Junior League

The Association of Junior Leagues International, Inc. (Junior League or JL) is a private, nonprofit educational women's volunteer organization aimed at improving communities and the social, cultural, and political fabric of civil society. With 298 Junior League chapters in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the United Kingdom as of 2024, it is one of the oldest and largest women's groups dedicated to improving society. Members engage in developing civic-leadership skills, fundraising, and volunteering on committees to support partner community organizations related to foster-children, ending domestic violence, fighting human trafficking, illiteracy, city beautification, and other issues. Its mission is to advance women's leadership for meaningful community impact through volunteer action, collaboration, and training. It was founded in 1901 in New York City by Barnard College debutante Mary Harriman. The first Junior League was founded in 1901 in New York City as the Junior League for the Promotion of the Settlement Movement. This original chapter is now known as the New York Junior League (NYJL). Its founder was then 19-year-old Barnard College student and debutante Mary Harriman Rumsey, sister of future Governor of New York, W. Averell Harriman, and 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, Harriman Rumsey organized others to become involved in settlement work. The organization's first project was working at the College Settlement on Rivington Street on Manhattan's Lower East Side.