The Junior League Asks: Why Not Do Something Different This Valentine’s Day?

Feb. 11, 2011 - PRLog -- Maybe it’s worth taking a minute on Monday to think about the flip side of Valentine’s Day cards, flowers, and pink teddy bears. The flip side is domestic violence. Everyone knows it’s a big problem, but what can we do about it?

That was a question that the members of the Junior League of Plano (JLP) http://www.jlplano.org/plano/npo.jsp?pg=home grappled with more than 10 years ago—and their answer lives on today with the Collin County Council on Family Violence (CCCFV) http://cccfv.com/about-us/.

In July 2001, JLP and its community partners adopted the name CCCFV, bringing together community leaders and social services professionals from more than 40 public and private organizations in Collin County, which has experienced explosive growth over the last three decades, to address the problem of family violence through education, prevention, intervention and seamless 24-hour assistance.  From the start, CCCFV’s mandate was to create stronger partnerships between agencies and organizations to more effectively combat family violence and to develop the Collin County Coordinated Response Plan to serve as the blueprint for the public sector’s response to family violence in the county.
And JLP is still intimately involved in CCCFV’s activities today.

In October, the CCCFV completed a Next Steps Session to determine future focus areas for the Council.  And JLP and CCCFV members are taking a deep breath after completing the CCCFV’s 8th Annual Facing Family Violence Conference in January.  The conference featured captivating keynote speakers and breakout sessions on current trends and research, and the target audience included professionals on the front lines - law enforcement, education personnel, counselors, social workers, nurses and others professionals who often face family violence.  The CCCFV also looks forward to bringing diverse members of the faith community together to discuss family violence intervention and prevention at the CCCFV Faith Symposium in April.

But even that’s not the whole story.

Turning Point Rape Crisis Center of Collin County provides counseling, education, and advocacy for those impacted by sexual assault.  And JLP’s community project in conjunction with the Turning Point Agency is Turning Point –Teen Awareness Program which provides educational training to middle school and high school students in Collin County about sexual harassment, sexual assault, date rape, date rape drugs, and how to avoid potentially dangerous situations.

Says Delly Beekman, President of The Association of Junior Leagues International, Inc., “Hats off to the members of the Junior League of Plano, who had a big vision and brought it to life.  In doing so, JLP demonstrated three important lessons for Junior Leagues and other volunteer organizations. First, it is possible to address a major social problem like domestic violence at the community level, without waiting for government action. Second, volunteer organizations like JLP have enormous power when they engage other community organizations in addressing the problem in a coordinated, sustained way that creates lasting community impact. Third, there’s a great satisfaction in a job well done.”

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Founded in 1901 by New Yorker and social activism pioneer, Mary Harriman, the Junior Leagues are charitable nonprofit organizations of women, developed as civic leaders, creating demonstrable community impact.

Today, The Association of Junior Leagues International, Inc. (AJLI) is comprised of more than 155,000 women in 292 Junior Leagues throughout Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom and the United States. Together, they