Richardson ISD students will soon be able to explore careers, finances and business in a hands-on environment at the district’s new Biztown.
JA Biztown is part of the newly opened experiential learning facility JA Discovery Center at Greenwood Hills Learning Center, the result of a partnership between RISD and Junior Achievement of Dallas. The organizations hosted a ribbon cutting for the center Aug. 27 and the facility will be open to students Sept. 15.
“We believe in turning dreams into opportunities for young people,” Junior Achievement of Dallas CEO Chris LaTurno said at the ribbon cutting. “Today, we’re standing outside one of those dreams.”
The big picture
Junior Achievement of Dallas provides hands-on financial literacy, career readiness and entrepreneurship programming to students across North Texas, and LaTurno said the Richardson center represents an “important milestone” in the organization’s expansion in Dallas.
“Junior Achievement and Richardson ISD came together and asked a simple question: What if we could give students a place where they don’t just learn about their future, but they actually experience it?” LaTurno said.
JA Biztown, which was unveiled at the ribbon cutting, will provide business finance programming for fifth graders. JA Finance Park will open in the spring to offer personal finance education to seventh graders.
At full capacity, the JA Discovery Center will offer programming on career readiness and financial literacy to 7,000 RISD students annually, LaTurno said.
How we got here
The Greenwood Hills Learning Center is located in what was formerly Greenwood Hills Elementary School, which closed in 2024 as part of budget right-sizing. At that time, Superintendent Tabitha Branum said district officials promised to continue to invest in Greenwood Hills.
“We have taken a space that, if we allowed, could be empty of dreams, and instead it hosts a whole new generation of dreams,” Branum said.
The center was first conceived as a new version of RISD’s former Enterprise City, said Angie Lee, RISD’s executive director of student success and leadership, but she said the result has surpassed that original vision.
“Here, [students] won’t just learn about careers, financial literacy, leadership and community,” Lee said at the ribbon cutting. “They will have the opportunity to experience them, practice them and begin to see themselves in possibilities they may not have imagined before.”
A closer look
JA Biztown is made up of an array of businesses and interactive storefronts, where students will work as architects, construction managers, insurance agents, city staff and more to keep their “town” running.
“They’re making decisions, they’re working together, they’re learning and developing soft skills,” LaTurno said. “Those experiences can change the way a young person sees their future.”
Biztown includes real companies like architecture firm Glenn Partners, CORE Construction, State Farm and Toyota, as well as spaces for a City Hall, bistro and boutique,
LaTurno said students will experience weeks of curriculum in the classroom to prepare them ahead of entering the Discovery Center.
In its first year, LaTurno said every fifth grade and seventh grade student in RISD will experience the center, totaling roughly 5,000 students.
“I want to make a promise to the students who are here that will walk through these doors,” LaTurno said. “We will help you see a future that you might not be able to see yet, and then give you the skills, experiences and confidence to go further.”
