Members of the new California State Legislature can expect to hear from a formidable advocate with a 40-year history of fighting for women’s and children’s issues – the Junior Leagues of California State Public Affairs Committee (“SPAC”), which represents the more than 11,000 members of 16 Junior Leagues across California.

Founded in 1970, California SPAC is one of The Junior League’s oldest and largest state public affairs committees, whose goals are to serve as the voice of the women and children in the communities they serve by introducing and supporting state legislation that improves the lives of women and children in the communities we serve. Other Junior League SPACs are in New Jersey, New York, Georgia, Florida, Michigan, Illinois, North Carolina, Ohio and Washington State, along with single-League advocacy groups in St. Louis and Denver. Some 95 individual Leagues with more than 52,000 members are involved these efforts across the country.

Chapter Two of The Junior League: 100 Years of Volunteer Service, entitled “Igniting the Junior League Movement,” is next up in our handy online curriculum of required reading.
The chapter covers the years 1911 to 1919, when the last lacy frills and stiff corsets of the Victorian era were giving way to an earnest and increasingly respected band of female activists greatly influenced by the rise of the Settlement House movement. Out of the stir arose the Girl Scouts, the Boy Scouts, the Camp Fire Girls, the Kiwanis Club, and the …

When Executive Director Susan Danish arrived at AJLI in 2003, she brought with her more than 20 years of marketing and management experience in both the business and nonprofit sectors, having worked on behalf of such mega-brands, retailers, and thought leaders as Christie’s, Calvin Klein,  Clairol, Express, Procter & Gamble, and The Center for Women’s Leadership at Babson College.

As AJLI’s Executive Director you wear a lot of hats. How do you balance your responsibility as steward and visionary with your duties in hands-on, day-to-day management?
It really is a balancing …

We at AJLI recognize that our Sustainers are one of our most precious and powerful assets. We know that the rich lives they have led and the years of dedicated service they have provided to their communities set an example for Provisionals and Actives everywhere who are currently in the heyday of their Junior League experience.
What better way to foster enthusiasm for the transformational change that lies ahead as we fashion The Junior League into a movement for the 21st century, than to give you, the 160,000 members of The …