Brookings Institution. And too many people can't see a path from where they are to where they want to go. We had students say, I found a career I never knew existed, and I'm super excited about it. But the correlation, only three out of ten of those children believed that the region would make that opportunity accessible to them.

Today's guest, Lee Mansberg, is fighting to make economic opportunity accessible to as many children as you possibly can, When she became CEO of Junior Achievement of Memphis in the Mid-South, they were serving 12,000 students. And seven years later, they're serving 46,000 students like this. So what they are doing over the course of five hours is they have prepared and trained to run an economy for five hours. They are serving as CEOs, CFOs, sales managers, plant managers. And all of those CEOs have taken a loan. They've taken a loan.

They have taken a loan. They have taken a loan to run their business. To run their business and they get five hours. So you're teaching mid-10 to have coronaries due to distress from the pressure of the home. Well, that's what I feel every day. But yes, they are under stress and not everybody wins. Not everybody's going to pay it back and there are a lot of less. Oh, really?

Oh, yeah. We don't give trophies for participation. That is not the way the world works. Junior achievement is all about using experiential learning to empower kids with career readiness, financial literacy, and a taste of entrepreneurship. And these guys have 99 offices across the country, which means they're probably in your backyard, too. In this episode, Lee will teach you what kids really do need to succeed in today's world

and show you practical ways that you can help them get it. Through your coaching, you know that one-to-one contact and the impact it's had on those specific children. There is no AI learning that can replace the relationship and what is precious that exists between this space between you and me. This right here is where hope lives. People with hope who know their future and family are taken care of don't tend to do bad things. And when you feel like you can build a future and get the future you want and imagine the life you want, you're going to make really different choices. This is the Army of Normal Folks podcast. We're Our mission is to make service easier for all of us, and together, change this country.

With Cameron Wickcombe. Live at the Riemann. I see two nights in Nashville. To see Cameron Whitcomb at the legendary Riemann Auditorium. Plus a thousand dollar spending cash. Just listen to Pure Country for 10 minutes a day on the free IHart Radio app, and you're in to win. Cameron Whitcomb. Stream the new single, Kingdom of Fear.

Available now. Hey, this is Hayes Davenport. And Sean Clements. We host the podcast Hollywood Handbook. Every episode we're trying to help our guests improve their careers by mainly focusing on how they can help us improve our careers. The show is famously super accessible so you can easily jump into any of our 650 episodes and understand what's going on. We recommend some of our recent episodes with Ben Stiller. The definition of what is a movie has kind of changed anywhere too, right?

What do you think it is now? It's images and words being spoken, captured by some sort of, uh, Technology. Danny McBride. He loves open. Oh, that's fantastic. And you make it on, you make your own. That's great. I call him Terro Reed. It's a good name. They're all named after cast members of American Pie.

Yeah. I call, I don't, I never looked up if she was in this, but I call him Leachie Sobieski. Yeah, I don't think she was an American Pie, but I still like that. Haven't looked it up. She was prominent around the same time. Yeah. Then Mary Steenbergin. Why are you guys talking to me?

I'm worried. Why are you talking so down to me that you think I don't understand your little play game? I just really, I get it. I'm trying to set you up for success here. Listen to Hollywood Handbook on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is Chelsea Handler from Dear Chelsea. Every week, the news gets worse. The world gets crazier.

And Yamanika is here to tell whoever's responsible, you're the problem. If you come over here to play games, I'm a check you. Okay, if you do some in the news that don't sound good, I'm gonna play you. Join Yomeneika Saunders as she breaks down the week's most problematic stories on her new podcast. You're the problem with Yamanika. Do you know I just found out who Sidney Sweeney was? New episodes weekly every Wednesday is part of my new network, the Dear Chelsea Network. If he got a bunch of women, then I should have a bunch of men.

Do better or do less, so I don't have to do so much. So join Yamanika each episode as she answers one question. Who's the problem? I'm Yamanika, and I'm out. Listen to You're the Problem with Yamanika on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. I'm Nick Titoro. You probably know me from NYPD Blue, the longest yard, or Spike Lease Black Klansman. But I'm also from Queens, which means I know pizza.

And on my new podcast, delivering happiness with Nick Titoro, I deliver pizza from Prince Street, to a new guest. Are you delivering pizza now? Then we sit down for a real conversation. I've shared a slice with everyone from Seth Rollins. What are you doing, my belt? To Alex Rodriguez. Just to let you people know, we're talking to one of the goats here.

To Bill Burr. I don't think I've ever met somebody so exactly out of their mind as I am. And now, we even have more great guests coming up, including the great John Titoro. It's called happiness. Delivering happiness. Mariano Rivera. Oh, my God. And many, many more.

your free high hard radio app search delivering happiness with nick de tour and listen now all right everybody we have super exciting news coming at you i mean alice is excited about it but i'm not sure how excited i am the podcast is now live on youtube which means now you get to see me in case you prefer watching it there and we're switching up the audio format of the podcast you can now either listen to the full version of the podcast on the same episode, meaning you no longer have to go to part one and part two to hear a whole episode we got going. Or you can listen to a 30-minute version of the podcast that will be labeled as highlights. And we get it. Many listeners who aren't as into long-form podcast or struggle to find the time to listen to the whole thing each week have requests.

something like this. And so Alex got off his butt and we finally created it. We're really not perfect. Nobody is, but we really do try to take in all of your feedback and advice. We hope to create a product that makes service easier for you and all of us. So check it out. And keep it coming. You can email us anytime at normalfolks.org. And we will respond. Now, let's go to the episode. Lee Mansberg, welcome to an Army of NormalFund. Well, thank you, Bill, Courtney. It's so good to be here. It's kind of old home week because you're a dear friend. And, you know, 90% of people that interviewed, the first time I interview, it was first time I lay eyes on them. But not you. So, hey, what's up? Hey, Bill, what's up? I'm glad

to be here. Glad you're here. Also, people, you should fly in from all over the country and I'm like, how was your flight, whatever? But I guess I'd just say, how was your drive across town? It was great. No problem. I got to check out everything on airways. No construction in my way. We're golden. Everybody, Lee Mansberg is the president. First of all, Lee Mansberg is just cool and a great human being. But secondly, and most importantly, for the purposes of this interview, she is the president and CEO of junior achievement of Memphis and the Mid-South here in Memphis. And just for all of our listeners across the country, this is not a Memphis-centric interview because I think this conversation is relevant for anybody anywhere

because Junior Achievement has 99 offices in all 50 states. So any Army member can get involved with and no matter where you are, even though you're hearing a story about Lee and Junior Achievement, specifically in Memphis, this organization exists across our country. It does. And really in a very cohesive way, moving forward in a national strategy,

to make sure all of our children are living lives of purpose, wherever they live, rural, urban, north, south, east, west. Junior achievement is really designed to grow, grow and keep our talent and our children in their communities so that their families can be together. I got to also tell you something, Lee. Oh, no. I think we've known each other probably seven, eight, nine years through other associations or whatever. I also think this interview is important for people who know that junior achievement,

because junior achievement is a name most people have actually heard. And I'd certainly heard it, and I knew Lee. Cool lady does good work. Junior achievement, that's great. But I got to tell you, and I think most listeners are many. listers may be in my boat. I had no idea what I lost. I knew it worked with young people doing good stuff, but it ended there. And it wasn't until, what was it? I came and visited you. We opened a new building in January of 23. Yeah. So what, but I just visited you what,

four or five months ago? Yeah, to see the program in action with the kids there. Yeah, well, then is when I went like, oh, junior achievement actually is pretty awesome. So the other reason I think the sport is, even though you may have heard of junior achievement, I think most people may not even know what it is. And so I think you are not only speaking for junior achievement of Memphis, but junior achievement nationally to let all of our listeners understand that it exists and what it does and that it's everywhere. So let's drive right in. What is the problem that junior achievement seeks to solve. Economic mobility is declined by 45% in recent decades, according to your stats.

What is junior achievement looking to solve and what's wrong in the first place that it has to solve it? It's a great question. So economic mobility from a junior achievement perspective is, let's wrap it up in the American dream, the accessibility to do better than the generation before you. and it used to be pretty easy to do, particularly following the World Wars, particularly into the 50s, 60s and 70s. Our generation knew how to do better than our parents, and that is diminished by 45%. It is becoming harder and harder to outperform your parents to achieve more than what your parents or the generation that takes care of you had hoped.

So junior achievement is really coming together and launching a very different. So the junior achievement that most of your listeners know is over 100 years old, started by Horace Mann. And for most people, they remember it from this program called the company program where they built businesses and their schools. They sold a product. They make shares. I mean, we're 71 years old in the region. So the bulk of people over the age of 40 here only know it as this high school company program. And then along came the 1990s and the 2000s, and we started switching and focusing on children younger.

saying, is the American dream accessible to those children? And it means you still have to work really hard to get it, but what's in the way of that? And so how we educate, is our educational system serving our children well? Is it getting them ready to launch? So I think I've asked and answered my own question pretty well, is that we are in an epic crisis moment nationally as a country, and junior achievement gets to come in alongside,

even in the state of Tennessee, we serve over 153,000 children a year in the state of Tennessee as an organization. And so what does it mean if all 153,000 of those children in Tennessee start seeing a pathway to a future they choose where they can thrive and become more mobile in this lifetime? Do you think it's true? I mean, at least and I have four kids, right? and you always want your kids to just achieve a little higher than what you did. And honestly, that is the American dream, a little more investment, a little nicer home, a little more money to go on a nicer vacation than you did as a kid. And you're right, if you kind of think about Depression-era parents who then had children,

who then World War II parents, who then... the 50s and the 60s and the 70s and the mobility of the American public to achieve more than their parents did. And I look at my kids now and I look at the cost of housing. I look at how hard it is to earn more in a job. It does feel like that economic mobility and that ability to grow greater than what your parents achieved is becoming more. difficult. Absent the work that junior achievement does, is that a reality? Do you guys look at data points on all of that?

How do you measure a lack of economic mobility, I guess, is what I'm asking. We're really fortunate to have incredible partnerships, which is why it's so important that Junior Achievement of Memphis, the Mid-South, and all of the Junior Achievements nationally are part of our parent organization, J-U-SA, which serves as our research hub for us, partnering with the Ipsos, partnering with the McKenzie's, making sure that what we are doing is data informed, and then beta tested in these incredible 99 offices and markets throughout the country, we get to beta test. So, for example, in Memphis, JUSA and the Memphis office partner tremendously on this high school teaching pipeline.

And so how do we make sure with the shortage of 500 to 1,000 teachers a year just in this region, And our staff is uniquely aligned. We have over 500 high school students who want to become elementary teachers who work 30 hours a year in elementary schools in Memphis. And the country, and so JUSA watches that. And then they wrap the studies around it while we give them raw data and opportunities. And so they've come down to watch us perform at different elementary schools to meet our students to say, how are we doing it in different markets? So if you go over to Denver, for example, they have created a program called the Dream Accelerator, which is in beta test now that is in Atlanta, Minneapolis, Denver,

and now they're rolling out a mobile unit, and they're beta testing these mobile units. So that's a market like ours, we're a perfect market because we're so spread out to have a mobile unit potentially of like a Dream Accelerator, where you can actually see yourself and have great. exposure to what the careers are. How do I get there and what's the pathway there? Do you think access to opportunity as a, is that a big part of it? Huge part of what we do. It's why we started our Career Institute. And as a nation, junior achievement is solving four core pillars. And pillar number three is about access to

opportunity and how are we as an organization nationally looking at it. And then core question that we're answering number four is, are the children we work with ready for the world of work? And how are we measuring that? What are their soft skills? How are they communicating? Are they getting away from being on the phone and learning how to make that human conduct? Are they learning how to work within a team and realize that our success as a country depends on our unique ability as a country to unify and innovate and execute? And so our final two foundations, questions surround that. And now a few messages from our generous sponsors.

But first, earlier this year, something we're really proud of, Army members launched six ANF local service clubs around the country. Their design is to make service easier for your fellow community members by really having zero requirements of the club's members. All you got to do is just sign up and join our service activities. whenever you can, when it works for you. And you welcome kids to join us for everything. And they cultivate an in-person, family-like tribe, for lack of a better term,

that makes service even more rewarding. We are now really because of the success of these first six looking at launching more local service clubs. And if you'd be interested in either leading or serving on the leadership team of a new one in your community, email Alex at Alex at normalfolks.org, and he'd love to connect with you about this cool opportunity. We'll be right back. Experience with Cameron Wickcombe live at the Rhyman. With flights and two nights in Nashville.

To see Cameron Wickcombe at the legendary Riemann Auditorium. Plus a thousand dollar spending cash. Just listen to Pure Country for 10 minutes a day on the free IHard radio app in your You're in to win. Cameron Whitcomb. Stream the new single, Kingdom of Fear. Available now. Hey, this is Hayes Davenport.

And Sean Clements. We host the podcast, Hollywood Handbook. Every episode we're trying to help our guests improve their careers by mainly focusing on how they can help us improve our careers. The show is famously super accessible so you can easily jump into any of our 650 episodes and understand what's going on. We recommend some of our recent episodes with Ben Stiller. The definition of what is a movie has kind of changed anywhere, too, right?

What do you think it is now? It's images and words being spoken, captured by some sort of technology. Danny McBride. He loves over. Oh, that's fantastic. And you make it on, you make your own. That's great. I call him Terro Reed.

It's a good name. They're all named after cast members of American Pie. Yeah. Oh, gotcha. I call, I don't, I never looked up if she was in this, but I call him Leachie Sobiesky. Yeah. I don't think she was an American Pie, but I still like that. Haven't looked it up.

Haven't looked it up. She was prominent around the same time. Then Mary Steenberg. Why are you guys talking to me? I'm worried. I'm worried. Why are you talking so down to me that you think I don't understand your little play game? I just really, I get it.

I'm trying to set you up for success here. Listen to Hollywood Handbook on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Nick Tuturo. You probably know me from NYPD Blue, the longest yard, or Spike Least Black Landsman. But I'm also from Queens, which means. means I know pizza. And on my new podcast, delivering happiness with Nick Totoro, I deliver pizza from Prince Street pizza to a new guest.

Are you delivering pizza now? Then we sit down for a real conversation. I've shared a slice with everyone from Seth Rollins. What are you doing, my belt? To Alex Rodriguez. Just to let you people know, we're talking to one of the goats here. To Bill Burr. I don't think I've ever met somebody so exactly out of their mind as I am.

And now, we even have more great guests coming up, including the great John Tuturo. It's called happiness. Delivering happiness. Mariano Rivera. Oh my God. And many, many more. Open your free high-heart radio app. Search Delivering Happiness with Nick Detourl.

And listen now. This is Chelsea handler from Dear Chelsea. Every week, the news gets worse. The world gets crazier. And Yamanika is here to tell whoever's responsible, you're the problem. If you come over here to play games, I'm a check you.

Okay? If you do some in the news that don't sound good, I'm a play you. Join Yamanika Saunders as she breaks down the week's most problematic stories on her new podcast. You're the problem with Yamanika. Do you know I just found out who Sidney Sweeney was? New episodes weekly every Wednesday is part of my new network, the Dear Chelsea Network. If he got a bunch of women, then I should have a bunch of men.

Do better or do less, so I don't have to do so much. So join Yamanika each episode as she answers one question. Who's the problem? Yamanika, and I'm out. Listen to you're the problem with Yamanika on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. You, I'd heard Junior Achievement, didn't really understand it, and I went and hung out with you and watched it in action. Tell us the fun part, how Junior Achievement actually is improving economic movement. How are they doing it? What are they doing and how do they do it?

Great question. everything we do is about experiential play-based learning. Say that again. People need to understand that because I'd heard that, but I didn't know what that meant. So experiential play-based learning is everything that we, that traditional schooling isn't. Because it just is a whole different capacity. So what it means is a teacher prepares academically his or her students. but rather than take a test, rather than do things where children are stuck at a desk, again,

we say, let's create an experience. Let's create context and career context to take this learning and actually do something with it rather than kind of just in a very single plane write something down. So they get to bring the world of work. And so rather than vilifying work as a dirty word, we're saying, no, no, no, work is fun. Work is empowering. Work is opportunity and hope. And it's actually where you can have more control over your life rather than less. So when the 10-year-olds come to our kind of pivot program in the middle of their

high school, I mean, little life experiences in their 10 years old, we're saying, a city should be made for you. You should be able to run a city and the way you think is best. You don't have to sit around and live the world just because people tell you this. is what it is. At some point, you can decide what it will be. And at Bistown, that's what they get to do. They get to come. It's called Bistown. J. Bistown. All right. So let me just, let me, let me paint a picture before you go forward. Okay. You walk into this thing and it's, it's a building. But once you exit the hallway and you enter, I guess that is Bistown at then. It is. So it's storefronts.

along both sides of this auditorium, but it doesn't look like an auditorium or a building because it's storefront after storefront after storefront. And between the storefront, there's, I guess, Main Street, whatever. It's a road, kind of, with a kind of a makeshift park thing in the middle. And at the very end is a platform or a stage,

for lack of a better term, where I think everything launches from. And then each of these kids assumes a municipal role, maybe a business owner, maybe a mayor, maybe a sheriff, maybe a whatever. And then they go out and actually enter Biztown in their roles. And what do they do when they do that? Explain that.

Because I watch these kids running all over place, having fun and quote Biztown. And it looked like a little munchkin city. So what are they doing? So those are great questions. So the stage at the end is City Hall. And so we are... Oh, the end is City Hall.

That's what it makes. That's City Hall down there. It's City Hall. And so there's 19 businesses in City Hall. So what they are doing over the course of five hours is they have prepared and trained to run an economy for five hours. But what they are doing is, is they are serving as CEOs, CFOs, sales managers, plant managers, if you're at the international paper, and all those CEOs have taken a loan.

And the children all understand what a free enterprise market is. They've taken a loan. They have taken a loan. To run their business. To run their business. And they get five hours. So you're teaching mid-10 to have coronaries due distress from the pressure. No.

We tell them to make quite a choice. Well, fair enough. I'm in that club. Okay. But yes, they are understress. and not everybody wins. Not everybody's going to pay it back, and there are a lot of letters.

Oh, really? Oh, yeah, we don't give trophies for participation. That is not the way the world works. And so the CFOs are running two payrolls. They are creating a free market. So how are you going to pay that loan back? So they've created goods to sell. Everyone has a checking account.

They are writing checks. They're using a debit card. They're writing down when they use their debit card. So you're getting personal finance. meets business and commercial finance. So then they're also understanding entrepreneurship. Well, they don't pay their bills or somebody from City Hall come lock them up? Yes, we do have a tax collector.

Do you really? Yes, of course we do. Well, it's a city. Why would you? Why would you not? We have lights and services and there are more than 70 of these centers across the country. So Memphis isn't the only one. And so we are all teaching the same thing.

And mobile units of these centers are rolling out now. Like we will, this is the coolest thing. Bistown from March 15th to April 15th will be in Jackson, Mississippi at the Mississippi Children's Museum for 2,000 children in the state of Mississippi to get to experience because there isn't a learning center there. So do their teachers, I guess their teachers are prepping them at school a little bit for this test? It's 12 units. We provide all the curriculum. It's 12 units. and the teacher with fidelity, we do fidelity checks, we check in, we provide professional development, we have staff that answers, there's always open office hours so that teachers have all the supports they need. And this is true of all the offices, no matter where you are.

This is how it is run. And then after they complete their 12 units, like our calendar is booking up for the year. We've already booked 60, 70 percent of capacity for the year before we've even begun. And they pick up their curriculum, which you know, we just had pallets and pallets of curriculum delivered to our building just last week. And bless our interns. We're very grateful. Thank you to the City of Memphis's internship program and Shad Mayor Harris. Thank you for Shelby County government as well, because we could have never unloaded it without the help of an army of normal folks. So, all right, so the kids go through the curriculum with their teachers, leading up to the five hours is fun,

but it's really the test of what they've learned. And in each storefront, like there's an AutoZone storefront, I think. I saw grown adults there with AutoZone stuff on. They're not staff. They're volunteers from AutoZone to kind of help teach the kids, not make the decisions for them, but just guide them to keep them on track. as these kids are learning how a city, how a business, how debt, how taxes, how everything

really works. That is correct. We will, one of the reasons I'm just so excited to be having this conversation because the volunteers are at the core of this and in a couple different ways. One, they meet people from, it's, one, they're guiding them through the curriculum, but they're also having these off-com. conversations like the kids will say, what do you do, Bill? Tell me. And if you tell them about your business, they get to learn more. And then that blows their mind. They did not know there's a business

in what you do at 10 years old unless they have a parent working there. So they get to meet and ask these mentors and volunteers, other questions, and you can't become what you can't see. What I wish, and what every city where we are, I wish every business owner would give every parent six to eight hours of paid volunteer hours with their child school year. Because we know every parent would like to be able to volunteer during the school day at their child's school. But if you are at hourly pay, you simply can't afford to do that. And those children need to see their parents volunteering. And so we are so grateful our corporate volunteers where we have amazing people who are on salary,

whose businesses give them days to go and do that. We could never do this without all of our corporate partnerships. but we really want to create a city and truly where every parent feels that they have the freedom and without penalty to go and be a part of their child's life. And so I would love to find anybody who would like to talk to me about that because I will lift you up like crazy. Oh, well, everybody wants to do it. Now you're putting me on a guilt trip, I guess.

I know. Well, I think he should be the first. All right. Actually, I think Lee Winchester does that in Oxford. Somebody was telling me there are all of the employees. They'll pay them for their time to volunteer. There you go. And we serve Oxford.

Here we go. Here we go. So it's not just 10-year-olds. You work with other curriculum. So kindergarten through fifth grade, we're at the schools in a program called J.A. in a day. And that is a school takeover. Imagine instead of a field day where you're out playing games, you're having a career field day. And so we have high schools, those high school students I was telling you about earlier,

they're in those elementary classrooms along with one or two volunteers from the communities. So at Germanshire Elementary, for example, Ernst & Young shuts their offices down and brings 60 volunteers because that is a massive school and it takes that many volunteers plus 30 high school teachers to come in and deliver the curriculum. So that's kindergarten through fifth grade and that's a five-hour day. and then they're at the building for Biztown in fifth grade and for Finance Park in seventh grade. And then eighth through twelfth grade, we're back at the schools. And eighth grade is this amazing inspire career exploration, which is this traveling career fair that comes to a school with hands-on, minds open learning. And so we may have an open heart surgery taking place.

I mean, we do some crazy, crazy stuff. And it gets the kids really. I got to tell you in business, probably some of the things I'm best at now is because I screwed them up at one time. Those are the very, the hardest lessons that you survive and that being the best lessons. And if you're trying to teach financial literacy and mobility and how light really works to these kids, failure is part of that lesson. how important is it for you to teach kids how to fail? It's extraordinarily important, and we are a part of a world where parents are trying really hard to protect their children from failure, and that isn't realistic because

the world is filled with it. Life is filled with it. It's about resilience, and that's the word we really lead into, is how do we, how does our work, how does our curriculum build children? that are more resilient. And that's what, once again, why the adults as volunteers are critically important because they tell those stories.

Storytelling, you know, we've taken away storytelling so much. And those kinds of stories and seeing people still, I'm still here. Even from all my mistakes, even from all my failures, I'm still here. And sometimes some of those failures were monstrously painful. And that's okay. But it's about making sure that children, and this is where we have to also be careful about the fragility of different children's lives, because failure is easier to navigate with your support systems in place.

With no support system in place, how do you navigate failure? And so showing children where resources are, showing them that there is a broader community saying, I am here and ready to catch you, is critical to a child doing they're safe. If you look at an education, Maslow's hierarchy is all about how. We, we, we, you know, first of all, Maslow's hierarchy is a big, I'm a psychology major. Oh, okay, okay. A lot of it. A bunch of nerds. I love it.

I'm such a nerd. Will, and Maslow, has Maslow's drop the shop talk? Yeah, we did an episode on Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Yeah, it's out. So people get those in that shop talk. Preachly, go. Okay, I'll preach. So if a child isn't safe, if a child isn't housed, if a child isn't fed,

it is going to be very hard to make that child resilient. So most people take for granted those three very basic things, but that is the start of resilience. So building the righteous community that wants that for our children, I can't even begin to do my work until children. It's why when you come to visit our space, that you see a world that is very, very structured to make a child feel those things and to know that they are seeing, they are loved. When you are at junior achievement, you are safe. We have surrounded

you with adults who care about your future. And it's just one of the cutest things because the children, we are very straightforward with our volunteers about how to engage with the children, how to work with them so that this is a safe place. You know, it's interesting. You said that. Because if you have food and you have a safe shelter and you have your basic needs met, then a small failure, you have something to fall back to it. If you don't have that foundation, a small failure can be catastrophic. So it does make sense that in teaching the kids there's failure in life and how to handle failure so that you can grow from it.

You're right. There's a perspective of kids in different places in life that the same failure may be just a small setback for one kid, but it could be catastrophic for another because of the foundation that they're coming to your phone. Correct. And so you have to address that. You have to address that, which is why there is no one size fits all, which is that's what I love about junior achievements work is there are so many brilliant educators and people who understand. where the children of this country are and how we can reach their needs. A very dear friend of mine is that leads the office in South Dakota and her work on the reservations

and her respect for the reservations, which is not something we manage here, but it's fascinating storytelling to me because her work is incredibly different as to how she brings junior achievement onto indigenous peoples lands. And the needs that they have that are very different than the needs we have

when I'm up and down the Mississippi Delta So in general, the curriculum across the country, the ideas are the same, but the application changes depending on the population of children in your serving. Which is my exact point about education. Education is not one size fits all because a child's lived experience is different within 15 to 20 miles from here. And so if you are going to help them see that a future can be bright, geography matters. children are a product of their geography. So the schools work with you and they bust the kids in for the deal? Is that how it worked? We worked with last year over 71, just in Memphis, Shelby County, we worked with 71 different schools, but we will work with over 150 different schools. Some of them we work. And one of the big goals

nationally that we're working on is to be under a memorandum of understanding at the district level so that we can actually change the system. The job isn't to provide an experience to a child. We know the system isn't working for our children. So if we're going to change the system, we have to look at our partnership with each school district from a systems level approach and not a school by school. So, for example, I'm super excited.

Today, I mean, this week, the junior chief of staff will be in Western Line School District, which is in Washington County, Mississippi, in the Greenville area, part of the Delta. And they have decided, you know what? Okay, let's just go all in with you as a partner. We are going K through 12, year one with them. And so our entire team is going down there for two days to listen to them,

to build a system that works for them. It'll be our first comprehensive rural Mississippi project like this. So we're super excited to learn and do this with them. We're super excited. For folks nationally, too, can you give a little bit of context about Greenville and what the Delta is like? I would love, thank you for asking that question. So the Delta of Mississippi, which really runs, we cover the Delta through Mississippi, Memphis, Tennessee, up Tennessee, and through Arkansas. So for example, and where you once saw these incredibly

thriving towns, because of that, there is extraordinary poverty in the Mississippi Delta as a child of the Mississippi. I grew up in the Arkansas Delta. I lived my childhood going up and down, those roadways with friends, dear friends up and down it. And manufacturing has left. A lot has left. And the nature of many of the industries has changed and left it behind. And left it behind. And I refuse to let children believe that they were left behind. I met my husband in Mississippi, so it's very personal work to me. I met him on the Mississippi Delta. So it's very, very personal work to me. And so that One of the big steps we took in partnership with New Orleans and Alabama was to provide coverage for the full state of Mississippi in our office, jumped in and we covered the northern 51 counties of Mississippi because we don't thrive if we're not all working together.

Mississippi isn't its one ecosystem. Memphis isn't its own. West Tennessee is in its own and eastern Arkansas is in its own. We are one region. And if we don't think from a more, and this is true of junior achievement, so take it as metaphor across the country. We've got to look at this work regionally to thrive as a country. We're huge. I was listening to Bill Dumbet talking about the economy of the south of this region is monster-sized, but for whom?

And how do all these children become part of that? And that's what keeps me up at night a lot. We'll be right back. in Nashville to see Cameron Whitcomb at the legendary Ryman Auditorium. Plus a thousand dollar spending caps. Just listen to Pure Country for 10 minutes a day on the free IHart radio app and you're in to win. Cameron Whitcomb.

Stream the new single Kingdom of Fear. Available now. Hey, this is Hayes Davenport. And Sean Clements. We host the podcast Hollywood Handbook. Every episode we're trying to help our guests improve their careers by mainly focusing on how they can help us improve our careers. The show is famously super accessible so you can easily jump into any of our 650 episodes and understand what's going on.

We recommend some of our recent episodes with Ben Stiller. The definition of what is a movie has kind of changed anywhere too, right? What do you think it is now? It's images and words being spoken, captured by some sort of technology. Danny McBride. He loves... Oh, that's fantastic. And you make it on...

You make your own. That's great. I call him Tarot Reed. It's a good name. They're all named after cast members of American Pie. Yeah. Oh, gotcha. I call, I don't, I never looked up if she was in this, but I call him Leachie Sobieski.

Yeah, I don't think she was an American Pie, but I still like that. Haven't looked it up. She was prominent around the same time. Yeah. Then Mary Steenbergin. Why are you guys talking to me? I'm worried. I'm worried.

Why are you talking so down to me that you think I don't understand your little play, play game? I just really, I get it. I'm trying to set you up for success here. Listen to Hollywood. handbook on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is Chelsea Handler from Dear Chelsea. Every week, the news gets worse. The world gets crazier, and Yamanika is here to tell whoever's responsible, you're the problem. If you come over here to play games, I'mma check you. Okay? If you do some in the news that don't

sound good, I'm going to play you. Join Yomeneika Saunders as she breaks down the week's most problematic stories on her new podcast. You're the problem. with Yamanika. Do you know I just found out who Sidney Sweeney was? New episodes weekly every Wednesday as part of my new network, the Dear Chelsea Network.

If he got a bunch of women, then I should have a bunch of men. Do better or do less, so I don't have to do so much. So join Yamanika each episode as she answers one question. Who's the problem? I'm Yamanika, and I'm out.

Listen to you're the problem with Yamanika on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. I'm Nick Tutoro. You probably know me from NYPD Blue, the longest yard, or Spike Lees Black Klansman. But I'm also from Queens,

which means I know pizza. And on my new podcast, delivering happiness with Nick Tatourl, I deliver pizza from Prince Street pizza to a new guest. Are you delivering pizza now? Then we sit down for a real conversation. I've shared a slice with everyone, from Seth Rollins.

What are you doing my belt? To Alex Rodriguez. Just to let you people know, we're talking to one of the goats here. to Bill Burr. I don't think I've ever met somebody so exactly out of their mind as I am. And now we even have more great guests coming up,

including the great John Tuturo. It's called Happiness. Delivering Happiness. Mariano Rivera. Oh my God. And many, many more. Open your free High Heart Radio app. Search Delivering Happiness with Nick Totoro.

And listen now. Sometimes nonprofits brag about how many folks they serve, but that doesn't always answer the question about how well they're served. Alex does a really good job of prepping me, and so I've got all these numbers, but I'm just going to let you do it. Share with us some of the research that Junior Achievement has done about not only how many they've served, but more importantly, it's impact on students and maybe some of your personal favorite success stories. So first of all, that's what drives me every day. is collective impact because it doesn't do.

The conversation with our investors is it is of no use if it isn't changing the system. So we reach a huge number of children. And a friend asked me, I was with a supporter the other day, said, to what end? That's a fair question. It's a great question. And so one of the things and the other strength of this J.A. partnership that I'm so grateful for is we're putting in benchmarking across every single program. So for us over the next five years, we do have an aggressive push to reach an additional 22,000 children in the region with in-serving-person in-person.

How many did you reach last year? In-person, almost 28,000. We'll see a 10% increase in that. And then we reach an additional 20,000 children through virtual. The question about those 20,000 children in virtual, I don't know the impact of that. I'm skeptical about it. I think it's great exposure. I don't think it makes them economic.

mobile to have been on our virtual platforms. I believe working with our team members. I believe working with volunteers. That's interesting that you say that. So you're saying the virtual's nice exposure, but you're suspect about whether or not that does any good. I am. I think that there are parts of virtual that are great. So for example, we offer here to career. And it's a calculator online that anybody can use. There's no fees. There's nothing for it. It allows. you to see if you want to become a welder, it allows you to enter where you want to go to welding school, how long it'll take you, and how much it's going to cost you, and what's available in your zip code. That is a great use of a virtual tool to answer questions in lieu of a

person. Now, I don't know if everybody has access to a phone. I don't know if internet's in the neighborhood where they live. It's a great tool. I can't really measure access. I have all kinds of geolocating, blah, blah, blah, on it. But what I know is through your coaching, you know that one-to-one contact and the impact it's had on those specific children. And there is no AI learning that can replace the relationship and what is precious that exists between the space between you and me. This right here is where hope lives. And that's why volunteering and getting out in the community, Boobber, Martin Buber, who is one of my favorite writers, talks about the eye and the thou.

And there's you and there's me and everything that is graceful and good in this world is what lives in the space between the two of us, which is why we are so focused on getting to in-person services. So what we are doing is creating it. You're going to start seeing over the next several years a dashboard show up that's going to show how a child perceives their future

after each program, how a child perceives accessibility to the career they want. do they even understand the path to it? So we'll start, you'll start seeing very public benchmarking over the next few years coming out from us. It's going to take some time because we also have to ask at what age we are working with data partners on that cradle to career is incredible, credibly important. But my children would answer, is the future accessible to you? They would have always said yes, because I was going to make sure it was. So we want every child answering that. really excited because our early data, I mean, literally just came in on Finance Park last week

in partnership with JUSA, and we're doing great. These programs are working here. What's the data said? The data is showing that almost 90% of our children are telling us, these are seventh graders, are telling us, we just sampled 385 of them. And 90% of them said, okay, I understand the connection between my career and my paycheck now. I understand what I have to take home, and I understand that there are different careers that can change this. For a 13-year-old, I'll take that.

Like, I can't change. Especially a 13-year-old that is possibly coming from a family life experience where the adults don't understand. Correct. And we have to give those children grace because you're navigating it with the help of others. and we don't need to judge their families. It's just, it is just their family.

But trying to give them the tools they need and seeing that perception start to work is very exciting. And that's taking place nationally everywhere. So all JA offices will be looking at this and bringing this. Three and five JAA alumni say they started or owned a business, another lever for economic mobility, because of their JA experience, 59% say that.

That's from a national alumni. Memphis hasn't had the company program since about 2017. But the research nationally with the company program, like if you go to Minneapolis, Jay North, they have this incredible company store lab programs. They have one in Boston. They have these incredible entrepreneurial programs. Here, we want to make sure we know

that entrepreneurship is the lever to create generational wealth. So we focus on that in the middle school space for our students here to meet entrepreneurs daily who come from their zip codes. So like we correlate those two things. So they believe it's possible. But it's very, there are very strong correlations. And if you were to go around just in Memphis and talk to people about, were you a JAA alum and their entrepreneurs, you're going to meet a lot of them that were a lot. The other stat that there's a bunch of them here, but one of them that really got me is that according to Ipsos, it found more than four and five J alumni say they continued in education after high school or engaged in job and skills training during and after high school, like 87%.

Is that a Memphis number? That is pretty close to a Memphis number. That's incredible because if you think about upper mobility, financial, all of it. I mean, if nine out of 10, or 8.7, we'll call it 90%, nine out of 10 of the junior achievement, kids that went through the junior achievement are saying, oh, I get it, this is what I want to be. I need to continue my education or I need to go to this trade school or I need to learn

this skill. That in itself is by, by. definition chasing upward mobility. It is not. I mean, that's the lid right there. That's the whole goal. It is the whole goal. And so let's be careful with that stat because that is from the children's perspective.

Now let's ask, is our community actually doing it? What do you mean? Well, we had a really interesting, just local staff that I found fascinating. So after our eighth grade inspire, we had students say, seven out of ten of them said, thank you, Junior Achievement. Here we go to your stat, right here. Seven out of 10 said, thanks, junior achievement. I found a career I never knew existed, and I'm super excited about it.

Let's just stop for you, before you keep going. Yeah. That's awesome. It is awesome. I found something I want to do. It helps me my upward mobility. My financial literacy training has led me to understand why it's important, am I'm excited about it.

Yep. But the correlation, only three out of ten of those children believe that the region would make that opportunity accessible to them. Now, that's what a child believed. Okay, so hang on. So seven said I found it, but the same kids that said they found it, only three of ten. Believe that they can get to it. So they're excited about it, but they don't have the hope.

That's heartbreaking. It is heartbreaking. And so that really informed a lot of our work as we started showing them the pathways just in this region that are actually being created, that are accessible, going to TECAC, going to Southwest, making use of Tennessee Promise. There are so many amazing tools that the children don't know how to access. Oh, so the thing is now it's not just exposing them to the upper mobility, but also showing them how to go get it. Correct, because there are such underutilized resources.

I don't even care what state you're in. It's true of every state. Governments are putting amazing resources into place. How people can access those resources. and this comes down to transportation. The government can put amazing resources into place but then did not create the transportation to get to them. T-CAT's incredible.

All of the campuses are incredible. But if you live in North Memphis with very little transportation access to get to downtown to the closest T-Cat, how are you going to get that certification? And so that's the other side of it that we're always dealing with is that we've got to become,

and all of our cities nationally, have got to address transportation and saying, can everybody get to where he or she needs to get to achieve these things? If we were the most elite country in transportation access for all of its citizens, we would change health care outcomes. We would change so many different things. Not to put you on this spotly, but I think I saw you at some of the Science of Hope meetings too, and a lot of this is kind of hitting on this, and we did one episode on it recently. We're going to do it another coming up, but are you thinking about implementing it? Oh, we're already part of it. Yeah. Absolutely.

In terms of goals, pathways, agencies, a lot of what you're hitting on is directly that. When David Jordan was at the release of our Career Institute, and literally next day, can we meet? I was like, absolutely. Because we, you know, part of the great, exciting thing about junior achievement is how junior achievement is levered into other organizations. We don't need to start to scratch as a national organization alongside of like boys and girls clubs and YMCA's and junior achievements. There are very few other organization, communities and schools, that have, like, at scale, such positive relationships and partnerships with schools. So use us, like partner with us because don't start from scratch.

Don't start from scratch. We got to go on, but I can't get past what you just said, that the kids go through the junior achievement curriculum. 70% say I'm excited. I found something I didn't even know existed. This is what I want to pursue. 90% nationally say they continue their education. 90% of JA graduates say they continue their education.

I think those two play together and that they're saying I'm continuing my education because I found out about something I want to do that I'm excited about. That's all upward mobility. That's getting these kids not pushed because they're choosing. They're getting these kids as a result of their experience and junior achievement to be excited about founding something to make their lives better, to do the exact thing we talked about at the top of the show, to do better than their parents did.

But only 30% of them think it's accessible to me. That would be crushing. I'm putting myself in their shoes to, 17-18-year-old man, I want to be an airline pilot. That sounds like the greatest thing in the world, but how? It's not accessible to me. I can't get there. What do we have to fix? Well, I think that's a great question. One of the things I'm really excited about that junior achievement, it is a partnership in both directions. One, our schools have to be fixed. Like, we have got to change the quality of facilities for every first the first thing a child learns when

their school isn't updated is am I not worthy and I'm little like you know especially I asked one time a school leader when do the children when does a light switch flip they said well about middle school when they start playing sports and they go to other schools and they come back and say why do they why does that why do those kids get to go to such a pretty school and nobody's touching mine. We start as adults communicating those messages and they are not hidden messages. They're very over. I mean, that is a statement to a child, young. And so as a business community, there's a lot that the business community can do outside of helping parents get in there, but also, you know, we're so excited. We've got these 23 businesses involved in our

Career Institute for advanced manufacturing. And they're all agreeing to work differently. They're creating a different culture of how children in high school will experience internships and be a part of all of that. It's early. It's nascent and it's creation. But it's starting to generate this impact. An amazing human, Angela Massey, at Morgan Steele did this at multiple different locations where people who worked in her plant, she had high school students, working one on one with mentors in her plant, but she created, I always want the kids to understand this is a marathon and we've got to stop talking about life as a sprint. And so, you know, can the business community, like, and it's very expensive. And I know that I can be deeply unrealistic at

times, but I'm also just going to be hopeful is a sense of how can, how does a business look at its employees and start to audit the own mobility of their own employees? Do we offer education? Do we offer advancement for this? And so that it starts to trickle down from up here. So like this kind of message from the elders is that you need to go to work for the good guys. You need to go for the work for the people who want you to keep getting better because listen to me. So I think we have a real conversation to ask ourselves, you know, how do we create more mobility within families as well so that doesn't get double downed on? So it's a big conversation. But we have to ask ourselves, where are children getting this message reinforced to them?

I don't think the conversation even starts until you recognize that these kids do find things they want to do that they're excited about and are willing to do the work, but they just don't believe there's access. And as a society, if we're not working to create that access, then we can expect more of the same, really. Correct. And we need to quit blaming the children. We'll be right back. Cameron Wickham at the legendary Rhyman Auditorium. Plus a thousand dollar spending caps. Just listen to Pure Country for 10 minutes a day on the free IHart Radio app and you're in

to win. Cameron Wickham. Stream the new single Kingdom of Fear. Available now. Hey, this is Hayes Davenport. And Sean Clements. We host the podcast Hollywood Handbook. Every episode we're trying to help our guests improve their careers by mainly focusing on

how they can help us improve our careers. The show is famously super accessible so you can easily jump into any of our 650 episodes and understand what's going on. We recommend some of our recent episodes with Ben Stillard. The definition of what is a movie has kind of changed anywhere too, right? What do you think it is now? It's images and words being spoken, captured by some sort of technology. Danny McBride.

Oh, that's fantastic. And you make it on, you make your own. That's great. I call him Tarot Reed. It's a good name. They're all named after cast members of American Pie. Yeah. Oh, gotcha.

I call, I don't, I never looked up if she was in this, but I call him Leachie Sobieski. Yeah, I don't think she was an American Pie, but I still like that. Haven't looked it up. She was prominent around the same time. Yeah. Then Mary Steenbergin. Why are you guys talking to me? I'm worried.

I'm worried. Why are you talking so down to me that you think I don't understand your little play, play game? I just really. I get it. I'm trying to set you up for success here. Listen to Hollywood. handbook on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is Chelsea Handler from Dear Chelsea. Every week, the news gets worse. The world gets crazier,

and Yamanika is here to tell whoever's responsible, you're the problem. If you come over here to play games, I'mma check you. Okay? If you do some in the news that don't sound good, I'm going to play you. Join Yomeneika Saunders as she breaks down the week's most problematic stories on her new podcast. You're the problem. with Yamanika. Do you know I just found out who Sidney Sweeney was? New episodes weekly every Wednesday

as part of my new network, the dear Chelsea network. If he got a bunch of women, then I should have a bunch of men. Do better or do less, so I don't have to do so much. So join Yamanika each episode as she answers one question.

Who's the problem? I'm Yamanika, and I'm out. Listen to you're the problem with Yamanika on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. I'm Nick Tuturo. You probably know me from NYPD Blue, the longest yard,

or Spike Lease Black Klansman. But I'm also from Queens, which means I know pizza. And on my new podcast, delivering happiness with Nick Tatoro, I deliver pizza from Prince Street pizza to a new guest. Are you delivering pizza now? Then we sit down for a real conversation.

I've shared a slice with everyone, from Seth Rollins. What are you doing, my belt? To Alex Rodriguez. Just to let you people know, we're talking to one of the goats here. to Bill Burr. I don't think I've ever met somebody so exactly out of their mind as I am.

And now we even have more great guests coming up, including the great John Tuturo. It's called Happiness, Delivering Happiness. Mariano Rivera. Oh my God. And many, many more. Open your free high-heart radio app. Search Delivering Happiness with Nick Totoro. And listen now.

Your North Star is every child, world ready. Yep. Junior Achievement is job and career. ready. So while world ready. You know, the world's a different place for every child. And I want them to believe they can step, you know, for my own two daughters and now even for my grandson. What does it mean for them to step to, you know, Miranda, as a former English teacher in the Tempest, said, oh, brave new world with such people in it. And I really love the expression, oh, brave new world. And shouldn't, and to me, that is a sign going back to the hope conversation, is that

that, one, it is the courage to compete, which is a big piece that we're leaning into right now. But a child should believe that the world is ready for them and they're ready for the world. And that just may be one step further than your parents. I'm proud my daughters have gone way further than I could dream of going. My sons-in-law have. And I look at this little three and a half-year-old who's in my life now and I'm like, how do I make sure the world is ready for him? And that's what I look at for everyone. every child. Like, so for the children of the Delta who have never left the Delta because of lack of transportation, there is nothing better than you asked me to share one of my favorite

stories and I meant to do that. And this is the world ready piece. A teacher from Myrtle Mississippi calls us. Murtile, Mississippi is in Murtall, Murtall, Murtell, Missouri is in Union County, serves the Toyota plant. So if you're ever driving like toward Tupleau, you're in the Myrtle, Mississippi area, right at the border of union and Lee counties. Calls us up and says, I just saw y'all on Facebook and I know you're closed for the season. Can you open up? I really want to bring my kids. I think this is what they need to find their futures.

I say, well, tell us about you. And she said, I teach eighth grade, fifth grade, and first grade, and I drive the school bus. I'll be bringing the kids myself. Wow. So she brings the school bus. Are you kidding? I am not kidding. First, fifth, fifth, fifth.

and eight, and she drives the school. And she drives the school bus. And so she shows up, they're late. We're waiting for her. She says, will you please stay late? We are late because lunches weren't put together. So we had to stop at the grocery, and the kids and I made the lunches. I said, we are here as long as you need us to be here.

They go through the experience. She goes, they never get to see anything like this. And what if just one of them? What if just one of them is set free? And because they got home late, she drove each of them home individual. not even to their regular stops. And a bus? In a bus.

How long does she spend with you? Five hours. They got, I mean... And then drove them home and dropped each one of them. How many she'd bring? She brought about 55 kids. 55 kids and took them all home after her? Sure did.

Who is this woman? She's amazing. She's amazing. She is phenomenal. And we have a lot of stories like that. Like, this is why we don't get to hate on our teachers. There's more amazing teachers out there that are fighting for their kids every day.

Do you remember this teacher's name? Oh, I don't, but I can get it to you. I can see it for you. I will find you her name because I send her to the superintendent of school. She's amazing. Alex, you have to send her merch. I will, I will get you her name. That's it.

I'll buy it. I will get it. That is incredible. Last day of May program. She teaches first, fifth, and eighth grade. Merle. Found out about it. Merdle Attendance Center.

Wanted her kids. Myrtle Attendance Center is the name of the school. In the counties in Mississippi. a lot of the schools are called attendance centers. It's the name of the city or the county and the attendant center. Teach first, fifth, eighth grade, and drives the boss. Loaded the kids up by ourselves, stopped and made sandwiches, went through the whole five-hour curriculum, and then took the kids home one by one on the schoolbook.

That's how you have hope for the future. That's a hero. It is a hero. Yeah. I get to meet a lot of people like that. That's the luckiest part of my job. That are doing this because they really, want to see their kids get a shot. I've got trestven over in my building right now,

getting ready to make careers and be a part of it. They're right there now, planning out the year. Incredible. It's the best. You've said that if every young person believed opportunities were out there for them, prime stats would drop dramatically. Pontificate. I would love to. People with hope who know their future and family are taken care of don't tend to do bad things. And when you feel like you can build a future and get the future you want and imagine the life you want, you're going to make really different choices. And so creating a safer country, a safer Mid-South, a safer wherever you are, means that people believe they can take care of their families. It is that, let's go back to Maslow's hierarchy

and pretend that it's for an adult. When our family, are threatened, we behave differently. And so, you know, we live in a country where financial literacy has never been more important as the cost of living is deeply challenging in the quality of our food and the quality of health care. There are a lot of challenges our families are facing. And a lot of those can exacerbate crime when people get cornered because they don't feel that they can take care of their children and their families. So we want children to believe that they can equip themselves to work. And also to believe, I love getting up and going to always have. I've always worked. My dad didn't allow his daughters not to work. We always worked.

And if we didn't have gainful employment, he put us to work. So, you know, I just read an article the other day about the importance of chores and a child's sense of respect and their work ethic later in life. People who work better in life had chores growing up. It is so true. It's such. You know, as I listened to what you just said about crime, a city is a franchise. Yes. Right.

And if you feel like you are part of the franchise and have an opportunity to participate healthily and grow with the franchise, then you're going to support a franchise. But if you are disenfranchised, why would you expect that person to respect, appreciate, or work for the franchise? And that word disenfranchised is often used when describing the poor and the afflicted. But as I think about the word disenfranchised, and I think about what you just said, it really isn't that in the first reader. If you're not part of the, If you're disenfranchised, if you're not part of the franchise, don't feel like you have anything to offer the franchise and the franchise offering nothing to do with you, why would you respect it? Why would you care about it? In other words, just replace franchise with the word city.

Do you remember what Joshua Connolly said? I don't know if you met him from Foster Village, Memphis, but it's this African proverb, the child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth. There it is. One of Memphis's biggest challenges isn't just preparing kids for workforce. It's giving them reason to stay. So many cities right now are losing population. And when you lose population, you lose your tax base, you lose your ability to provide services. And it is a spiral that is really dangerous for municipalities. And Memphis is one of them, but there's a bunch of them.

how does junior achievement move that needle, encourage kids to imagine a future not only for themselves, but a future for themselves, in the city that desperately needs them to invest and be taxpayers and make a better place? So my favorite episode of Seinfeld is not enough. Okay. I love the opening to the answer. It's not enough to get the reservation. You have to keep the reservation. funny. And that is how, that's not even just Memphis. That is every city in Mississippi in the Delta.

It's Jackson, Mississippi. It is every, you know, it is like, people are staying in America. They're just repopulating and moving. So to keep the reservation, let's get right back to where we were. It's with hope and opportunity

is that I'm a child of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, which is on extraordinarily difficult times. When I was growing up, it was thriving. Tom Bluff was a cool, beautiful little southern city at one time. It was wonderful. And now nothing's left. Not much. It's really challenging.

It has extreme poverty. I hardly recognize it when I go back. And there's just not an opportunity. I was told to go. So all of a sudden, this intellectual property leaves. But then you look at states like Alabama, which are really quite fascinating. Like while my daughter went to the University of Alabama and Nick Saban coach football there, there was a bigger play at hand.

They used that football money to create one of the most dynamic engineering campuses in the country with more patents coming out of it than almost anywhere else outside of the University of Wisconsin. Then they started using that money to give scholarships. 65% of the students at the University of Alabama are from out of state on huge scholarships. and they're keeping about 20% of those students as permanent citizens. So it's about opportunity. Now that's fascinating. And brilliant business, but it's about the opportunity for those students who attend the University of Alabama. And what it has done because-

So Huntsville, for instance, Huntsville was a stop on the road 30 years ago. Look at it now. Oh, it's amazing. It's technologically driven. So all of that must have come from what you're talking about. And inexpensive to live in. You can build a beautiful life. And so if you solve the different industries that are coming to Alabama, because you have the workforce and a diverse workforce, and so, you know, those things are really interesting to me.

So making sure that we are recruiting businesses that children know how to get to them, like the chamber just has to continue pushing forward, pushing forward. We've got to bring industries that hire jobs that have a diverse needs of certifications. But it was interesting. I was reading in the business journal that the top, of the top highest paying jobs in the country right now, four of them don't require a college degree.

They require a specific certification. So the one thing I don't want to hear people say is you don't need a college degree. Well, every piece of correlation comes with the more education you have, whether that education is certification, continued certification. Education as a concept is the only,

thing nobody can take from you, and it's the only thing that continues to make you better. Now, college education to your education certification, I don't care which one you throw in there. You must raise a culture of people who believe I must continue bettering myself, myself at all times, because I can't grow and thrive if I think what I know today is enough for tomorrow. And isn't it interesting that the road to that can start when they're 10 going through Biztown? Just starting to learn it. Yeah, go to CodeCrew and get a certification at CodeCrew

and see what interests you. You know, there are so many remarkable resources that it's about a mindset. It's about a mindset. Junior Achievement, specifically your Junior Achievement, Memphis, has really had a lot of success. And I know you're kind of humble about it,

but it's been cited as really having done some amazing things. But you're not satisfied in, Alex told me you're trying to reach some 10% number, 10%? What is? It's a tipping point. What we know about a community is that to tip, for an idea to tip, if you go to Malcolm Gladwell, for an idea to tip, you have to have 10% buy-in rate, essentially. So right now, there are 170,000 children just in Shelby County alone, and school-age children. And, until we get well beyond 10% of serving 10% in Shelby County, we can't get the idea of career-connected,

stay where you are, grow where you are, that idea to tip. Well, that's 17,000. Right. But we serve 71 counties. So our highest saturation is in Shelby County. Our highest, and so we're almost at 10% in Shelby County, but not necessarily, not geographically.

like, for example, every fifth grader in Germantown and Collierville comes to Bisstown. Every fifth, sixth, and seventh grader gets in Arlington, works with Junior Junior. What about the city? With Memphis City, Memphis Shelby County Schools, we served 15,678 students last year, which is at 10%. There's about 112,000. We're a little bit over 10% saturation, but we don't do that with an MOU. which would be my dream come true, like in Washington, D.C.,

they have the most brilliant model. Every single child in D.C. public schools goes to Finance Park. They've put a finance park in partnership with the district. They don't own their own building. They put it, if you would draw a map of the District of Columbia, you would put in middle schools, and on the second or third floor of all these middle schools

is a finance park that's geolocated so that schools are near to it. can come and do it. And so we need to get to that because right now, I can say we're at a tip, I don't believe we're at a tipping point with Memphis Shelby County Schools because it's not a comprehensive plan. So like, let's say 4,000 of those kids are Biztown, six or seven thousand may be career exploration. And so like it's kind of, it's not disciplined enough. It's a really big district. And at everybody, we're facing some challenges right now. The top 25 largest districts in the country.

Right. You would not think that, but in Memphis is. It is. It's huge. And so at some point, my dream is that we are in that kind of what we call co-creation with the district. Because state law in Tennessee says you have to do middle school career exploration. You have to do middle school of financial literacy. And you have to do high school, a semester of financial literacy education. Well, you're the answer to that.

Right. So quit spending money on it and just let us work with you to solve all of that. And so that's our dream is to be in full partnership. Why don't you just plop down and told somebody that? I'm not kidding. I'm sure you have to everybody. You've got to get the right person to listen, don't you? I'm working on it.

I'm working on it. What can others learn from your work and success as a social entrepreneur? Oh, that's a good question. own your failures because when you come into something, see its potential, build a strategy, and then don't stop. I mean, people will tell people say I don't accept no and I really don't. I just say it's no for today. And that's what you have for all entrepreneurs.

When somebody tells you no, it was just a suggestion. What? I love what you just said. That's no for today. That's just no for today. And you know what, we human beings, we will change our mind three times when looking at a menu. Correct. So when I say no today, I probably mean it 100%.

Correct. But I could change my mind eight times, which are you bringing up? You know that I'm not going to stop calling. Like, I never do. It just was no for today. So don't, you know, don't be tender. Don't get your feelings. Don't be all up in your feelings.

Be all up in what you want to achieve. Was your dad a farmer? No, my dad's a lawyer. He was a lawyer. He is a lawyer. Okay. And also an entrepreneur. We, many storages that my mom invented the Christmas ball tree earring. Really? She did. And then the best little paper company in Arkansas.

And then Governor Clinton got elected president. My mom's company helped design some inaugural invitations. And the rest was her entrepreneurial journey. So the lesson for our listeners from you as a social, I sure is when you hear, no, that just means No for today. It just means no for today. I love that. You had a gift that many don't have, two entrepreneurial parents. You just set a lot about them.

What do you think is the most poignant lesson you learned from Theroprog? Oh, it's total proof rock. Do I dare disturb the universe? Swo. That's a better answer than I expected because I missed it. Say it again. Do I dare disturb the universe? Do I dare disturb the universe?

Where did that come from? It's from the love song of J. Alfred Prufrock, from T.S. Eliot, the love song of J. Alfred Prufrock. And it... Dare I... Do I dare disturb the universe? That's the only way the universe changes to disturb it. That's right. And I like living in a constant state of disturbance. Hey, before you move on, I want to hear the Whalen Jennings story.

Oh. Oh, my dad, he's not going to appreciate this, but I will happily check. So when my dad, this is a good story, when my dad is a phenomenal entrepreneur and has a lot of businesses, but he started his entrepreneurial journey in the early 1970s and decided at the rodeo in Pumbole of Arkansas, he was going to bring this unknown performer by the name of Waylon Jennings to perform. Are you kidding? He wanted to become unknown? He was unknown.

It was like 1973? No, Texas. I think Austin. It was like 1973, 74. We go out to the rodeo. No one's heard of Waylon. My mom's in a mini skirt and go-go boots. I still remember the white patent go-go boots.

All of us were dressed up. We're sitting on the front row. You've got to be. It's the damn rodeo. It is. And it was the five of us to come hear Wayland Jennings. There was nobody else there. Nobody came.

Nobody was much interested in hearing Wayland Jennings play. Wow. And that's why my dad decided, I think, the entertainment industry may not be where I'm going to put in my entrepreneurial endeavors. But I still, I just remember it. He was so brave and just so daring to try to do that, that he just always told us, but see, he was there to catch me. And it's always been how I've led. Like, you know, you can ask my team, I just push you off a cliff because I want you to dare. And I will always catch if you're willing to be innovative. If you'll do the thing,

if you believe you can help more children. And to me, that's what entrepreneurship is like at the heart of it. You dare disturb the universe and you're willing to jump off a cliff, sometimes not sure if you packed the parachute, but you did it with the best wisdom and intent to hope it's there. But you just know and you have this feeling like, I can do this. I can do this. And I'm very fortunate that my parent. That is so inspirationally.

You know, I'm not forget interview talk. Just build a Lee. That is inspirational. Oh, it is. It's, um, that's just awesome. Just, just dare to the studio universe and, and I may push you off a cliff, but I'll catch you before you at the ground.

That's really, really, really good leadership. I can see why junior achievement's growing with people around you like that. And I bet people love to work in that atmosphere. Well, we have an, and I am very fortunate. We have such an amazing team. Our chief academic officer, Keisha Ivy, just one most valuable player from J.A. Only three in the country. One of them was the CFO of J.A.

Because her work has been, it is amazing to empower her work. She is, I'm a great educator. She is an exceptional educator. Two poor questions. to all the people listen to you now, one, what would you tell them about service in general that you think they need to hear? And two, if someone wants to get involved with junior achievement in wherever they're listening from, because there's opportunity across this country, what would you tell them?

So first, what would you tell people generally about service that you think they need to hear in two, if they want to get involved in junior achievement, what would you say about that? Absolutely. So first of all, serve from a place of a true heart. Like if it's for your resume, I mean,

if you truly want it to fill your heart, you need to serve, you need to want to serve and be there, not out of duty or obligation. Two, serve where you're comfortable and where your passions are. But the other thing is that, I know you say,

many people will say, I don't want to do my day job for my service job. Well, go into it. Like if you're an accountant, if you're a lawyer, if you're an educator such as myself, people need me because of what I know about education. People need me because of what I've done for education in a strategy space. So yes, you can go and cook. That I love to do that too. But when you want to make transformation in the community, you have to give away what you're really good at for free and do it with a big open heart and say, my company, my own personal skills, we can change this world that we live in. But pick an area that you love,

because like I've done some service work. Like, I can't do, I'm not good at the arts because I am terrible at the arts. I got Tennyson's name wrong. I just forgot who wrote proof wrong. And so for any of those watching and your eyeballs rolled up, I'm like, I think Tennyson, no. But I think it's T. T.S. Eliot. I think that's where I got it wrong. But do what you love, because the arts isn't what I love. is taking care and serving children and making sure that universal pre-K is accessible. I do love cooking and serving in kitchens when I can because that's my jam for my own family. If you want to get involved in junior achievement, it is a, there is something for everybody, your storytelling, every life out there has a journey. Please go to JASA. It's just, all you got to go on your

internet is just JUSA and Google it. You'll come right to JAS site. If you're specifically in an area, no matter where you are in this country, we cover you all. So just enter the name of your city. There's not a county in the United States. Pretty much there is uncovered by. Pretty much there is not. And if there isn't, if you're in a county that isn't covered, like every county in Tennessee is covered, but if you're in a county that isn't covered, start yelling loud enough to your closest office or just reach out to me and I'll make sure to get you connected because we don't want to leave any child behind. And online, just J. USA. Yeah, USA. It's just that easy. It pops right up.

It's sort of big. We are up for our fourth Nobel Prize. Lee, I owe you an apology, because I've known you as long as I've known you, and I knew that junior achievement kind of worked with kids learning something. And it wasn't until three months ago that I understood it all. And I just want to tell you, so very impressive. And it is so very apparent how incredibly vital the work that junior achievement is, and if expanded, could be if we did reach that tipping point. And what that would do for children and mobility and financial literacy

and reaching that American dream of our children being better than we. So, you know, Godspeed on that because it is, it is incredible work. Alex, you got anything else? Just a short shout out to Lee, too. She's a member of our local service club, A&F Memphis. Are you? Of course I am. Of course you are.

And she's a donor to the Giving Circle, too, I'm pretty sure. So it's awesome that she shows cool collaboration opportunities with all of us and try to figure out more. We would love to be a part of the conversation, but Bill, the storytelling you're doing is so critically important. Well, thank you. Thanks. Well, you're a part of this. Like, this is what gets it going. Before we say goodbye, is there anything else you'd like to add about Junior Achievement, how people find you're anything else?

No, thank you for being a part of us and just come on out. Let's get this done. Lee Mansberg, everybody, present CEO, Junior Achievement of Memphis in the Mid-South, an all-around unbelievable person and an incredible organization that regardless of where you're listening to us from anywhere in the United States, you too can be a part of it. If you just dare to use your talents and passions and a place of opportunity and junior achievement offers you that. Lee, thanks for joining us.

Thanks for being here. Thank, Bill. I appreciate you. And thank you for joining us this week. If Lee Mansberg has inspired you in general, or better yet, to take action by volunteering with junior achievement in your community, donating to them, exploring starting one, or something else entirely, please let me know. I'd love to hear about it. You can write me anytime at bill at normalfolks.us. And if you write me, I'll respond. If you enjoyed this episode,

share it with friends and on social, subscribe to the podcast, wherever you're watching or listening to it. Rate it, review it. Join the army at normalfolks.org. Join or start one of our local service clubs. Take the 10-level challenge and buy our merch, any and all of these things that will help us grow. An Army of Normal Folks. I'm Bill Courtney. Until next time, do what you can.

The Busters are back. The Odyssey and Spider-Man. Brand New Day have taken over cinemas, and Raiders of the Lost podcast has all the coverage you need, including our interview with director Destin Daniel Cretton. What surprised you about Tom Holland? He shows up to every meeting early. He's the first one on set.

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