Every Junior League group is different. The one in my area goes begging for members... literally. They sometimes park themselves in front of a food store and try to talk people into joining. If you are female, live in my county and are breathing in and out, you can become a provisional member. Then, all you have to do is complete a "class project" and you're in.

Others are very selective and require sponsorship. And still others have an age ceiling.

Another note: membership dues varies depending on where you join.

Wow.....beg for members? Maybe this is something we should do up here! Most of the ladies join through friends. We seem to get huge New Member (provisional) classes on years we have a Showhouse (every four years), but non-Showhouse years are significantly smaller.

The Junior League of Toronto is going to experiment with two classes this coming year. For those whose Leagues have a fall and spring class, do you find that there are more women joining?

when i joined, i believe that there were fall and spring classes-i do not know if more women joined then, or when there was just the one provisional class.

as to begging for members, when i transferred to the jl-ft. myers, they were hurting for members-i believe that they had around 113 total, as opposed to the league i transferred from, which had well over 300 active members.

Is anyone starting their Provisional Year this fall? I just got my invitation to our Provisional Picnic. I am very excited!

When I was in The Junior League of Calgary, we had a September and a January class (I was in the January class). It seemed to work though the January class was smaller (maybe 7 of us).

In Canada (alas, Vancouver and Montreal have folded), Junior Leagues don't require sponsors. This might make Junior Leaguers from Houston "bristle" that we let in "riff-raff" or whatever, but with all the volunteering requirements that we have, anyone who is not sincere soon fades away. The membership fees often put people off, because they don't want to have to "pay to volunteer".

I personally think that the Junior League should overhaul its name; most people think that it's to do with baseball, children or sports (or some variation of those 3 things).

dekeguy:
I think in general, the southern Junior Leagues are considered a prestigious thing to be involved in, and therefore, it is more selective and difficult to "get in". Other places, not so much.

I found out last night (at the JLA's Provisional Picnic) that the Junior League of Asheville used to do two classes per year but the feedback they got from the provisional members is that everything felt very rushed and they felt like they needed more time to learn about the organization. I'm excited to start my provisional year with the JLA! The picnic last night felt like Bid Day;)

Congrat's! How big is your provisional class?

JLA's active membership size is around 200 and this year's provisional class is 40. They had 17 last year so they are very happy to be increasing the class size. We are broken up into Provisional Mentor Groups (6-7 Provisionals with one Provisional Mentor(current active member) ) so we can get to know a core group of women within our class. However, the whole class meets at one meeting each month. We also have to attend the GMM (General Membership Meetings) each month and a variety of other assignments. I am very excited!

But it's also not like any woman joins. Most ladies join because they know someone who is in the League already. I only know of one or two who joined by finding the JLT on the web.

I think Montreal and Vancouver folded for cultural reasons. Montreal because it's seen as an "Anglo" thing and Vancouver because well....it's Vancouver (many of the "target group" of women....i.e. ladies who "have the time" to volunteer have homes abroad and frequently travel. The more local crowd are too busy with more "modern" type of volunteering.)

that is such a shame, since the league's projects directly impact(and improve) the local community.

you know, i thought JL was this volunteer activity where you serve as an elementary school teacher for a day and interact with children in low-income communities (i definitely remember doing this in HS my junior year. someone help me out if this sounds familiar)

anyway, this sounds interesting, i may consider it (though im on the young side). i will say that had i not become greek, i'd be way less inclined to join.

is JL similar to The Links?

It is similar, except Junior League does not have any specific race-based interests.

For more Junior League info check out the international site: www.ajli.org

The projects are all different, depending on which community you live in, and their needs. Our Jr. League does projects like "Baby Basics" -- where necessities such as diapers, baby food, etc are collected and given to needy families.

Another on-going program is a girls teen-age half-way home. The women who worked on that one painted and redecorated the house. They are also giving the girls guidance in filling out college applications, raising money for prom dresses for them, teaching them how to use makeup... things that we took for granted, but these girls never learned.

There are many more, but this just gives you some examples of the diverse things the Jr. League does.

Any good done by a group as The Jr. League should be applauded!:)

tld221, Junior Achievment also does similar to what you are thinking. http://www.ja.org/

Our League season is starting again soon. This year I will be one of the members helping with the new member educational classes. We have an apartment complex we assist with that has an after school program and mentoring program as well as a mother mentoring program for a local womens' center. There are also "Done in a Day" projects we support. A couple of weeks ago League volunteers worked on the school house project where kids in the community were given school supplies and donated clothes. We helped over 1700 kids. It was really fun but a lot of hard work that day.

The League seems to bring in members here on word of mouth. Our membership fees aren't too bad at $120/year. We have a requirement of 6 General Meetings/year and one shift at both the spring and winter fundraiser projects. The spring Gift and Garden event is very popular.

As my kids get bigger and away from league sports, going onto select teams, I am hoping to become more active with the League. I think I will really enjoy my assignment this year in membership.

JL Question
 

Are any of you on the Cookbook committee for your League? I need some direction/suggestions/how you set your book up, etc., etc. Anything you can offer will certainly be appreciated!

I was in the past. Feel free to shoot a PM with your specific questions. I will help with what I can.

:) Will do! Are you still an Active?

Technically yes, but I'm a non-resident active.

Our league had a wonderful new member education program. We have a "road rally" where the provisionals are driven some of the sites of the projects. There are also guest speakers... and then a new member project to work on. My class helped redecorate and spruce up a home for displaced children.

I'm wondering with me being 23, would it be too young for me to join? But I would really want to help out and do some volunteering work :) all they listed was to be at least 22

I would say you would be fine. The majority of members will probably be a little older, but I never found a problem relating with the women in my league.

I'm confused...you said you dropped out of the Junior League in your area, yet you keep talking about your wonderful experiences and the projects "your" league works on. Did you transfer your provisional membership? Is a provisional able to transfer during their class? As I read this thread, I was under the impression you weren't a member of a League.

The "road rally" is a great idea! I am actually going to suggest that for our spring provisional classes. We already have the schedule set for our fall classes coming up. We have some very neat ladies looking to join The League. I am excited!!

Cutie,

Are you still an active with your GLO? I know you state you are 23 but I don't know when you pledged, what year in school you are, etc, etc.

Assuming you are an alum, that would be great if you could consider joining. If you are still a Collegiate with all the collegiate obligations of soroity membership it may be a lot on your plate. (I get the feeling though this isn't the case).

My provisional class had mostly women in their early 30's. Maybe an older 20-something. But, I didn't feel out of place or anything with my class. We were all pretty close with each other when it came to families, jobs, etc., etc. All in all it has been a good experience.

If anything I certainly encourage you to check out any informational nights, etc, they may have. Then you can get a feel for who may be in your Provisional class.

Bad Squirrel:

It was a really good introduction because it gave you an idea as to what projects you could work on. They did that in the morning.. then they had a lunch for us, and some guest speakers.

The first speaker talked about organizational skills and the second was from toastmasters. It was kind of funny, because the non-toastmaster gave a better talk than the toastmaster!

The organizer was so good, I hired her to help me organize my home office. She was super.

She's not in a GLO.

Nope I'm not in a GLO =)
Age was one thing that I was worry about, being too young in the league and such. I serached through the section's website and they have a informational session for potential new members for Spring (apparently I miss the one in fall) So I will check out and see =) but thanks for the advice =)

It really depends on the Jr. League. Some tend to scew younger.. some a bit older. There's usually a good mix. Give it a try.. you may like it, you may not.

The question still remains.

Cutie--Now that the GLO status is established. :) Try the League. If the Provisional classes haven't actually started you might still be able to get in now. It varies from League to League.

Another thing you might want to do is see if they have any winter events coming up--like a gift show for the holidays or something public. Then you can meet some of the members and let them know you are interested. I don't know if you need a sponsor for your League or not, but this would be a great way for you to get a feel for the make up of the League.

We have had ladies want to join after seeing us in action during our annual schoolhouse clothing and supply drive. This year we were able to send 2007 kids from pre-K to HS to school with adequeate supplies and 3 new-to-them outfits, new socks and new underwear.

Good luck! I really hope it works out for you!! And, you have such an advantage going in as a younger member--your required Active years will be taken care of before you are into your 30's. I'll be a Sustainer close to age 40since I took a leave last year.

That sounds like a great idea to go to one of their drives :) I know they are having a winter clothing drive soon, so hopefully I can get a feel of who they are :p

thanks a lot for the wishes~ I'm actually looking forward to it! ;)

So did you drop out or are you a member of Junior League? If you did drop out, why are you referring to "our" league and "we" and "my class" in your post?

You're not going to make a very good detective. I've already been up front about the fact that I dropped out. You are quite obsessed with me aren't you. I'm flattered! :D :D :D

"Our" Junior League has a wonderful program, (just as "our" fire department is wonderful, even though I'm not a member but it serves my community as does the Jr. League).

I was quite impressed with the work of "our" league.. and the provisional new member training was outstanding! But the League wasn't for me. I don't like sitting through long business meetings. That was my main gripe. They were required, and they went on and on and on ad naseum.

Now, I'll let you get back to searching my posts. Have fun! :D :D :D

sorry to hear some people have had bad experiences with the Junior Leage, especially JLW. I'm wrapping up my first active year and I have had a great time. We just closed the recruitment cycle for the 07-08 year and interest continues to be VERY high.

i've heard great things about JLW. this piqued my interest in the organization overall. :)

Now I'm wondering if someone had a bad experience with my Junior League the JLW...What happened?...

hey Firecracker and fellow JLW'er!
There were some old posts in this thread about JLW being cliquish. I'm sure it can be but I've had a great time so far AND we're doing some great community programs.

I think that in any group of people, you will find people that you gravitate towards and "mesh with" and those that you don't. It's part of the human condition. But hopefully people will be kind and behave with diplomacy towards the ones that they have less of an 'interpersonal chemistry' with.