If you had kids in Richardson ISD years ago, you may remember Enterprise City.

For one school day, students left the regular classroom behind and stepped into a miniature working community. They had jobs. They earned money. They visited the bank. They ran businesses. They made decisions. They learned what happens when the money coming in doesn’t quite cover everything going out.

And, importantly, kids actually looked forward to going.

Now Richardson is bringing that idea back — but with a new name, a new facility, and a new generation of students.

Meet Enterprise City 2.0: JA BizTown

RISD is partnering with Junior Achievement of Dallas to create JA BizTown at the Greenwood Hills Learning Center.

RISD describes the project as “the next generation of Enterprise City, known as BizTown.” The district says Greenwood Hills will host the new Enterprise City beginning in 2026.

That connection is worth noting because Enterprise City wasn’t just a random field trip RISD students happened to take. It was part of Richardson’s educational identity for years — giving students a chance to experience business, economics, and civic life instead of simply reading about them.

The new version keeps that hands-on approach.

So what is BizTown?

Junior Achievement’s BizTown is a simulated community designed for grades 4–6.

Before visiting, students complete classroom lessons that prepare them for the experience. Then they spend approximately four and a half hours inside a mini-city made up of life-sized businesses. Students take on different roles and have to make the community function.

They can run a business, open and manage a bank account, earn a paycheck, pay taxes, write checks, make purchases, work with classmates, solve problems, vote for a mayor, and try to make their business profitable.

It’s financial literacy, but it’s also career exploration, entrepreneurship, economics, and civics rolled into one experience.

And that’s the part that makes the program so interesting.

A child can hear about taxes in a classroom. It’s different when they receive a paycheck and see money come out.

They can learn that businesses need customers. It’s different when they’re responsible for helping their simulated business succeed.

They can learn that money has to be budgeted. It’s different when they have a limited amount and decisions to make.

Why Greenwood Hills?

Greenwood Hills Elementary was one of the RISD campuses closed in 2024 as part of the district’s Project RightSize consolidation, along with Springridge, Spring Valley, and Thurgood Marshall elementaries. That October, RISD’s Board of Trustees formally approved renaming it the Greenwood Hills Learning Center.

Now the former school campus is getting a very different second act.

RISD says Greenwood Hills currently hosts student experience programs and will host the new Enterprise City in 2026.

Rather than another school building sitting empty, the campus is becoming a place where students from across RISD can come together for experiences that aren’t easily replicated inside a traditional classroom.

And yes, there is a financial-literacy lesson here.

We hear a lot about preparing students for college and careers. But there is another part of becoming an adult that can be surprisingly difficult to learn: how money actually works.

How does a paycheck work? What does a tax deduction mean? Why does a business need to make a profit? How much does it cost to run a household? What happens when you spend more than you earn?

Those are lessons that eventually become very real.

JA’s larger education programs focus on three related areas: financial literacy, career readiness, and entrepreneurship. BizTown is designed to give students an early, hands-on introduction to all three.

And that may be why so many former RISD students remember Enterprise City years later. They weren’t just being taught about the real world. For a few hours, they got to live in it.

Is this open to the public?

Not quite like a museum or children’s attraction where families can simply buy a ticket and spend the afternoon.

BizTown is an educational program connected to classroom instruction and school visits. JA’s program is designed around students preparing in class, visiting the simulated community, and then reflecting on what they experienced afterward.

But the community can still play a role.

Junior Achievement relies on volunteers — including local business professionals — to help facilitate BizTown and its other programs. JA specifically lists opportunities for volunteers to help students run their businesses and participate in the simulations.

That makes the Greenwood Hills project a little bigger than a field-trip destination.

It’s also an opportunity for Richardson’s business community to interact with Richardson’s students.

A familiar idea, in a new place

For parents who remember Enterprise City, seeing RISD bring the concept back is a little nostalgic.

For today’s students, it will simply be something new.

Either way, the idea remains surprisingly relevant: give kids a chance to understand how a community, a business, and a paycheck work before they have to figure it all out for themselves.

The new JA BizTown at Greenwood Hills is expected to begin serving RISD students during the 2026–27 school year.