Junior Economic Club of Chicago

The Junior Economic Club of Chicago is a nonprofit run entirely by Chicago teenagers who want to make a positive impact on their communities. As an organization we seek to spark and facilitate meaningful discussion about economic issues amongst high school students across the city. We set out to achieve this goal by hosting economic forums and events, and connecting students with the resources and people they need to make a difference.

Our economic forums are quarterly events featuring various guest speakers who share their experiences with a large crowd of Chicago high school students. Past guest speakers have included former members of President Obama’s cabinet, senior economists at the Chicago Federal Reserve, and successful Chicago entrepreneurs. Aside from the speakers, many other Chicago business leaders have attended the forums, from portfolio managers at hedge funds to successful entrepreneurs, who also shared their experiences. A number of students were able to make valuable connections with some of the attendees, securing themselves internships and future employment. Aside from the quarterly forums, the club connects its members with enriching economic events around Chicago and summer opportunities at universities across the country. Past events included an exclusive tour of the Chicago Board of Trade and an interview with a senior member of a CBOE hedgefund, as well as a private Q&A with some of the top tech entrepreneurs from Chicago. We firmly believe in opening every opportunity for our students to pursue their passions in business and economics and we take great action to make this possible. We are also in the latter stages of development for our High Returns community initiative, a program in which club students have the opportunity to teach financial literacy to elementary school students in low income neighborhoods.  

All the efforts to bring guest speakers to the forums, raise funding for the necessary venue and food accommodations, reach out to the Chicago community and spread the word about the organization, were done entirely by high school students. Our economic forums and all our services are entirely free for club students and they always will be – with many of our students coming from low income backgrounds this is absolutely vital. We do not want socio-economic background to determine student participation, which is why we need your support today.