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Learn & Earn and Junior Achievement USA Collaborating with Microsoft to Support Nonprofits and Students

Friday, 26 February 2021 06:00 PM

Learn and Earn

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO and NEWPORT BEACH, CA / ACCESSWIRE / February 26, 2021 / Learn & Earn and Junior Achievement USA have announced they are in exploratory talks with Microsoft Corp. to enhance working with non-profits to benefit student populations - especially those from lower-income and disadvantaged situations. The Learn & Earn app, developed in collaboration with Junior Achievement USA (JA), allows students to learn about financial literacy, gain exposure to new career opportunities, and develop other skills and knowledge to help them achieve success in life.

Learn and Earn, Friday, February 26, 2021, Press release picture

"We believe that participation in the Learn & Earn program will enhance our outreach and ability to help the many non-profit organizations we work with," said Nobie Yamawaki, Director of Business Development, Gaming at Microsoft. "Working closely with Learn & Earn and JA complements Microsoft initiatives such as MakeCode, Nonprofit Tech Acceleration, Technology Education and Literacy Schools, and Benevity."

The groups are working on the details of their collaboration, with possibilities including making the Learn & Earn app available to many of the non-profits Microsoft works with, Microsoft sponsoring courses on the app, and Microsoft utilizing its expertise in technology and software to create courses for the app.

Learn & Earn is an app that allows students to select snack-size courses and earn money from sponsors and parents upon completion of each course. Students then invest that money in their investment account with Robo-Bumpers™ to keep their portfolio diversified and growing over time. Students have a "Core" portfolio of the world's largest diversified ETFs, and they can also select up to ten separate large cap stocks, or ETFs, from a curated "Explore" portfolio. This allows students to invest in fractional shares of companies like Apple, Tesla, Coca-Cola, and Microsoft. Sponsored courses are funded by for-profit and non-profit entities. Students will be able to use the funds they've earned for college tuition, a certificate program, technical school, or to start a business.

"To work with Microsoft's Gaming division is a natural extension to the work we do as the country's largest youth-serving nonprofit," said Jack Kosakowski, Junior Achievement USA President and CEO. "Using the Learn & Earn app leverages today's technology to maximize and protect advances in learning and literacy."

During the worldwide pandemic, 1.2 billion children worldwide have been affected by school closures. Learn & Earn aims to reach as many of these students as possible, in particular those from low-income households, who make up more than 50 percent of the users. Students with savings accounts for higher education, like the investment account offered by the app, are four times more likely to graduate from college.

"With Junior Achievement's help, Learn & Earn provides students with a remote learning environment that teaches them valuable life skills and lessons not available in traditional school curriculums, while allowing them to invest money for their futures," explained Walter Cruttenden, founder of Acorns and Chairman of Blast, the developer of Learn & Earn. "The initial launch is to JA's network of 5 million students, but any student can participate."

Learn & Earn receives support and advice from enterprises like Franklin Templeton Investments and Roth Capital Partners. Advisors include: Dr. Richard Thaler, Nobel Prize-winning economist; Dr. William Elliott III, Founder and Director of the Center on Assets, Education and Inclusion at the University of Michigan; and Jon Fee, Senior Vice President and Head of Global Marketing for Saleforce.org.

The app can be found on the App Store or Google Play.

About Learn & Earn™

Created by the team behind Blast, Learn & Earn™ is the app that pays kids to learn. Covering real-world topics not taught in school, the snack-sized courses reward students with funds from sponsors and parents. These funds are then invested for the students, opening up a whole world of savings and investments for them. Working with preeminent partners and sponsors, Learn & Earn combines the best of FinTech and EdTech to redefine remote learning with courses that cover topics such as financial literacy, potential careers, and life skills. The app's ultimate mission is simple: Teach kids how to become successful adults. Visit www.learnandearn.com for more information.

Investment advisory services are provided by Ant Money Advisors, LLC ("AMA"), an SEC-registered investment advisor. AMA's terms and policies can be found at www.antmoneyadvisors.com or through www.adviserinfo.sec.gov. AMA facilitates trading through DriveWealth, LLC, an SEC-registered broker-dealer and member FINRA and SIPC. Check the background of this firm on FINRA's BrokerCheck.

About Junior Achievement USA® (JA)

Junior Achievement is the world's largest and oldest non-profit organization dedicated to giving young people the knowledge and skills they need to own their economic success, plan for their future, and make smart academic and economic choices. JA programs are delivered by corporate and community volunteers, and provide relevant, hands-on experiences that give students from kindergarten through high school knowledge and skills in financial literacy, work readiness, and entrepreneurship. Today, JA reaches nearly 4.8 million students per year in 105 markets across the United States, with an additional 5.2 million students served by operations in 100 other countries worldwide. Junior Achievement USA is a member of JA Worldwide. Visit www.ja.org for more information.

Press Contacts

Bill Topaz
Learn & Earn/Blast
[email protected]
(949) 734-0706

Ed Grocholski
Junior Achievement USA
[email protected]
(719) 540-6165

SOURCE: Learn and Earn

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