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    • Home
    • Ongoing Projects
      • Community Projects
      • Food Drive
      • Caterpillar Crawl
      • Provisional Projects
      • Meet & Greets
    • Past Projects
      • Past Community Projects
      • Fundraisers
      • Bargain Bonanza
      • Splash Pad
      • Playground Donations
    • JLB
      • Become A Member
      • Position Statements
      • History
      • Leadership 2024-25
      • Photos
      • AJLI Members
    • JLB Meetings
      • Board Meetings
      • General Meetings
      • Other Important Dates
    • Contact Us
      • Support
      • Contact Us
  • Home
  • Ongoing Projects
    • Community Projects
    • Food Drive
    • Caterpillar Crawl
    • Provisional Projects
    • Meet & Greets
  • Past Projects
    • Past Community Projects
    • Fundraisers
    • Bargain Bonanza
    • Splash Pad
    • Playground Donations
  • JLB
    • Become A Member
    • Position Statements
    • History
    • Leadership 2024-25
    • Photos
    • AJLI Members
  • JLB Meetings
    • Board Meetings
    • General Meetings
    • Other Important Dates
  • Contact Us
    • Support
    • Contact Us

Building a Better Bristol!

Building a Better Bristol!Building a Better Bristol!Building a Better Bristol!

The Association of Junior Leagues International, Inc.

Ever-evolving needs. Empowered to Lead.

Ever-evolving needs. Empowered to Lead.

Ever-evolving needs. Empowered to Lead.

Founded in 1901 by New Yorker and social activism pioneer Mary Harriman, The Junior League is an organization of transformational female leaders who set bold goals, open their circles, disrupt convention, and change the conversation for the betterment of civil society. The Junior League has evolved into one of the oldest, largest, and most effective women's volunteer organizations in the world, encompassing more than 140,000 women in 291 Leagues in 4 countries.  

OUR MISSION

Ever-evolving needs. Empowered to Lead.

Ever-evolving needs. Empowered to Lead.

The Association of Junior Leagues International, Inc. (ALJI) is an organization of women whose mission is to advance women's leadership for meaningful community impact through volunteer action, collaboration and training.

OUR VISION

Ever-evolving needs. Empowered to Lead.

OUR VISION

The Junior League: Women Around the World as Catalysts for Lasting Community Change.

OUR VALUES

The Association of Junior Leagues International, Inc.

OUR VISION

Diversity: The Junior League welcomes all women who value our Mission. We are committed to inclusive environments of diverse individuals, organizations, and communities. 


Collaboration: We believe lasting societal change is achieved through both 

collaboration and meaningful disagreement. Living the value of collaboration inspires us to accomplish more together. 


Community: We believe a strong sense of community is essential to human well-being. Living the value of community provides a foundation of inclusion, which allows us to make a greater impact on the world around us. 


Empowerment: We believe that the empowerment of women is a necessary requirement to create positive, lasting societal change. Living the value of empowerment fosters trust and confidence in each other. 


Leadership: We believe in the unique power of women’s leadership abilities to transform communities for the better. Living the value of leadership allows us to make a collective difference. 


Respect: We believe respect is a fundamental human right. Living the value of respect instills in us an unconditional positive regard for others. 


Service: We believe it is through service that we build core relationships with others. Service is the lens through which we decide how we will invest our time and resources. Living the value of service empowers us as catalysts for lasting community change.

The Association of Junior Leagues International, Inc.

The Association of Junior Leagues International, Inc.

The Association of Junior Leagues International, Inc.

80 Maiden Lane, Suite 1504

New York, New York, 10038-4609 


U.S. & Canada: 212.951.8300 / 800.955.3248


Mexico: 001-8559013502 U.K.: 08-082346762


FAX: 212.481.7196 


EMAIL: info@ajli.org 


WWW.AJLI.ORG

We're Unstoppable!

"They don't call us the Volunteer Powerhouse for nothing."

THRIVING IN A MODERN WORLD

HARNESSING THE POWER OF VOLUNTARISM

HARNESSING THE POWER OF VOLUNTARISM

Women leaders

We are in the midst of organizational transformation, taking bold steps today to ensure the long-term health, vitality and viability of The Junior League for years to come. As an organization that's contributed to the development of women as civic leaders and to meaningful community improvement since 1901, our success is critical to the health of local communities far and wide. 

HARNESSING THE POWER OF VOLUNTARISM

HARNESSING THE POWER OF VOLUNTARISM

HARNESSING THE POWER OF VOLUNTARISM

Volunteering creates friendships!

Decade after decade, the inspirational service and advocacy of Junior League volunteers not only helped bring about many of the privileges we now take for granted—from free school lunches to domestic violence shelters and clean water—but has also shaped the way people think about serving their local communities, their nations, and the world. 

TRANSFORMING OUR COMMUNITIES

TRANSFORMING OUR COMMUNITIES

TRANSFORMING OUR COMMUNITIES

Volunteering creates a better future!

True to their legacy, today’s members are at the forefront of tackling society’s thorniest and most critical issues—human trafficking, foster care, juvenile justice, teen self-esteem, cybercrimes and literacy, among others—for the purpose of enhancing the social, cultural, and political fabric of our civil society. 

TRAINING WOMEN TO LEAD

TRANSFORMING OUR COMMUNITIES

TRANSFORMING OUR COMMUNITIES

Women leaders

The Junior League boasts a legacy of empowered leadership over the last century. Revered around the world for the life-changing work we do, we are the premier source for civic leadership training and development opportunities for women who want to bring about lasting and meaningful change in their communities.  

Disrupt Convention!

Notable Leaguers in History: A Spotlight

One Notable Leaguer is a woman you probably don’t know about (but you should) – Mary Harriman, the founder of the Junior League. She was a high-society New York debutante in turn-of-the-twentieth-century New York City, but her story adds a unique complement to the portrait your mind may have already painted for New York debutantes.


In the year 1900, New York City was diversifying at a rate unlike any other in history. Ellis Island was welcoming its peak number of new New Yorkers, tenements were becoming unbearably overcrowded, and factory working conditions were oppressive and brutal. Seemingly more than ever, the people of New York needed to come together in service of others. 


The daughter of wealthy New York railroad “titan” and financier E. H. Harriman, Mary Harriman grew up in a life of privilege; however, she recognized that her privilege required her to use it for the benefit of others. As an 18-year-old debutante in 1900, Mary realized that she and the other 85 New York debutantes that year had all of the promise, intelligence, connections, and youthful dedication needed to do great things in the NYC community. She saw in her peers an unlimited sea of assets, and so she set about to learn from other women who had worked to serve and empower their city communities in other parts of the country. After learning more about settlement programs in other cities (and the Hull House of Jane Addams’ work in Chicago), Mary began her work. She recognized that with the debutante system already in place, it would be simple to turn the “end” of the debut process into the “beginning” of a woman’s community service. In other words, once a woman “entered society,” she would really enter it through volunteer and philanthropic work. Her first class of young women totaled 10, and together they set forth their charter mission: “to enrich members’ lives by improving the living conditions” of New York’s tenement neighborhoods.


These NYC efforts into the settlement movement took off quickly, of course, and in 1903, the Junior League gained one of its most famous members, Eleanor Roosevelt; Mrs. Roosevelt was bored of the social niceties expected of women during this time, and she found the vocation of serving her community to be the best place for her time and talents.


As the settlement movement grew, Mary’s work within her community continued. At the age of 47, she joined the Democratic Party, an unusual move for women at the time (this move was so unusual, in fact, that the New York Times wrote a story about it). Six years later, at the age of 53, Mary became “one of the highest ranking women” in the Roosevelt administration when she was appointed Chair of the Consumer Advisory Board of the National Recovery Administration.


Months later, she died tragically in a horse-riding accident, but the organization she founded continues her ingenuity, her dedication, her boldness, and her heart for community service today.


Written By Mary Ellis Rice

Mary Harriman

Mary Harriman


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