The Association of Junior Leagues International, Inc. (AJLI ) is a non-profit organization of 292 Junior Leagues in Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom and the United States. Junior Leagues are educational and charitable women's organizations aimed at improving their communities through volunteerism and building their members' civic leadership skills through training. According to its mission, "The Association of Junior Leagues International Inc. (AJLI) is an organization of women committed to promoting voluntarism, developing the potential of women and improving communities through the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers. Its purpose is exclusively educational and charitable."

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History

thumb The first Junior League, the Junior League for the Promotion of the Settlement Movement (now the Junior League of the City of New York, Inc.) was founded in 1901 in New York City by Mary Harriman ^[1], daughter of railroad executive Edward H. Harriman. Inspired by a lecture on settlement movements that chronicled the works of social reformers such as Lillian Wald and Jane Addams, Mary organized others to become involved in settlement work. The organization's first project was working at the College Settlement on Rivington Street in New York City’s Lower East Side. The League was soon emulated, and by 1921, 30 Leagues joined to form the national association.

In 1921, Dorothy Payne Whitney became the first president of the Association of Junior Leagues International Inc., operating as the umbrella organization for all Junior Leagues worldwide. There are currently 292 Leagues in Canada, the United States, Mexico and the UK ^[2]. The first League outside the United States was in Montreal, Canada.

Notable League members

Members listed are not solely a representation of women who have dedicated their time to the Junior League, but rather are or have been associated with the organization. Several have achieved notoriety on their own merit apart from this organization.

• Margot Birmingham, wife of Ross Perot
• Lindsay Brice, photographer
• Barbara Bush, First Lady
• Oveta Culp Hobby, first secretary of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, first commanding officer of the Women's Army Corps
• Jeannie Deakyne, Army Officer and recipient of the Bronze Star Medal
• Marisol Deluna, fashion designer
• Jessica Feddersen, Chief Justice Financial Reporting Court of Law
• Betty Ford, First Lady
• Judith Giuliani (neé Nathan), wife of Rudolph Giuliani
• Mary Harriman, founder of the Junior League
• Katharine Hepburn, actress
• Martha Rivers Ingram, business woman, noted philanthropist
• Carolyn Maloney, US Congresswoman
• Sandra Day O'Connor, Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court
• Suzanne Perron, fashion designer
• Nancy Reagan, First Lady
• Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady
• Margaret Chase Smith, first woman elected to U.S. Senate
• Deborah Taylor Tate, FCC Commissioner
• Shirley Temple, actress, UN Delegate, US Ambassador
• Eudora Welty, author and Pulitzer Prize winner

Membership levels

Junior League membership is divided into three levels: Provisional, Active and Sustainer. Provisional status is reserved for members in their first year of membership which is dedicated to training. Provisional status is followed by Active then Sustainer status. Requirements for Active and Sustainer status vary by League.

Notes

1. Anglican Examiner Mary Harriman
2. Association of Junior Leagues International Inc Web Site