The Junior Leagues of California State Public Affairs Committee (CalSPAC)

CalSPAC successfully led a co-sponsored policy project resulting in the passage of Senate Bill 848, Reproductive Loss Leave.  The bill allows employees to take up to five (5) days of job-protected time off from work for reproductive related losses.  “Reproductive loss” is defined as a failed adoption, failed surrogacy, miscarriage, stillbirth, or unsuccessful assisted reproduction.  A spouse or domestic partner are also covered under this bill.  If an employee experiences more than one reproductive loss vent, the maximum number of leave time allowable is 30 days within a 12 month period.    

The bill idea originated in October 2022 from a long-running CalSPAC contest called There Ought to Be a law, which encouraged Junior League members around the state to submit ideas for policy improvement.  This idea was submitted by a sustainer and former president of the Junior League of Orange County, California.    

CalSPAC identified three delineated roles and primary point persons for carrying out the sponsorship project: Policy Lead, legislative Lead, and Impact Area Lead. This effort was conducted with 100% volunteer work and minimal expense.  The success of CalSPAC’s work exemplifies the possibilities and power of an all-women-led advocacy group and coalition of multiple Junior Leagues that can significantly bring positive impact to women and communities across the state.   

The bill was formally signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom on October 10, 2023, and went into effect on January 1, 2024. Congratulations, CALSPAC!  

The Junior League of Columbus, OH

The Underground Railroad Learning Station opened in May 2002. This educational program that the Junior League of Columbus created, immerses guests in a “secret hiding place” located in the lower level of The Kelton House Museum and Garden, another JL Columbus project. This “secret hiding place” was a safe house on the Underground Railroad in which freedom seekers hid on their way North towards emancipation in Canada. The Learning Station now serves between 3,000 and 4,000 Columbus-area students annually, up to 180 per school day. Since the program’s inception, it has educated almost 100,000 students, teachers, and chaperones.

The JL of Columbus sought to extend the impact of this project into the public policy arena in October 2021. JL Columbus partnered with State Political Leaders to testify on behalf of House Bill 340. The law designates September as International Underground Railroad Month, and Ohio became the first state to codify this designation into law. As a result of JL Columbus’ hard work, the law was passed unanimously by both the Ohio House and Senate. The governor signed House Bill 340 into law on June 14, 2022. The law went into effect on September 13, 2022.

The Junior League of Tallahassee, FL

The Junior League of Tallahassee’s Public Affairs Committee advocates for legislation and policy initiatives that align with the League’s Mission to ensure children and families have access to basic needs.

In 2020, the committee created an Advocacy Certificate Training Track to provide members with the resources necessary to successfully advocate on behalf of the League, strategic partners, and community initiatives that drive the League’s Mission. It consisted of four courses: messaging and platform development, nonprofit advocacy challenges and best practices, advocacy for Junior League of Tallahassee partners, and local government advocacy.

Twenty eight Junior League of Tallahassee members completed the certificate training, which has allowed the League to significantly expand their advocacy efforts in areas from advocating for menstrual products in K-12 public schools to ending human trafficking in Florida to creating educational programming surrounding voter education and advocacy. Additionally, the Advocacy Certificate Training Track gained recognition locally and put the Junior League of Tallahassee on the map among community partners.

The Junior League of Birmingham, AL

JLB lies three miles from I-20, dubbed “the sex trafficking superhighway.” JLB leaders recognized that women and children served by their programs were at greater risk for being targeted for sex trafficking. Their efforts have focused on: raising awareness and municipal declaration; enabling and enforcement of state law; support of new legislation; and support of needed programming. The keystone of JLB’s work to reduce victimization is by leveraging their role as a non-profit leader and non-partisan coalition-builder to affect transformational change through advocacy and public policy. They are a recognized leader in the efforts to combat human trafficking in the state and are a desired partner and resource.

The Junior League of Tampa

Seeing a need to bring many community organizations to the table in an important election year, in 2018 The Junior League of Tampa (JLT) launched Activate813. Activate813 is a non-partisan initiative, and focuses on voter education, registration, and engagement within Hillsborough County. Activate813 is a local collaboration of community organizations in the Tampa area that come together to discuss important issues and partnering to reach more citizens. As a result of the meetings, organizations have co-sponsored multiple events (candidate forums, information sessions, panels), shared joint information about the election, voter registration, candidates and ballot initiatives/amendments. Hundreds of attendees have participated in these events. After seeing the need for collaboration, JLT led the charge with the creation of the Activate813 logo and brand and launch of Activate813 social media.

JLT served as the lead organization in Activate813, often acting as host for meetings, community forums, and candidate meet and greets. JLT envisioned Activate813 serving both internal (JLT membership) and external (community) audiences. As such, Activate813 centered on voter engagement with issues and candidates, voter education, and voter registration. This initiative is a service to our membership, hopes to increase the impact JLT makes in our county and state, increase the JLT footprint in our community, build relationships with new community partners and strengthen existing ones, and reach citizens to increase voter registration, turnout, and engagement in local, state and national elections. Via Activate813, JLT hosted events (bringing the community in) and co-sponsored events (positioning JLT out in the community). Internally, JLT has served its members with voter registration, trainings, guest speakers, and important information about the League’s advocacy efforts and impacts state-wide.

In 2020, Activate813 will collaborated on issues surrounding the women’s suffrage centennial and the national election; built more partnerships, and exposed more JLT and community members to educational opportunities.

The Junior League of Boston

As we like to say, change starts with a woman. What’s incredible, is how much change one woman can help bring about when she teams with a group of fellow trained leaders.

For its Public Awareness and Advocacy Committee initiative, the Junior League of Boston wanted its members and participants to develop their skills as civic leaders by creating a conference to serve as a forum for conversations around the tough issues women and girls face today.

The League wanted each participant to walk away from the Conference with at least one thing she felt confident she could accomplish within the next 30-60 days to expand her advocacy impact.

The Conference was designed to inspire and excite members to become advocates by educating them about the advocacy process, how local and state governments work, and how they can get involved in the greater Boston area to champion causes they feel passionate about.

JLB members were hands-on throughout the process: they leveraged their contacts and non-profit network to secure speakers, worked together on peer review topics, sent personal invitations to the event and even moderated the panel discussions. They also coined the hashtag #JLBostonForward and invited participants to continue the discussion on social media.

As the League puts it, “All too often women do not understand or appreciate the power of their voice, the impact it can have, and the responsibility we bear to use it.”

The Junior League of Wilmington

How can we make a difference?

Surely that’s a question with great relevance for any Junior League. For the Junior League of Wilmington, the answer turned out to be public affairs.

Last year, Delaware became the 28th state to pass a version of Erin’s Law, which requires age-appropriate child sexual abuse education for all K-6 students in Delaware’s public and charter schools as well as related training for teachers and other staff members.

That was the culmination of a two-year effort.

Members spent much of 2015 researching the issue, forming a League task force, raising awareness within the community, and securing a sponsor in JLW Sustainer and state Senator Margaret Rose Henry.

After more hard work by JLW and its members, Erin’s Law was signed in August 2016.

Both Delaware Governor Jack Markell and Senator Henry give JLW full credit to making that happen. Even better, Erin Merryn – the childhood sexual assault survivor, author, speaker and activist whose name Erin’s Law bears – agrees!

The Junior League of Los Angeles

How do you start an open dialog about important community issues?

Okay. You’ve started the dialog, congratulations. Now, do you involve the community in that dialog?

And then, once you’ve started the dialog and found a way to involve the community, how do you keep that conversation going year after year?

Well, the Junior League of Los Angeles has found the right formula through its Community Leadership Forum.

Since 2008, the Community Leadership Forum has been bringing together key community groups (some of which don’t regularly engage with one another) to focus attention on pressing multi-faceted and interconnected issues such as early childhood literacy, education, foster youth and human trafficking. Government agencies, nonprofits and issues advocates are part of the mix as speakers, and events (in the form of conferences, public forums and training and networking opportunities) are open to the community at large, not just League members.

In 2015, the Community Leadership Forum featured expert speakers from the city, state and federal levels to discuss "The Disturbing Link between Foster Youth and Human Trafficking." In 2014 the forum tackled “Foster Youth as Parents: Providing Support and Breaking the Cycle.”

Both of these events brought to light big topics that created dialog about important issues most of us aren’t particularly familiar with. And, in so doing, helped to firmly establish the Junior League of Los Angeles as a thought leader and critical community convener.

The Junior Leagues of California State Public Affairs Committee 

The first award in Public Policy & Advocacy to the Junior Leagues of California State Public Affairs Committee for its Maternal Mental Health Advocacy Project, which it began five years ago.

The 34 delegates from 17 member Leagues representing the more than 10,000 women of Cal-SPAC conceived of and implemented a long-range plan to broaden awareness and secure state-wide legislation to de-stigmatize women’s mental health. Their focus? The pregnancy and post-partum-related disorders that can affect up to 21 percent of women and their families by way of untreated or undiagnosed depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and, in very rare instances, psychosis, infanticide and suicide.

There were many components to Cal-SPAC’s initiative, which ultimately resulted in the passage of three different bills. It kicked off with the highly successful “Speak Up When You’re Down” campaign, which raised public awareness of the psychological difficulties of new motherhood via social media, billboards, PSAs, community forums, and a distribution of informative collateral materials. The campaign led to the designation of the month of May as “Perinatal Depression Awareness Month” and inspired a start-up grant for the Policy Center for Maternal Mental Health (formerly the California Maternal Mental Health Collaborative), a nonprofit the Maternal Mental Health Advocacy Project established for administrative advocacy.

Other outcomes of the initiative include the creation of the Commission on the Status of Maternal Mental Health Care and the investment of resources by health care stakeholders in the education of women about perinatal depression risk factors and triggers. In addition, breakthrough alliances led to the formation of the National Coalition for Maternal Mental Health, which convenes nonprofits around the country to address the issue and the elimination of barriers to diagnosis and treatment. Partnerships with the Los Angeles County Perinatal Mental Health Task Force, Postpartum Support International, UCSF Medical Center, Homeless Prenatal Program and Help a Mother Out have been cornerstones of the program.

Over time, the project’s focus has evolved from legislative advocacy and awareness-building to capacity-building through stakeholder engagement and volunteer participation, always with an eye on sustainable change. Today, Advocacy Project continues with the Policy Center for Maternal Mental Health, which sets forth tactical steps for hospitals and providers to improve awareness nationally, and with the training of nearly 500 health care providers via a Web-based Maternal Mental Health certificate program.