New Jersey’s Junior Leagues Provide Ongoing Focus on Women’s and Children’s Issues

April 25, 2011 - PRLog -- Trenton, NJ – What is the common denominator among these eight issues?  Human trafficking.  Child welfare.  Pesticides on school playing fields.  School recess.  Umbilical cord blood.  Ovarian cancer.  Domestic violence.  Children in foster care.  The answer:  Each represents an important initiative of the Junior Leagues of New Jersey State Public Affairs Committee  (NJ SPAC - http://www.jlnjspac.org/) over the past 41 years.

Since its founding in 1970, NJ SPAC has addressed emerging issues that impact the quality of life for women and children in New Jersey.  By joining forces together at the state capitol, the state’s eight Junior Leagues parallel the work done by other Junior League SPACs in California, New York, Georgia, Florida, Michigan, Illinois, North Carolina, Ohio, and Washington State, along with single-League advocacy groups in St. Louis and Denver.  Some 97 individual Leagues in 12 states with more than 54,500 members are involved these efforts across the country.

Delly Beekman, President of The Association of Junior Leagues International, Inc. (http://www.ajli.org/) and a member of NJ SPAC, says, “Junior League SPACs bring a strong non-partisan and non-commercial voice at the state level to important issues like women’s health, childhood obesity, Internet safety and human trafficking.  For the past 41 years, New Jersey’s Junior League women have been forceful advocates for change who, while maintaining a strictly non-partisan approach, have consistently demonstrated the power of dedicated volunteers to achieve tangible results at the state level that result in lasting impact in the community.”

Adds NJ SPAC Chair Kate Lee, “Our unique mandate is to focus in a non-partisan way on emerging issues that directly affect New Jersey’s women and children.  By raising awareness of the problems, we can build bridges with other community organizations to have a stronger and more unified voice before the Legislature.  Once that’s achieved, we can pick a new issue that forms a focus for the next few years.”

Since 1970 NJ SPAC has worked on a great number of initiatives; these are some of them:

Human Trafficking:  Worked on initiatives and awareness efforts over the past six years to help end modern day slavery in the state.  Organized the first conference to address the issue of human trafficking in New Jersey, and is currently working with the Attorney General’s office and other groups in the state to improve the law to protect child victims of trafficking.  

Child Welfare: Participated with the Governor to sign the After 3 Initiative to recognize the need for funded after-school programs for underserved youths, who would otherwise be unsupervised.   Wrote legislation to create the Emergency Medical Services for Children Program and Advisory Council to ensure better prevention of childhood illness and injury (bike helmets, child car seats, lead paint screening, etc.) and an improved understanding of the differing medical needs of children in trauma, to reduce child mortality due to injury.  Also actively worked with other key advocates for women and children in the state to get the New Jersey Family Leave Act passed, to ensure all women had a right to maternity leave.  

Recess in Schools: Because some school districts in New Jersey were no longer offering recess to students, took a supporting position on a bill to establish a Task Force to study the importance of recess for children, and to discover how widespread the problem is and what lies behind it. Continues to promote efforts to combat childhood obesity, and recently worked to get March designated “Childhood Obesity Prevention Month”.  

Umbilical Cord Blood: Supported the creation of the New Jersey Cord Blood Bank, the first statewide, publicly funded umbilical cord blood bank to help in treating several cancers, sickle cell anemia and immune disorders and pushed for legislation that requires healthcare providers to inform pregnant patients about life-saving donations to the bank.

Ovarian Cancer: Supported measures mandating that insurance companies pay for screening of ovarian cancer and other cancers in women as well as educating women on early prevention measures they can take.

Domestic Violence: Combated violence against women by supporting legislation that seeks to assist victims of domestic violence to escape dangerous situations and gain economic freedom.  

Children in Foster Care:  Was key to creating the Child Placement Review Act, a citizen’s review of permanency cases for children in foster care.  Many delegates went on to work on review boards and run the Child Placement Review Council.  Investigated the effects of the reform of the Division of Youth & Family Services (DYFS) on the quality of foster care and mounted a campaign to ensure the reforms are fully funded.

About The Junior Leagues of New Jersey State Public Affairs Committee
Founded in 1970, NJ SPAC is a statewide, non-partisan committee made up of representatives from each of the eight Junior Leagues in New Jersey who join together to take action on select state and national public issues.  NJ SPAC advocates for initiatives and legislation to improve the quality of life for women and children; improve the quality of education; and improve the environment.    NJ SPAC represents a combined membership of 3,000 Junior League members in New Jersey.

About The Association of Junior Leagues International, Inc.
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 constitute one of the largest, most effective volunteer organizations in the world.

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The Association of Junior Leagues International, Inc. (AJLI) is an organization of women committed to promoting voluntarism, developing the potential of women and improving communities through the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers.