For more than four decades, the Arizona Community Foundation (ACF) has worked with individuals, families, and organizations to address some of the biggest challenges facing Arizona. JAG has been fortunate to be supported by different grants and donors through ACF for a decade that have helped JAG expand programs across the state.
Jobs for Arizona’s Graduates (JAG) is a 501c3 nonprofit that has been supporting young people in their high school graduation and career pursuits since 1980. Our mission is to help young people stay in school and to acquire the academic, personal, leadership, and vocational skills they will need to be successful upon graduation. We are proud to have alums that have gone on to graduate high school and pursue career paths in business, government, military, technology, manufacturing, hospitality and service, education, the arts, and the medical field.
With funding from partners like ACF, our Class of 2021 received the resources and support they needed to accomplish the following milestones:
“On behalf of ACF and all of our donors that give through us, we want to congratulate JAG on their impressive work and expansion in programming,” said Steve Seleznow, ACF’s President and CEO. “There is nothing more important than supporting young people as they pursue their education. We value and appreciate JAG and their continued expansion to new schools for greater impact.”
This year, ACF’s generous contribution has solidified one of our goals of offering JAG in Yavapai County. Our Camp Verde High School JAG program opened up to juniors and seniors this year in August. Coordinator Aaron Gronwald leads the program along with 35 students.
“I've already seen students who came into JAG with a poor attitude and no desire or motivation to see what the class is about, to change their attitude 180 degrees to the point where they are excited about everything we do in JAG,” said Camp Verde JAG Coordinator Aaron Gronwald. “I've seen these same students become excited about a potential career pathway when they had no plans for their future at all.”
Despite being its first year, the program has already hosted two outreach and celebration events open to the public: JAG-A-Palooza and the Initiation and Installation Ceremony. They have also started raising money to bring their JAG class to the JAG National Career Development Conference in April.
Additionally, they have attended the JAG Student Leadership Development Conference, where more than 200 JAG students from across the state came together to learn about how to become impactful leaders for their programs and for their future career plans.
“JAG helps me focus and start thinking about the big questions in life, like what I want to do, what my plans are after high school, and what makes me happy. JAG then gives me the tools I need to answer these questions so that after high school, I hit the ground running,” said Camp Verde JAG student Chris Ceballos.
For some of Camp Verde High School JAG’s students, the college and career resources provided throughout the yearlong course have given them a new perspective on what is accessible to them.
“Before JAG, I really had no clue what I wanted to do, but now that I have gotten into it, it has made me more aware that my future is coming fast—I’m a senior—and I need to know what I am doing, so I’m looking into a bunch of colleges now. Before, I didn’t want to go to college, but now being shown the opportunities that come with it, I think it’s really important,” said Camp Verde JAG President Matthew Piper.
We are grateful for the generosity and dedication of ACF in ensuring that Arizona’s young people are prepared to succeed before and after high school graduation.
“I have learned that everyone has a journey and is capable of a future,” said Camp Verde JAG student Paula Ramirez.
Join Arizona Community Foundation in supporting our students’ futures by donating HERE
Interested in learning about how you can bring a JAG program to your community? Inquire HERE
(602) 216-9503 I info@jagaz.org