SPEcial feature Junior League of Syracuse
Junior League of Syracuse to celebrate centennial By Julie Palmer
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leanor Roosevelt. Eudora Welty. Julia Child. Barbara Bush. When you hear this list of women strung together, you picture activists, trailblazers, women who believed in civic engagement and women who took on the issues of their times. All of these well-known women and many more like them, including other first ladies, CEOs, board chairs of international companies, professional athletes and famous actresses are, or were, members of the Junior League. The Junior League of Syracuse (JLS) was established in 1920 and has played a crucial role in the educational, cultural and philanthropic life of the city through its mission of developing the potential of women. In the spirit of the founder Mary Harriman, the JLS has taken on the issues of
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the times from prenatal care to domestic violence to human trafficking. The focus, as it was for Mary Harriman, is always on training the women of the JLS to be effective leaders and volunteers to better serve the community. Currently, the JLS has a partnership with Chadwick Residence, a nonprofit that provides homeless women with longer-term housing and helps them achieve their goals of independent living and permanent housing. So far this year the women of the JLS have organized a fall festival, joined the women and children from Chadwick in decorating gingerbread houses, and hosted a financial literacy seminar, in addition to sponsoring three families for the holidays. JLS continues to work with other nonprofits across Syracuse
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