On any given morning inside the Greenwood Hills facility, fifth graders aren’t just sitting behind desks reading about economics—they are running a city.

In an era where abstract textbook lessons can feel distant from daily life, Richardson ISD is reimagining how young learners engage with their future.

As part of the RISD is the ONE Experience, the district is creating hands-on opportunities that introduce students to careers, financial literacy and civic responsibility long before they walk across a high school graduation stage.

The new JA BizTown space brings that vision to life through an immersive environment where students can see, touch and navigate the concepts they are learning for themselves.

A Partnership Bringing Learning to Life

At the heart of this experience is a partnership with Junior Achievement of Dallas, bringing a nationally recognized curriculum and experiential learning directly into the RISD community.

The new center will serve more than 5,000 RISD students each year, giving them opportunities to apply what they learn, explore different career pathways and develop skills they can carry with them well beyond elementary school.

Inside JA BizTown

This fall semester, every fifth-grade student in the district is stepping into JA BizTown, a vibrant, miniature metropolis complete with storefronts, banks, a post office, and a local City Hall modeled after Richardson’s own Main Street.

BizTown isn’t a passive field trip; it is a full-scale simulation of community life where students take on real roles.

During their workday in BizTown, RISD students:

• Manage local businesses as storefront owners and store team members, navigating the fast-paced dynamics of entrepreneurship.
• Handle financial stewardship firsthand, including writing checks, opening and balancing bank accounts, and making real consumer choices about how money flows through a community.
• Practice civic engagement through interaction with local landmarks and municipal centers like City Hall.
• Discover how individual responsibilities shape a thriving city.

By connecting standard academic curriculum directly to familiar local institutions, students quickly realize that what they practice in the classroom has immediate, tangible value in the real world.

Building Confidence Through Real-World Learning

Providing students with early exposure to real life does more than just build academic knowledge, it also builds foundational confidence.

When lessons are tactile, interactive, and memorable, the learning sticks for a lifetime.

“We have taken a space and transformed it into one that will host a whole new generation of dreams,” says Superintendent Tabitha Branum. “Without experiences like these, our students may not have the action steps and skills they need to see that their dream is really possible.”

Expanding the Experience with JA Finance Park

While fifth graders are currently blazing the trail in JA BizTown, the momentum is only building.

Looking ahead to the spring semester, RISD will expand the program’s footprint to include every seventh-grade student through JA Finance Park.

This natural progression ensures that as students mature, their practical skills evolve with them.

While BizTown introduces community economic structure, Finance Park challenges seventh graders to:

• Navigate complex personal budgets.
• Explore diverse career paths based on education levels.
• Manage household expenses.
• Understand how today’s financial decisions directly shape tomorrow’s choices.

Honoring a Legacy While Building the Future

For long-time district families, this approach brings a nostalgic nod to RISD’s history.

The new programming honors a rich legacy that began in 1985 with the beloved Enterprise City program at Canyon Creek Elementary, an experience fondly remembered by generations of RISD alumni.

Today, JA BizTown at Greenwood Hills is the newly renovated home of that Enterprise City legacy, bringing the spirit of the original program into a new, immersive experience for a new generation of RISD students.

The RISD Graduate Profile in Action

Today’s modernized setup builds on that foundation, embedding core competencies from the RISD Graduate Profile into every activity:

Financial Literacy

• Balancing physical and digital accounts, earning paychecks, and managing budgets in real time.

Critical Thinking

• Solving real-time operational challenges, handling workplace situations, and adjusting to supply and demand.

Effective Communication

• Pitching ideas, serving customers, and collaborating across workplace teams.

Emotional Intelligence

• Practicing accountability, teamwork, and practical decision-making under real-world conditions.

Preparing Students for Life Beyond the Classroom

For prospective and current families alike, the message is clear:

RISD is dedicated to preparing students not just for the next grade level or a standardized test, but for the real world waiting just outside the classroom door.

If your family isn’t part of RISD yet, there’s a place for you here.

Discover the opportunities, experiences and community that make RISD the ONE for your family at www.risd.org/theone.

Storefront Sponsorship Opportunities

Want to get your business involved?

Storefront sponsorship opportunities are available at JA BizTown, offering local businesses a chance to support hands-on, real-world learning for students.

To learn more about sponsorship opportunities, contact Jasmine Seldon, Chief Development Officer at Junior Achievement of Dallas, at jseldon@jadallas.org.