September always feels like the real start of the year. The kids are back in school, summer holidays are over, regular staff meetings resume and the pace of business picks up almost overnight. Projects move forward again, and fall events and year-end priorities quickly take over our calendars.
However, the most important meeting you attend this fall might not happen in a boardroom. It might happen in a classroom.
Last month, I wrote about why the strongest communities grow their own leaders. We spend a lot of time talking about attracting talent to Alberta, and rightly so. We need skilled people, strong businesses and new investment. We also need to invest in the young people who are already here.
This month, I’m making a very specific ask of Edmonton’s business community: we need volunteers.
As students return to classrooms across Northern Alberta, the demand for Junior Achievement programs grows significantly. Teachers are asking for programs that help students understand money, explore careers, learn how businesses work and build the skills they’ll need for their future. We have the programs and the teachers are asking for them. What we need are people from the business community willing to show up and share what they know.
You don’t need to be a teacher or a polished speaker. You just need to be willing to have an honest conversation with students. Tell them about your first job, the career move that didn’t go as planned, the mistake you learned from or the opportunity you almost talked yourself out of taking. Tell them what you wish someone had told you when you were their age. Those are often the stories students remember.
For some young people, a JA volunteer may be one of the first business professionals they’ve ever had the chance to meet. You could introduce them to a career they didn’t know existed, help them understand why learning about money matters or be the person who helps them recognize a skill or strength in themselves.
We talk about workforce development as though it begins when someone graduates and starts looking for a job. It begins much earlier. It starts when a student learns how to manage a budget, presents an idea to their classmates, works through a disagreement with a teammate or has someone from the business community take their ideas seriously.
Over the past year, more than 40,000 students across Northern Alberta participated in JA programs focused on financial literacy, entrepreneurship and work readiness. This year, thousands more are waiting for that opportunity, and we can’t reach them without volunteers.
As you look at your fall calendar, I’m asking you to find room for one classroom. It doesn’t require a huge commitment of time, but it can have a much bigger impact than you might expect.
Learn more and sign up to volunteer at janorthalberta.org/volunteer.
The strongest communities don’t just talk about developing the next generation of leaders. They show up.