How the JLC Chooses its Focus Area and Community Partners

by Jess Bush

After 95 years of service to the community, the impact of the Junior League of Charlotte, Inc. (JLC) can be felt throughout the Queen City. The skilled volunteers of the JLC have aided many local nonprofit organizations throughout the years. Notable local institutions include the Children’s Theatre of Charlotte, Charlotte Speech and Hearing, the Family Resource Center at Levine Children’s Hospital and Discovery Place.

Every five years, the JLC takes a look at the needs of Charlotte and determines a focus area for its members. The JLC’s goal is to help our community partners be successful and sustainable. The JLC aids with dollars and volunteer hours, helping the nonprofits fulfill their missions. From 2018 to 2023, the JLC’s focus is school readiness. The League’s work is focused on supporting the “educational needs of children from birth to fifth grade (including health in mental and physical capacities as well as traditional educational components such as reading, writing, speech, and math)”.

Within the next year or so, there will be a task force formed by the JLC President to review the League’s focus. The President looks for a variety of League women to compose the task force, to ensure a diversity in perspectives and experience. Once the task force is composed, they poll membership on the current focus

and determine if members are interested in continuing the focus, if the League should continue but alter it, or have a new focus. The task force then takes the membership feedback and evaluates ways the League can help the Charlotte community. The task force determines if there are enough nonprofit partners and opportunities for JLC women to volunteer and feel fulfilled while doing it. The general membership will have an opportunity to vote on the proposed mission prior to it being formalized.

Each year, Charlotte area nonprofits apply to partner with the JLC. The League’s Project Development and Evaluation Committee performs a site visit for each nonprofit that applied and reviews the submitted budget to ensure that needs can be met. The committee also ensures each placement has enough need to support the JLC’s 40 hour volunteer requirement for Active members and that the JLC members will feel fulfilled doing the proposed volunteer work. The committee then presents this information to the JLC management stakeholders who review and vote on the applications to choose partners for the next League year. The League’s membership has the final vote to approve the partners.

The JLC currently has 13 community partners and placements.

The 2020-2021 community partners are names familiar to many in the Charlotte community, including Bright Blessings, Center for Community Transitions, Charlotte Speech & Hearing Center, Classroom Central, Digi-Bridge, Done In A Day, Healthy Beginnings, Kids in the Kitchen, ParentChild+, Renaissance West Community Initiative, Second Harvest Food Bank, Sugar Creek Charter School, and Thompson Child and Family Focus.