May 28, 2025 • 13 mins
Al DiFranco proudly serves as President and CEO of Junior Achievement of Greater Cleveland. Prior to becoming President of JAGC in July 2022, Al was the organization’s Vice President for Development and Programs for four years.
Under Al’s leadership, JA of Greater Cleveland has significantly increased its financial resources, expanded its student reach, and recently began a multi-million campaign to create the Junior Achievement Experiential Learning Center in Downtown Cleveland. In 2025, JA of Greater Cleveland will also host JA’s National Leadership Conference for the first time.
Al previously served as Director of the MBA Program at Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management and President and CEO of the Mentor Area Chamber of Commerce.
Al received his Master’s in Higher Education Leadership from Capella University, Certificate in Leadership from the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from Baldwin-Wallace College (now Baldwin Wallace University).
Under Al’s leadership, JA of Greater Cleveland has significantly increased its financial resources, expanded its student reach, and recently began a multi-million campaign to create the Junior Achievement Experiential Learning Center in Downtown Cleveland. In 2025, JA of Greater Cleveland will also host JA’s National Leadership Conference for the first time.
Al previously served as Director of the MBA Program at Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management and President and CEO of the Mentor Area Chamber of Commerce.
Al received his Master’s in Higher Education Leadership from Capella University, Certificate in Leadership from the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from Baldwin-Wallace College (now Baldwin Wallace University).
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is iHeartRadio's CEOs you should know. I'm Keith Hochkis,
and today Al DeFranco, the CEO of Junior Achievement of
Greater Cleveland's with us.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
Al, thanks for being here. Yeah, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
We're excited about Junior Achievements moving into the iHeart Building
downtown Cleveland. Talk about why it's important that you have
an actual standing facility because it sounds like something news
coming in there, right.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Yeah, we're creating a Junior Achievement experiential learning center. There's
about two dozen of these in the United States that
are run by JAY Area offices, and really it's all
about those words. It's about experiential learning. For us, we
want we serve students, usually in classrooms, and we'll bring
volunteers into the classroom teach them important life skills, financial literacy,
career readiness, like getting them ready for their first interview,
(00:46):
doing a mock interview, resume workshops, things like that. But
to me, the value really is working with those adults
in the world of work that they're going to enter
in the future. So we're going to be partnering with
different companies to create space where students can meet with
those employees of those companies and have more time with them.
When you're in a classroom, you're on someone else's turf.
(01:06):
It's just stuffy, isn't the right feel? In this experiential
learning center, it's really going to be about connecting young
people with people from different companies to just for us.
It's about raising awareness of different pathways and opportunities that
are out there. You and I, when we were growing up,
we only knew what our mom or dad did, me
what we saw on TV. I wanted to be a
sports agent because of Jerry Maguire, right, So stuff that
(01:28):
you saw on TV or movies and such. We've got
to raise awareness of all the different opportunities and pathways
that are there. And the way to do that is
connecting these young people with folks from those companies.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
You mentioned that you and I are growing up, and
I might have even jumped the gun a little bit
because I know exactly what junior achievement does and is.
I've been my friend, volunteered, and I've still good at
some classes. But maybe for those that don't artists familiar.
You mentioned some of the things you talked about financial literacy,
which is really important to be taught and those kind
of things. Talk a little bit about just you know,
really how your mission has changed post COVID and high're
(02:00):
impacting students right now?
Speaker 3 (02:02):
Yeah, great question.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
So Junior Achievement has been around as a national organization
over one hundred years and we've been in Cleveland for
about eighty five years. And it started as an entrepreneurial
focused organization. So students would usually have like after school programs,
like almost like a club, and they'd create a product.
And some of the examples I've seen like heavy duty
code hangers, and they would create this product and they
(02:24):
would go and sell them it like craft fairs and
things like that, and it was helping young people learn
about what it's like to create a product, take it
to market, own a business, do marketing for a business,
but very very siloed, small group kind of things. And
how JAY has grown is that entrepreneurial spirit is still
embedded in a lot of what we do.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
But the way I say it to everyone.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
In the community is we teach the things in our
programs that you and I wish we learned when we
were in school. And it really is about financial literacy,
financial wellness. How do I budget save invest wisely, and
then the career readiness components of like again and creating
that first resume, getting ready for that first interview, learning
how to look for a job. You know, everybody just
(03:06):
goes to you know Indeed or some other search engine. Right,
there's a lot more to it, and I'm sure you
agree with this. A lot of is who you know
along with what you know, So how do you network
and so things like that. So we teach those and
we don't teach those out of a book or we
don't give the curriculum to teachers. We teach it by
bringing volunteers into the classroom from the business community, so
(03:26):
that just as you've done before as a speaker of ours,
you know that you come in and you learn it
from that speaker who knows what they're talking about.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
We're talking with Al DiFranco, the CEO of Junior Achievement
of Greater Cleveland. Al, you mentioned career readiness. I bet
you people who are currently working, like myself, are worried
about what kind of careers are going to be around
in five years. Much less if you're a student with
your whole life ahead of you, can you talk about
how you're delineating that down and making it digestible for
people to understand what the potential is right now. You
(03:57):
don't have to be a doctor or a social media
influencer jobs that people think, what else is going to
be out there in five to.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Ten years for these kids, It's a great question.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
We partner a lot with Team Neo and their studies
that they talk about high growth industries in Northeast Ohio.
I'm a big you know, as I was growing up,
they were already starting to talk about the brain train, right,
I want to keep as a native Clevelander. I want
to keep young people in Northeast Ohio. So we talk
about the high growth industries that will keep people in
Northeast Ohio ten twenty years from now, healthcare, computer it manufacturing,
(04:26):
and for us, we expand that a little bit to
finance and business because so much of what we do
is related to that, and we work with a lot
of the major banks in the Cleveland area that are
looking for employees. So we try to focus on those
high growth industries because at the end of the day,
you're right, if you ask an eighth grader right now,
it's probably fifty percent chance they're going to say they
want to be an influencer or a Twitch streamer, unimmer, right,
(04:48):
something related to gaming and social media, and there's nothing
wrong with that. What I try to really impress upon
them is transferable skills. And when you talk about computer it,
and I have a gamer at home. So my gamer
during COVID was very interactive. Some kids were lazy, and
this is that those gamers were interacting with young people
(05:09):
on Twitch or whatever, and they're problem solving. Gamers are
problem solvers, and so how do we take that problem
solving component and transition it to Hey, if this doesn't
work out, it's almost like an athlete. Hey, if Keith
doesn't have a great jump shot and doesn't make it
to the NBA and that was your dream job, what
are the other skills that you can have well as
a gamer? Those transferable skills are being a good problem solver, right,
(05:32):
and trying to make sure and doing things with their
hands really well. So that's what computer it is all about, right,
That's what healthcare in many ways is about. So we
try to open up again the awareness of pathways and
opportunities to young people so that they know, here are
the jobs that are going to be here not just
two years from now, but five, ten, twenty years from
no mental region.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Sorry, you mentioned the eighth graders. Is that the sweet spot?
Who really benefits from JA program?
Speaker 3 (05:57):
Yeah? Great question.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
We serve K to twelve and even above twelfth grade
into young adults now in this experienceial learning center we're
talking about as being your new neighbors. Really focused on
middle school and high school. It's hard to do a
lot of the career readiness components with kDa five, but
we're starting to open eyes and ears, you know, I
say with kindergarten, we're the volunteer sitting Chris Cross apple
sauce with the kids talking about the difference between needs
(06:18):
and wants. Needs and wants fundamentally is financial literacy.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Right.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
So if you hold up a you know, a flash
card and it's talking about like a house, Okay, was
that a need or a want? Well, then if you're
a pet owner, I love this one. You hold up
a flashcard of a dog and you get a great
civics conversation. You just just hold up the card and
you ask is this a need or want? And then
watch the next ten minutes, because these kids open up
(06:43):
and they and if they have a dog, I guarantee
it's in need, it's a member of the family. But
if they don't, there's a conversation about Okay, is that
really a need or a want? So to me, you
know that just having those conversations and helping young people
think outside of science, math, English, what they're learning in school,
to me, that's a healthy way to get them ready
(07:04):
for the future.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
How are traditionally your volunteers and your employees have spoken
in classrooms, right and you mentioned other people's turf and
this experience center? How do students how do they come here?
How do they join and be part of this new
innovative experience center that you're opening downtown.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Mostly my great program team, they recruit, they work with schools.
We create what called school partnerships. We have a great
partnership with the Clean Metropolitan School District through the Planning
and Career Exploration or PACE program that's done through the
Greater Clean Career Consortium. A lot of acronyms and names there,
but it really is about building relationships.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
At the end of the day.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
To me, it's not about serving one more student, It's
about creating meaningful impact. So make sure that even if
we serve a thousand students next year less than this year,
maybe the depth of that experience is higher and that's
going to mean more impact in the future. The need
has probably never been greater. Franco CEO of Junior Achievement
of Greater Cleveland, you mentioned something really exciting. You've been
(08:06):
here for more than eighty years, but this is the
first time the National JAA Conference is going to be.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Held in Cleveland. Talk a little bit about what that
means to your organization.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Sure, So, as we're sitting here now, we have ninety
nine JAY areas in the United States, and every year
those areas come together for a summer national leadership conference.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
It's about personal and professional development.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
We talk about what's going on at the national level
for the organization, but we also talk about best practices
and ways to do things better in our own communities.
And we're hosting that here probably for five hundred or
so employees of Junior Achievement throughout the US. It's excite
for me. Again, I'm a native Cleveland and I love
this city. It's a great way for us to show
off the city. We want people to come back. So
(08:44):
we're doing a Guardians game on Wednesday night of that week,
I get throw out the first pitch, which is on
my bucket list of things to do. So thank you
Guardians for letting us do that. They're a great partner
of ours. We've got Monday night opening reception at the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, so it's closed publicly,
it's just to us, so.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
That'd be a cool way.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
So we're highlighting, of course, some of the touristy cool
things to do in Cleveland. But one of the things
I'm looking forward to the most in the downtime for
our folks from around the country is we're asking our
staff to tell them our visitors what their favorite things
are to do and see in Cleveland right that are
off the bean path. So you know, some of my
background is working in chambers of commerce. I'm a big
(09:22):
mom and pop restaurant person or coffee shop like Lionheart
are new one of our other new neighbors in our
community here. We want to encourage people to go too
those places. No no offense to the other chains and
such around, but we really want to encourage them to
support our local restaurants in their businesses.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
There is a lot to say for sure, So alan
our remaining time if an organization or a school board
member really wants to get Junior Achievement involved in their kids,
because it's just anything that they can in my opinion,
anything any extra help these kids are getting these days
is likely going to be extremely beneficial. How can they
reach out to you guys in Cleveland, and how do
(10:01):
they get things started? And how do also do people
become volunteers? Yeah, I think the best way to do
is just feel free to start with me. You know,
I can give you my email address, my cell phone number.
We've got a great website that our marketing team works on.
It's Cleveland dot jay dot org. But at the end
of the day, for us, you know, we want to
meet people and build relationships. So we'll start with a conversation,
(10:23):
but we're going to try to build that into a
true relationship. This is incredible work that you and the
team at Junior Achievement are doing. You think about it, it
has to be rewarding, right and so talk about how
it's both rewarding but.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
At the same time a lot for you. It's a
lot to think about.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
It's a lot of moving parts and you've got kids
counting on you, how do you de stress and compartmentalize
the work you have to do.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
That's a really great question. You know, I will start
with this around about way of answering that question. I
was a JAY volunteer for a decade before I started
working at JAY. So there's a passion for the mission
that was, you know, embedded in me. And I'm a
child of Italian immigrants, like we didn't have I didn't
have a lot of I use the phrase a lot.
Positive adult influences are really important in JAY. It's not
(11:10):
just the curriculum we teach. It's about the experience and
the volunteer experience that.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
That we get.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
You know, my parents were so busy just surviving and
learning the English language for me growing up, So I
had an uncle who was my positive adult influence. Then
I had a teacher that was my positive adult influence,
and a counselor in college that was for us. We're
trying to get our people to be positivele influences, whether
they are our staff or the volunteer in the classroom.
That's what helps me sleep at night, because I know
(11:37):
we're not just teaching out of a book. We're not
teaching to a test. We're trying to help people learn
and grow. I mean I lose sleep over you know,
raising money because we don't charge schools anything for what
we do, but you know we have success stories. We
just got a half a million dollar gift for our
experiential learning center yesterday confirmed great learners, So thank you.
So like those things like they helped me because that's
(11:58):
an affirmation that we're doing things well, doing the right way,
and have the right intentions. In terms of completely distressing.
If I'm playing golf, well that's a distressor. If I'm
not playing golf, well it makes it worse. So that's
hard I can relate. But I've gotten into reading a
little bit more. That's helpful just for me. And I
used to do more reading on the self help like
(12:21):
inspirational books, and I'm just trying to read like biographies
and things like that because that's helped me. Just take
a deep breath and understand that nobody's perfect. I love entrepreneurs.
We have so many great entrepreneurs that help us. The
ones I really value the relationships that I have with
the entrepreneurs that will be honest about their failures, not
just about their successes. And to me, I'm not going
(12:42):
to make all the right decisions. My team's not going
to make all the right decisions. If we have, we're
going into with right intention and making a decision based
on that. I can never argue with the decision.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Well, I'll tell you what, it's nothing more rewarding and
a mission I can imagine.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
As helping kids.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
Absolutely, and that's what Junior Achievement's done for one hundred
years and hopefully one hundred more in their new spacious
palatial suite in downtown Cleveland at six six's eight Euclid Avenue.
Al DeFranco, CEO of Junior Achievement of Greater Cleveland, thank
you so much for being here today.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
It was great. Thanks for the opportunity and.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
This has been iHeartRadio CEOs. You should know today's show
is produced by Bob coatesaid I'm Keith Hotchkiss.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
We'll see you next time.
This is iHeartRadio's CEOs you should know. I'm Keith Hochkis,
and today Al DeFranco, the CEO of Junior Achievement of
Greater Cleveland's with us.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
Al, thanks for being here. Yeah, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
We're excited about Junior Achievements moving into the iHeart Building
downtown Cleveland. Talk about why it's important that you have
an actual standing facility because it sounds like something news
coming in there, right.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Yeah, we're creating a Junior Achievement experiential learning center. There's
about two dozen of these in the United States that
are run by JAY Area offices, and really it's all
about those words. It's about experiential learning. For us, we
want we serve students, usually in classrooms, and we'll bring
volunteers into the classroom teach them important life skills, financial literacy,
career readiness, like getting them ready for their first interview,
(00:46):
doing a mock interview, resume workshops, things like that. But
to me, the value really is working with those adults
in the world of work that they're going to enter
in the future. So we're going to be partnering with
different companies to create space where students can meet with
those employees of those companies and have more time with them.
When you're in a classroom, you're on someone else's turf.
(01:06):
It's just stuffy, isn't the right feel? In this experiential
learning center, it's really going to be about connecting young
people with people from different companies to just for us.
It's about raising awareness of different pathways and opportunities that
are out there. You and I, when we were growing up,
we only knew what our mom or dad did, me
what we saw on TV. I wanted to be a
sports agent because of Jerry Maguire, right, So stuff that
(01:28):
you saw on TV or movies and such. We've got
to raise awareness of all the different opportunities and pathways
that are there. And the way to do that is
connecting these young people with folks from those companies.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
You mentioned that you and I are growing up, and
I might have even jumped the gun a little bit
because I know exactly what junior achievement does and is.
I've been my friend, volunteered, and I've still good at
some classes. But maybe for those that don't artists familiar.
You mentioned some of the things you talked about financial literacy,
which is really important to be taught and those kind
of things. Talk a little bit about just you know,
really how your mission has changed post COVID and high're
(02:00):
impacting students right now?
Speaker 3 (02:02):
Yeah, great question.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
So Junior Achievement has been around as a national organization
over one hundred years and we've been in Cleveland for
about eighty five years. And it started as an entrepreneurial
focused organization. So students would usually have like after school programs,
like almost like a club, and they'd create a product.
And some of the examples I've seen like heavy duty
code hangers, and they would create this product and they
(02:24):
would go and sell them it like craft fairs and
things like that, and it was helping young people learn
about what it's like to create a product, take it
to market, own a business, do marketing for a business,
but very very siloed, small group kind of things. And
how JAY has grown is that entrepreneurial spirit is still
embedded in a lot of what we do.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
But the way I say it to everyone.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
In the community is we teach the things in our
programs that you and I wish we learned when we
were in school. And it really is about financial literacy,
financial wellness. How do I budget save invest wisely, and
then the career readiness components of like again and creating
that first resume, getting ready for that first interview, learning
how to look for a job. You know, everybody just
(03:06):
goes to you know Indeed or some other search engine. Right,
there's a lot more to it, and I'm sure you
agree with this. A lot of is who you know
along with what you know, So how do you network
and so things like that. So we teach those and
we don't teach those out of a book or we
don't give the curriculum to teachers. We teach it by
bringing volunteers into the classroom from the business community, so
(03:26):
that just as you've done before as a speaker of ours,
you know that you come in and you learn it
from that speaker who knows what they're talking about.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
We're talking with Al DiFranco, the CEO of Junior Achievement
of Greater Cleveland. Al, you mentioned career readiness. I bet
you people who are currently working, like myself, are worried
about what kind of careers are going to be around
in five years. Much less if you're a student with
your whole life ahead of you, can you talk about
how you're delineating that down and making it digestible for
people to understand what the potential is right now. You
(03:57):
don't have to be a doctor or a social media
influencer jobs that people think, what else is going to
be out there in five to.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Ten years for these kids, It's a great question.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
We partner a lot with Team Neo and their studies
that they talk about high growth industries in Northeast Ohio.
I'm a big you know, as I was growing up,
they were already starting to talk about the brain train, right,
I want to keep as a native Clevelander. I want
to keep young people in Northeast Ohio. So we talk
about the high growth industries that will keep people in
Northeast Ohio ten twenty years from now, healthcare, computer it manufacturing,
(04:26):
and for us, we expand that a little bit to
finance and business because so much of what we do
is related to that, and we work with a lot
of the major banks in the Cleveland area that are
looking for employees. So we try to focus on those
high growth industries because at the end of the day,
you're right, if you ask an eighth grader right now,
it's probably fifty percent chance they're going to say they
want to be an influencer or a Twitch streamer, unimmer, right,
(04:48):
something related to gaming and social media, and there's nothing
wrong with that. What I try to really impress upon
them is transferable skills. And when you talk about computer it,
and I have a gamer at home. So my gamer
during COVID was very interactive. Some kids were lazy, and
this is that those gamers were interacting with young people
(05:09):
on Twitch or whatever, and they're problem solving. Gamers are
problem solvers, and so how do we take that problem
solving component and transition it to Hey, if this doesn't
work out, it's almost like an athlete. Hey, if Keith
doesn't have a great jump shot and doesn't make it
to the NBA and that was your dream job, what
are the other skills that you can have well as
a gamer? Those transferable skills are being a good problem solver, right,
(05:32):
and trying to make sure and doing things with their
hands really well. So that's what computer it is all about, right,
That's what healthcare in many ways is about. So we
try to open up again the awareness of pathways and
opportunities to young people so that they know, here are
the jobs that are going to be here not just
two years from now, but five, ten, twenty years from
no mental region.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Sorry, you mentioned the eighth graders. Is that the sweet spot?
Who really benefits from JA program?
Speaker 3 (05:57):
Yeah? Great question.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
We serve K to twelve and even above twelfth grade
into young adults now in this experienceial learning center we're
talking about as being your new neighbors. Really focused on
middle school and high school. It's hard to do a
lot of the career readiness components with kDa five, but
we're starting to open eyes and ears, you know, I
say with kindergarten, we're the volunteer sitting Chris Cross apple
sauce with the kids talking about the difference between needs
(06:18):
and wants. Needs and wants fundamentally is financial literacy.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Right.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
So if you hold up a you know, a flash
card and it's talking about like a house, Okay, was
that a need or a want? Well, then if you're
a pet owner, I love this one. You hold up
a flashcard of a dog and you get a great
civics conversation. You just just hold up the card and
you ask is this a need or want? And then
watch the next ten minutes, because these kids open up
(06:43):
and they and if they have a dog, I guarantee
it's in need, it's a member of the family. But
if they don't, there's a conversation about Okay, is that
really a need or a want? So to me, you
know that just having those conversations and helping young people
think outside of science, math, English, what they're learning in school,
to me, that's a healthy way to get them ready
(07:04):
for the future.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
How are traditionally your volunteers and your employees have spoken
in classrooms, right and you mentioned other people's turf and
this experience center? How do students how do they come here?
How do they join and be part of this new
innovative experience center that you're opening downtown.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Mostly my great program team, they recruit, they work with schools.
We create what called school partnerships. We have a great
partnership with the Clean Metropolitan School District through the Planning
and Career Exploration or PACE program that's done through the
Greater Clean Career Consortium. A lot of acronyms and names there,
but it really is about building relationships.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
At the end of the day.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
To me, it's not about serving one more student, It's
about creating meaningful impact. So make sure that even if
we serve a thousand students next year less than this year,
maybe the depth of that experience is higher and that's
going to mean more impact in the future. The need
has probably never been greater. Franco CEO of Junior Achievement
of Greater Cleveland, you mentioned something really exciting. You've been
(08:06):
here for more than eighty years, but this is the
first time the National JAA Conference is going to be.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Held in Cleveland. Talk a little bit about what that
means to your organization.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Sure, So, as we're sitting here now, we have ninety
nine JAY areas in the United States, and every year
those areas come together for a summer national leadership conference.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
It's about personal and professional development.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
We talk about what's going on at the national level
for the organization, but we also talk about best practices
and ways to do things better in our own communities.
And we're hosting that here probably for five hundred or
so employees of Junior Achievement throughout the US. It's excite
for me. Again, I'm a native Cleveland and I love
this city. It's a great way for us to show
off the city. We want people to come back. So
(08:44):
we're doing a Guardians game on Wednesday night of that week,
I get throw out the first pitch, which is on
my bucket list of things to do. So thank you
Guardians for letting us do that. They're a great partner
of ours. We've got Monday night opening reception at the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, so it's closed publicly,
it's just to us, so.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
That'd be a cool way.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
So we're highlighting, of course, some of the touristy cool
things to do in Cleveland. But one of the things
I'm looking forward to the most in the downtime for
our folks from around the country is we're asking our
staff to tell them our visitors what their favorite things
are to do and see in Cleveland right that are
off the bean path. So you know, some of my
background is working in chambers of commerce. I'm a big
(09:22):
mom and pop restaurant person or coffee shop like Lionheart
are new one of our other new neighbors in our
community here. We want to encourage people to go too
those places. No no offense to the other chains and
such around, but we really want to encourage them to
support our local restaurants in their businesses.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
There is a lot to say for sure, So alan
our remaining time if an organization or a school board
member really wants to get Junior Achievement involved in their kids,
because it's just anything that they can in my opinion,
anything any extra help these kids are getting these days
is likely going to be extremely beneficial. How can they
reach out to you guys in Cleveland, and how do
(10:01):
they get things started? And how do also do people
become volunteers? Yeah, I think the best way to do
is just feel free to start with me. You know,
I can give you my email address, my cell phone number.
We've got a great website that our marketing team works on.
It's Cleveland dot jay dot org. But at the end
of the day, for us, you know, we want to
meet people and build relationships. So we'll start with a conversation,
(10:23):
but we're going to try to build that into a
true relationship. This is incredible work that you and the
team at Junior Achievement are doing. You think about it, it
has to be rewarding, right and so talk about how
it's both rewarding but.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
At the same time a lot for you. It's a
lot to think about.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
It's a lot of moving parts and you've got kids
counting on you, how do you de stress and compartmentalize
the work you have to do.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
That's a really great question. You know, I will start
with this around about way of answering that question. I
was a JAY volunteer for a decade before I started
working at JAY. So there's a passion for the mission
that was, you know, embedded in me. And I'm a
child of Italian immigrants, like we didn't have I didn't
have a lot of I use the phrase a lot.
Positive adult influences are really important in JAY. It's not
(11:10):
just the curriculum we teach. It's about the experience and
the volunteer experience that.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
That we get.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
You know, my parents were so busy just surviving and
learning the English language for me growing up, So I
had an uncle who was my positive adult influence. Then
I had a teacher that was my positive adult influence,
and a counselor in college that was for us. We're
trying to get our people to be positivele influences, whether
they are our staff or the volunteer in the classroom.
That's what helps me sleep at night, because I know
(11:37):
we're not just teaching out of a book. We're not
teaching to a test. We're trying to help people learn
and grow. I mean I lose sleep over you know,
raising money because we don't charge schools anything for what
we do, but you know we have success stories. We
just got a half a million dollar gift for our
experiential learning center yesterday confirmed great learners, So thank you.
So like those things like they helped me because that's
(11:58):
an affirmation that we're doing things well, doing the right way,
and have the right intentions. In terms of completely distressing.
If I'm playing golf, well that's a distressor. If I'm
not playing golf, well it makes it worse. So that's
hard I can relate. But I've gotten into reading a
little bit more. That's helpful just for me. And I
used to do more reading on the self help like
(12:21):
inspirational books, and I'm just trying to read like biographies
and things like that because that's helped me. Just take
a deep breath and understand that nobody's perfect. I love entrepreneurs.
We have so many great entrepreneurs that help us. The
ones I really value the relationships that I have with
the entrepreneurs that will be honest about their failures, not
just about their successes. And to me, I'm not going
(12:42):
to make all the right decisions. My team's not going
to make all the right decisions. If we have, we're
going into with right intention and making a decision based
on that. I can never argue with the decision.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Well, I'll tell you what, it's nothing more rewarding and
a mission I can imagine.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
As helping kids.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
Absolutely, and that's what Junior Achievement's done for one hundred
years and hopefully one hundred more in their new spacious
palatial suite in downtown Cleveland at six six's eight Euclid Avenue.
Al DeFranco, CEO of Junior Achievement of Greater Cleveland, thank
you so much for being here today.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
It was great. Thanks for the opportunity and.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
This has been iHeartRadio CEOs. You should know today's show
is produced by Bob coatesaid I'm Keith Hotchkiss.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
We'll see you next time.
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