The Junior League of Cleveland, Inc. is a group of women volunteers dedicated to community change. The group is composed of diverse, creative, compassionate, and action oriented women who are committed to promoting the League's mission of promoting volunteerism, developing the potential of women, and improving the community through the effective action of trained volunteers. Our members have varying backgrounds and interests and share a commitment to volunteering.

The JLC's main projects include: Done in a Day, Girls Make Great Leaders, Kids & Seniors, and Touch a Life. The Sustainer Members of The JLC also have a project they're involved in called Reading is Fun.

The JLC reaches out to women of all races, religions and national origins who demonstrate an interest in and commitment to volunteerism. The JLC is represented by over 350 women locally and over 190,000 women in 300 Junior League chapters worldwide.

The Women of The JLC encompass many occupations. Some of which are:
Doctors
Accountants
Lawyers
Artists
Non-Profit Managers
Homemakers
Bankers
Teachers
Engineers
Fundraisers
Journalists
Business Analysts
CEOs

Why do women join the Junior League?
The top reasons that motivate women to join the Junior League are:

The personal fulfillment that they gain from volunteering
The desire to contribute to positive change in their community
The opportunity to pursue interests outside the home and job
The chance to develop friendship with other women.

In addition, two-thirds of members report that the skills they have developed in the Junior League have been useful to them outside the League.

What do we do?
Since its inception over 85 years ago, the Junior League of Cleveland (JLC) has provided countless volunteer hours and more than $2.3 million to the community. The JLC has been involved with issues pertaining to children, education and women, providing volunteer energy, financial assistance, training and generating public support. Often in collaboration with other community groups and/or the public sector, the JLC designs and implements projects and programs to address community needs. As such, the major components of our activities are:

Women's Development -- As a growing effort, The JLC is focusing much of its volunteer efforts on women's development. The women of our community contribute a great deal to the success of our neighborhoods and cities. By harnessing the synergy amongst all women and showing them just how important they really are to the health of our community, The JLC hopes to proliferate a sense of belonging and leadership in women everywhere we offer support.

Community Service -- Contributions in terms of trained volunteers and financial support, training of league members and community leaders, and fundraising to support our community centered work

Advocacy -- Influencing public information and policy, issuing small, one-time Community Grants, having fun while serving the community

Overall, members spend an average of 2 hours per week engaged in volunteer activities related to the Junior League. In addition, the Junior League continues to be creative in offering different types of volunteer experiences for members in different life stages-- both short lived volunteer activities that fit in best with busy lifestyles as well as long-term, sustained community involvement (which the Junior League historically has provided) that develops real community leadership.

The Strength of the Junior League of Cleveland
The strength of the JLC is its ability to impact the community through advocacy, collaboration, and leadership. The greatest resource of the JLC is its volunteers. Each of its members donates valuable expertise and time to Junior League assisted projects in the areas of children, education, and women. Each volunteer in turn receives challenging learning experiences and enjoyable new relationships.

The JLC offers volunteers member-to-member mentoring and premier training and education in a wide variety of skill areas including advocacy, diversity awareness, fund development, and leadership development. Training is also received from the Association of Junior Leagues International (AJLI). The Junior League of Cleveland is one of the oldest and largest Leagues in the AJLI.

Educational Offerings
A main focus of the Junior League is volunteer education and training. We offer a range of classes to address both professional and personal development. Leadership classes are offered to JLC members and the community at large in areas such as:

Program planning, development, and evaluation
Forming strategic alliances and partnerships
Advocacy
Fund Raising
Organizational governance & board development
Public Speaking

Special classes are also offered in interest areas such as:
Multiculturalism
Raising girls with high self esteem
Hot health topics for women
Caring for aging parents

Training
The JLC also provides significant on-the-job training opportunities for its members. Members interested in leadership opportunities can become active in positions as committee chairs, council VPs, and officers on the Board of Directors. A wide range of opportunities also exist in our many committees:

Finance
Community: Project development, project management, direct service
Membership: Meeting planning, mentoring
Fundraising: Event planning, corporate sponsorship, planned giving, drives
Communications: P/R, publications, website, advertising
Administration
Multicultural Strategies: event planning
Nominating
Advocacy
Education: plan and implement training courses

External Policy Statements
Note: Position statements will remain in effect for a period of two years following passage, when they must be re-affirmed by two-thirds of the League membership present for voting.

THE JUNIOR LEAGUE OF CLEVELAND, INC.
External Policy Statements

The following external policy statements reflect two years worth of research and membership input. The JLC adopted these statements to provide policy direction for the League. Through these, we provide rationale for our focus issues: Domestic Violence, Women’s and Children’s Preventive Health and Middle School Improvement/Literacy.

The JLC is committed to eliminating domestic violence by supporting legislation and programs designed:

to increase public awareness regarding the pervasiveness, harmful effects, costs and unacceptability of violence in the home.

to train persons in the health care community to recognize the signs of family violence.

to educate all people about appropriate methods to handle anger.

to improve the services available to victims and perpetrators of family violence.

The JLC is committed to increasing awareness of preventive health techniques by supporting legislation and programs designed:

to increase public awareness of preventive health, including the appropriate health techniques such as breast self-exam, pap smears, mammogram and physical checkups.

to increase parental awareness of the importance of immunizations and infant checkups.

to educate public officials about the importance of funding for programs that serve the preventive health needs of poor women and children.

to improve the preventive health services available to women and children.

The JLC is committed to supporting the middle school concept and eliminating illiteracy by supporting legislation and programs designed:

to increase public awareness of the importance of the formative middle school years in child development.

to increase teacher and school administrator support and awareness of the middle school concept.

to eradicate illiteracy by supporting reading and education programs designed to improve literacy.

to improve the literacy services available to children and adults.

Curious about our past community projects? Go HERE for a full list.