Community Projects 2010-2011
For 88 years, the Junior League of Birmingham has been a positive force for change in Jefferson County. The JLB’s 2,700 trained volunteers collectively donate more than 50,000 hours of direct community service in Birmingham each year. The JLB's 30 community placements address some of Birmingham’s most critical issues, including domestic violence awareness and prevention, health education to the at-risk community, life skills for families in transition, and literacy.
The four Impact Areas with the target issues and community projects that fall under each are listed below:
| Impact Area: Education |  |
Issue: School Readiness
Birmingham Public Library: Family Place Library
The Family Place Library provides community-based parent-child workshops in an educational environment. Information is presented on pre-reading literacy skills, health and safety for parents and caregivers of children ages one to three years. Target areas include Avondale, North Avondale, Huffman, Center Point, Roebuck, Bessemer and North Birmingham. The parent-child workshop is the Family Place Library’s signature five week program focusing on early intervention and healthy child development.
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church: Preschool Partners
Preschool Partners seeks to help low income families properly prepare their preschool children for academic success. The parents’ participation enables them to meet other parents, strengthen their parenting skills, and promote for their young children a sense of the value and importance of education. Transportation is provided to bring adults and children from various locations to St. Luke’s, where parents attend classes and the children participate in educational projects and enrichment activities.
United Way of Central Alabama: Success by 6
Success by 6 is an initiative of UWCA designed to enhance school readiness for preschoolers. With an emphasis on developing early literacy, language and math skills, the initiative aims to help children succeed at school and in life. A team of school readiness specialists work directly with disadvantaged child care centers throughout Birmingham to improve the quality of early learning through environmental changes, teacher training, providing curriculums and classroom libraries.
Issue: Success in School
Birmingham Botanical Gardens: Can You Dig It?
The Education Department of the Friends of Birmingham Botanical Gardens created a series of field trips for students in elementary schools within the Birmingham City School System. Children understand and learn best not only by listening, but also by seeing and doing. The field trips are free to the schools and correlate with school curriculum, standardized achievement tests, and the Alabama Course of Study. Over 2,500 of Birmingham’s City School students participate in this program.
Girls Inc.: Mother-Daughter Connection
The mission of Girls, Inc. of Central Alabama is to prepare girls of diverse backgrounds to become productive members of society by providing a safe place to learn and grow with the freedom to take risks and try new things without fear of criticism. This program seeks to provide an opportunity for mothers and daughters to share in both educational and fun workshop sessions together. Mothers and daughters strengthen their relationships with each other, as well as with other mothers and daughters, thus building a sense of community and support.
Youth Leadership Forum: YLF Logistics Committee
Youth Leadership Forum is a leadership development and community awareness program for high school sophomores and juniors from the greater Birmingham area. Youth Leadership Forum was started as an outgrowth from the adult program, Leadership Birmingham. The program consists of eight sessions which allow participants to explore the needs, strengths and challenges of the Birmingham community in the areas of education, economic development, government, human services, the environment and the arts.
Issue: Literacy
Cornerstone Schools of Alabama: Literacy for Life – NEW! Founded in 1993, Cornerstone Schools provides a challenging academic program to children growing up in our inner-city. Literacy for Life provides individualized literacy resources for student instruction. Volunteers work with students individually or in small groups to aid with oral language development, writing, listening skills, and proper grammar, which are all integral parts of developing literacy skills. Through this program, students’ academic achievement is increased and students will work to obtain the skills needed for later academic and professional success.
Literacy Council: Birmingham Reads
The Junior League of Birmingham has partnered with the Children’s Literacy Guild, Better Basics and the Children’s Literacy Guild of Alabama to collect books suitable for children and adults. The mission of Birmingham Reads is to distribute books to low-income children, while also raising awareness of child and adult literacy efforts. Birmingham Reads will take place over a two-week period in April of 2011 and will consist of two major efforts – 3rd Annual Birmingham’s Biggest Book Drive and United We Read. Birmingham’s Biggest Book Drive is a community wide book drive that collects new and gently used children’s books and distributes them to agencies in need in the Birmingham community. United We Read is an existing literacy program in the Birmingham City Schools – volunteers from the community come together on the same day in April to read in each Birmingham City classroom (grades kindergarten through fifth). A copy of the book is distributed to each stude!
nt in the class.
Junior League of Birmingham/United Way of Central Alabama: Imagination Library - The Junior League of Birmingham and United Way of Central Alabama, in partnership with the Dollywood Foundation, have made the 60-volume Imagination Library available to all children under the age of 5 in Jefferson County. Each month, from birth to age 5, every child registered will receive a high-quality, age appropriate book in the mail free of charge. The first books were delivered in January, 2007 and over 16,000 children have received books since. This program is the Junior League of Birmingham’s current Signature Project.
For more information on this program please call 205.879.9861 ext. 6618 or Click here to enroll your child in this program. If you need to change your child's current address to receive Imagination Library books each month, please click here.
Give the Gift of Reading
A perfect gift for your favorite teacher, friend or that person who already has everything is the gift of reading for a child in Jefferson County. The Junior League of Birmingham is selling gift cards to allow the Junior League to purchase books for a child in Jefferson County. A gift card acknowledging your gift will be sent to the recipient of your choice. To purchase All Aboard! Read with Me! gift cards please call 205.879.9861 extension 6618, or click here to purchase / donate online.
| Impact Area: Financial Stability |  |
Issue: Homelessness
Pathways: Learning to be a Kid - Pathway’s offers a range of emergency, transitional and long-term services for homeless women and Children in the Birmingham Area. Learning to Be a Kid is a program designed to teach homeless children about emotions, anger, decision-making, and self-esteem while their mothers attend the Pathways Employment Program.
Issue: Personal Finance Skills
Impact: Save First
SaveFirst is an Alabama Financial Literary Initiative which trains college students to offer free tax services and educational seminars for low-income individuals on savings and investments. The purpose of the program is to instill in students a sense of responsibility to improve the economic situation of a large segment of Alabama’s population. The program seeks to equip low-to moderate income individuals and families with the tools they need to protect themselves from predatory lenders. Free tax preparation ensures that these individuals do not pay commercial preparers for such services, providing them immediate economic gain. SaveFirst also provides access to reputable financial institutions to bring these individuals into the mainstream economic community.
Issue: Job Readiness for Women
Pathways: Employment Readiness Program – NEW!
The mission of the Employment Readiness Program is to help homeless women maximize their incomes by obtaining and maintaining employment. The objective is to conduct six 2-week sessions over a 12-month period to help homeless women get and keep a job. Each session includes classes on resume writing, interviewing, working with others and maintaining a job.
St. Mary’s Episcopal Church: GED at St. Mary’s – NEW!
St. Mary’s Episcopal Church provides the opportunity for women to obtain a high school equivalency degree (GED), while also offering an educational day care for their children. The program is the only class available in Jefferson County for women who need childcare. The women are diverse in age, predominantly minority races and are all low-income status.
| Impact Area: Health |
|
Issue: Living Healthy
Birmingham Area Tennis Association: Elementary Schools Tennis Challenge: Since 1998, the Birmingham Area Tennis Association has provided quality tennis programs to youth who may not have been exposed to the sport. The Birmingham Area Tennis Association, along with the P.E. teacher at each school, works with students to teach them tennis and life skills, such as nutrition and sportsmanship. Ten students from each school are selected to compete at the Elementary Schools Tennis Challenge, which is held each spring. All students who participate in the program are offered follow-up tennis lessons and the opportunity to join the Excellence Team, which is a competition team that plays against area clubs in team tennis.
Girl Scouts of North Central Alabama: Uniquely ME! – NEW!
The uniquely ME! Program combats many of the issues facing Hispanic pre-adolescent and adolescent aged girls. The core curriculum, which integrates the latest research from the Girl Scout Research Institute, consists of age appropriate booklets with information and exercises about recognizing one’s strengths and best attributes, handling peer pressure, healthy eating habits, hygiene, general wellness, exercise and identifying core values and personal interests. The overall goal of the uniquely ME! is to foster the growth of self-esteem within the realms of the participant’s intellectual, physical, psychological, social, and mental development.
Jefferson County Council on Aging: Meals on Wheels
Meals on Wheels provide hot, nutritious noontime meals to homebound senior citizens. The delivery of meals also provides a safety check on these elderly members of our society. 74% of the clients served by Meals on Wheels are female.
Oasis Women’s Counseling Center: Wise Women
Wise Women seeks to reduce stigma, increase awareness and provide treatment for mental health problems (particularly depression) for low income women ages 55 and older. Wise Women combines education and outreach, community collaboration, support groups, individual counseling, and case management to better meet the mental health needs of low income elderly women in Jefferson County.
The Exceptional Foundation: Enrichment Activities
The Exceptional Foundation provides meaningful social and recreational activities on a regular basis for individuals who have mental and/or physical challenges. Junior League volunteers work with The Exceptional Foundation to provide social and recreational activities for persons with physical and/or mental disabilities. The programs enhance the social and recreational needs of exceptional people in the greater Birmingham area. Activities include arts and crafts, exercise, sports, cooking, gardening and dances.
Issue: Access to Health Care and Support
Children’s Harbor: Prime Time and Weekends
The mission of Children’s Harbor is to strengthen families and children. This project addresses the need for weekend and special occasion events for children with cancer, sickle cell, kidney, heart or other life-threatening diseases, or other blood diseases. Prime Time and Weekends provides social, educational and recreational activities during weekends and on special occasions for all family members to participate in activities while the child is hospitalized.
Children’s Hospital: Community Outreach Program – NEW!
Children’s Hospital serves thousands of children and families each year from across Alabama. The Community Outreach Program’s goal is to help these children and families feel more comfortable and secure during their time at the hospital. Volunteers engage patients and siblings in fun activities while waiting for a doctor’s visit, welcome families and visitors into the hospital, help visitors find their way, or provide a friendly smile and encouragement to a parent or relative.
UAB Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Clinic: Every Moment Matters
The Hematology-Oncology Clinic is the largest Alabama provider of special services to children with cancer, leukemia, brain and spinal tumors, sickle cell disease and clotting disorders and other blood diseases. Some of the procedures children might encounter in Clinic 8 include chemotherapy and other drug infusions, blood transfusions, platelet transfusions, bone marrow aspirates, and disease specific testing. Clinic visits for these children are frequent (often weekly) and generally take all day. The goal of Every Moment Matters is to optimize the time the children spend in the clinic by providing educational and recreational activities in the waiting room and infusion area. Many of the children who are receiving treatments have siblings who come with their family. Any patients or family members waiting in Clinic 8 are included in the activities.
Issue: Maternal Health and Infant Well-Being
UAB Division of Women’s & Infant’s Services: Rock-A-Bye Babies
UAB’s nurseries provide care to a range of babies from the critically ill to healthy newborns. The majority of their parents lives out of town and cannot stay at UAB for extended periods. Volunteer’s rock and feed infants, make footprints and memory cards, and assist the staff in recording information in baby books to capture physical and developmental progress, including pictures of each baby for five holidays throughout the year. The JLB also provides parent family emergency housing vouchers so they can stay close to their newborns while they are in the hospital.
| Impact Area: Safety & Crisis Intervention |  |
Issue: Domestic Violence
Crisis Center: Rape Response Advocate Program – NEW!
The Rape Response Advocate Program of the Crisis Center provides supportive counseling and advocacy to thousands of victims of sexual violence throughout their recovery. Through the Rape Response Advocate Program, individuals (including their family and/or friends) who have been affected by sexual violence receive immediate counseling under conditions of strict confidentiality. The Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) facility opened in 2002 and joins forensic medicine, victims advocacy, and law enforcement in a coordinated effort to ensure that sexual assault survivors receive comprehensive medical attention, evidence collection, and emotional support from the assault. Rape Response and SANE provides comprehensive quality crisis intervention services 24 hours a day at no charge.
YWCA: Children in Crisis
The mission of the program is to help children who witness domestic violence in their homes understand the dynamics of a violent situation and to break the cycle of domestic violence through education of healthy and unhealthy behaviors. Volunteer’s help children understand and cope with the dynamics of violent situations, build self-esteem and understand safety planning through specially designed activities.
Issue: Juvenile Crime
Alabama Center for Law and Civic Education: Teen Court
Teen Court provides first time non-violent juvenile offenders of misdemeanor crimes (vandalism, shoplifting, etc.) an alternative to the normal juvenile court system. In Teen Court, these first time offenders present their case to a jury of their teenage peers who give them an appropriate sentence. This program can keep teen offenders from having a criminal record. The program has been proven to effectively deter teens from committing future offenses. Teen Court also introduces teenage volunteers to the justice system.
JUNIOR LEAGUE OF BIRMINGHAM PROJECTS
Junior League of Birmingham: Choral Group
Now celebrating its 50th anniversary, the Junior League of Birmingham Choral Group reaches out to the community by singing in nursing and retirement homes, community and church shelters, schools, and hospitals. The Choral Group performs approximately 40 times a year, reaching thousands in the community.
Junior League of Birmingham: Community Roundtables
The Community Roundtables Committee will identify meetings/events in the community that address our target impact areas (education, financial stability, health and safety & crisis intervention) to attend on behalf of the Junior League of Birmingham. The committee will research the issues within these impact areas and become educated on available services within that area. The committee will also report back to the Junior League of Birmingham Community Council the needs of the Birmingham community. Additionally, four times a year, the Community Roundtables Committee will host roundtable events at the Junior League of Birmingham where agencies serving issues identified by the Committee are invited to attend, with a goal of improving dialogue and collaboration between the agencies on the designated issue within an impact area.
Junior League of Birmingham: Corps of Volunteers
The purpose of the Corps of Volunteers is to provide a Junior League of Birmingham volunteer presence at a multitude of local one-time events, which, due to their short nature, do not qualify as Junior League of Birmingham placements. Some of these events are scheduled well in advance, while others are brought to our attention in a more immediate manner. To request assistance, please contact Stephanie Lynton, Chair of Corps of Volunteers, at stephanie@harris-harris.com with information about your event.
Junior League of Birmingham: Leadership Institute
The Junior League of Birmingham Leadership Institute provides men and women with the fundamental skills needed for successful service in leadership roles in the nonprofit, corporate and civic arenas. Through a partnership with the Nonprofit Resource Center of Alabama, Institute participants will receive the Nonprofit Board Marketplace curriculum and have the option of participating in nonprofit board matching upon completion of the program. The curriculum covers eight topics: Communication & Effective Meetings, Governance, Leadership, Marketing, Advertising and Public Relations, Mentoring, Risk Management and Accountability, and Strategic Planning.
