The Junior League of Douglas County’s “Clean Clothes Today, for a Successful Tomorrow” shows us how collaborating with community stakeholders can go a long way to enhance your impact, especially when you are a small League. At the center of this initiative was collaboration – The Junior League of Douglas County worked with school ambassadors and counselors, the juvenile justice system, the homeless coalition and local laundromat owners and staff to make their free laundry day for residents happen. While the League traditionally focuses on literacy among children, they found there was a connection between families being unable to wash soiled clothes and children’s school absences, which affects their learning/literacy. The Junior League of Douglas County, GA raised over $5,000 offer a FREE Laundry Day to 100 community families, helping them wash nearly 750 loads of clothes over the course of three months. Congratulations to the Junior League of Douglas County, GA!
The Rio Grande Valley ranks as one of the most overweight and obese regions in the country. In Hidalgo County, one of the three counties within the RGV, the obesity rate is 42.9%, higher than the Texas state average of 36%. In an effort to promote healthier lifestyles and overall well being, the Junior League of Harlingen, TX’s KidFit Festival and Fun Run was founded 12 years ago. Working in collaboration with Harlingen parks and recreation department, local city government, school districts, non-profits, and businesses, the KidFit Festival and Fun Run has a large range of activities for children of all ages to participate. To increase participation and create some friendly competition, the Junior League of Harlingen has local public, charter and private schools compete for most registered participants. A testament to member engagement, every member from The Junior League of Harlingen volunteers at this event. Congratulations Junior League of Harlingen!
The Junior League of New Orleans Diaper Bank is entering its 10th year, from humble beginnings in the back of JLNO’s headquarters to towering stacks ready for sorting at a warehouse facility. What really sets the Junior League of New Orleans’ Diaper Bank apart from others is that they have expanded beyond diaper needs to also include period poverty and access to adult incontinence products. From its inception, JLNO has prioritized member engagement, members have led, facilitated, and coordinated all the elements of the project operations from product drives and inventory management to collecting, sorting, and distributing. The size of their impact is truly astounding – The JLNO Diaper Bank has distributed close to 10 million products to those in need! To put this into perspective, the national diaper bank average for diapers distributed annually is 861,445. This means JLNO has a 16% higher distribution rate than the national average and showcases the immense impact of their collective efforts. Congratulations, Junior League of New Orleans!
The Junior League of Nashville, TN entered the 2022-2023 year with the goal to find a new focus area that would be more meaningful and impactful. After extensive research, The Junior League of Nashville decided to keep their focus broad due to the interchangeability between social issues that rose to the top. When it came to finding new community partners, the Junior League of Nashville took an enhanced approach to outreach and diligence. This led to 50 more community partner applications than the prior year. This massive increase is also exemplified in their expanded service beneficiary reach – they plan to serve over 121,500 individuals, compared to their current 6,148. They also reduced the median age of proposed community partners to 12 years compared to their past median age of 30.5 years. To top it all off, to ensure they were helping community partners that most needed their help, they reduced their community partner’s median reported income to $203,523 compared to $3,501,642. Congratulations, Junior League of Nashville!
