Giving Back Through Youth Financial Education Experiences

These days are a lot of fun—seeing the kids get their salaries, and their reactions when they realize the financial responsibilities that come with being an adult is always a highlight.

At Equifax, our Purpose is to help people live their financial best. Our employees put that Purpose in action in their day jobs—as well as through volunteer opportunities in their local communities, where many devote their time and energy to making a positive impact in the places they live and work. 

One such opportunity is at Junior Achievement of Georgia, where last year, over 130 Equifax employees volunteered across the organization’s three greater Atlanta locations, totaling over 1,600 hours of volunteer time. Equifax employees have been volunteering with Junior Achievement of Georgia programs since 2002, including regular efforts at the downtown Atlanta Discovery Center since it first opened in 2013. In addition to Atlanta, Equifax employees have relationships with Junior Achievement chapters in St. Louis, Uruguay and Paraguay.

Earlier this summer, a group of Equifax employees brought their kids to JA Finance Park for a special experience, serving as volunteers while their children participated in the simulation, learning about budgeting, credit scores, and more in a fun-filled day.

Junior Achievement of Georgia’s mission is to serve as a business-integrated education partner with expertise in experiential learning that successfully develops key mindsets and skills for students to lead meaningful and successful lives. The Georgia chapter of the more-than-100-year-old organization, Junior Achievement of Georgia delivers financial education to students through several programs, including two key programs (BizTown and Finance Park). Held at immersive Discovery Centers with business-themed booths and facades, these programs deliver engaging learning experiences for middle-school-aged students.

Equifax recently completed its booth at Junior Achievement Finance Park in downtown Atlanta; this station represents a key element of the simulation experience—credit reports—and is home to a learning experience focusing on mortgages.

Following classroom exposure to the concepts, students at Finance Park are assigned a life scenario including a career, salary, spouse/children, and more. They learn about expenses like taxes and healthcare, then begin budgeting for wants and needs such as mortgages, daycare, transportation and entertainment. 

The volunteers are crucial for this experience, not just guiding students through the steps but answering questions about taxes, credit, and ancillary expenses with real-world examples. The volunteers both augment the scenarios with financial expertise and contextualize the lessons by sharing their own life experiences, humanizing the concepts throughout the simulation.

“These days are a lot of fun—seeing the kids get their salaries, and their reactions when they realize the financial responsibilities that come with being an adult is always a highlight. They’re also important; we’re helping give them lifelong financial tools at a critical age,” said Talon Watley, a Content Strategist on the Digital Strategy and Marketing team at Equifax. Talon has volunteered with Junior Achievement as part of an employee group regularly since 2023, both at the Discovery Center and in the fourth year of Junior Achievement’s 3DE Schools program, the culmination of a multi-year experience in which high school seniors collaborate with each other and a real business client to devise a solution for a real-world business challenge. 

“I end up feeling like a role model, in a sense,” added Talon. “I’m able to share my real-life experiences, to show them what being an adult and making financial decisions is like. The things we teach them, they’ll be able to look back on and apply as they grow into young adults. They may not remember my name, but the knowledge they take from our interaction is something they can keep with them and continue sharing with others.”

Talon appreciates the camaraderie that comes with volunteering as a group, as well as the chance to meet new colleagues with the same passion for giving back. She says this chance to network with colleagues whom she might not otherwise interact with is a bonus aspect of her volunteer days. 

Overall, she feels the experiences speak to the culture at Equifax, which supports employees with 16 hours of paid time off for volunteerism annually as well as a donation matching program to eligible nonprofit organizations. “Not just with Junior Achievement, but in whatever way you want to volunteer or fundraise, for whatever cause is important to you, you feel supported here,” said Talon. “It shows our commitment to moving people forward in general, to living our Purpose. It always makes me want to do more.”

Learn about available opportunities at Equifax.