The New York Junior League is thrilled to announce that it has won the 2023 AJLI Leadership Development Award for its Volunteer Education and Training (VET) program. This award was granted by the AJLI in acknowledgment of the New York Junior League’s exemplary efforts to develop the potential of League Members to be effective community and civic leaders through training and education – a goal at the very core of The Junior League Mission. 

Through this award, the New York Junior League will be granted $10,000, which it will use to expand programming scope with additional speaker events, build programming capacity by boosting the NYJL’s capacity to invite community partners to attend trainings, and further develop its digital capabilities to complement in-person trainings. 

The New York Junior League’s VET program launched in January 2017, but the New York Junior League’s effort to provide high-quality training and education to advance women’s leadership for meaningful community impact has a far longer history. Since its founding in 1901, the New York Junior League has believed that the best way to effect positive change is through the efforts of highly trained, well informed, and empowered volunteers, and the establishment of VET is the latest iteration in the League’s investment in this arena. 

Through hands-on workshops and expert panels offered several times per month, VETs cover a range of topics throughout the year and are the chief opportunity for NYJL members to hear from local leaders and experts. Sessions are focused on timely community issues and practical skills for managing a nonprofit organization, honing in on four core areas important to NYJL volunteers’ work: communities, fundraising, volunteer experience, and strategy and communications. 

With the vast majority of New York Junior League members working full-time as professionals or as caregivers, the NYJL also recognizes that personal success is critical to the organization’s impact. To this end, the VET program further addresses topics that uniquely impact women’s personal and professional lives, including mental and physical health, time management, self care, and work/life balance. 

Over the past two years, VET sessions have covered an array of topics that include:

• Supporting the NYJL’s mission through legislative advocacy
• Trauma-informed volunteering
• Practicing self-care to care for others
• The path from overwhelming to healthy empathy
• Effective fundraising and donor management

To learn more about how you can get involved with future VET program sessions and this important work, email VET@nyjl.org.