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 Governance Dialogue and Business Meeting

Melita Keith, current President, and Nora Kucera, current President-Elect had a wonderful and educational time at the 2015 Annual Conference in Los Angeles.  It is always so beneficial listening to other Leagues of similar size.  They came home with a long list of “new” ideas The Junior League of Victoria cannot wait to implement.  Below is an excerpt of what was voted on during the conference:

The Voting Delegates voted to remove the Reaching Out Statement that was approved by the Leagues in 1978 from the AJLI governing documents. The Leagues approved the following AJLI Diversity and Inclusion Commitment Statement:

The Junior League welcomes all women who value our Mission. We are committed to inclusive environments of diverse individuals, organizations and communities.

Public Accommodation Laws and the Junior Leagues

In the course of the research on diversity and inclusion, AJLI learned that the legal landscape for those protected from discrimination (so-called “protected categories”) has been rapidly changing, generally by expanding the categories of people protected from discrimination. The anti-discrimination laws covering protected categories for membership organizations like Junior Leagues are known as Public Accommodation laws. AJLI’s legal counsel, Chris Carty from Schnader Harrison Segal and Lewis LLP, shared some aspects of Public Accommodation laws at the Winter Leadership Conference in Orlando and at Annual Conference. It is advisable that each Junior League be familiar with the laws that apply to it, including Public Accommodation laws.