For those of you who follow the fight against human trafficking in this country, Carissa Phelps is known as an incredible advocate for action. The subject of a powerful documentary called Carissa, and now an author of a book that tells her incredible story, Carissa was a runaway living on the streets in Fresno, and caught up in a world of crime and prostitution at 12 years of age. How Carissa Phelps not only survived her journey but prospered, gaining a law degree and MBA from UCLA, is best left to the book.

What is also noteworthy about Carissa Phelps’ story is the action it sparks in others.

Consider Catherine Carlton, co-chair of the Junior Leagues of California State Public Affairs Committee, or CalSPAC, and a member of the Junior League of Palo Alto-Mid Peninsula.

CalSPAC is the sponsor of AB 1940, a bill in the California Assembly that would allow victims of trafficking to delete their human trafficking-related arrest and criminal records. This is a big deal among those fighting against human trafficking of children. How can someone who is a victim also be a criminal at the same time… it just doesn’t make sense. After victims escape from human trafficking, AB 1940 ensures that they are not then victimized by a criminal record.

AB 1940 came about precisely because Catherine met Carissa and heard her story and, as part of CalSPAC’s ongoing advocacy work in the fight against human trafficking, started to make things happen in Sacramento.

AB 1940, sponsored by Democratic Assemblyman Jerry Hill, now has bipartisan support and seems likely to pass in the Assembly and, later, in the Senate. CalSPAC partnered with the Polaris Project, a national organization dedicated to combating human trafficking, in writing the bill’s language.

That’s what happens sometimes when you put a face to a problem. The problem seems more real…and more solvable.

So now maybe it’s a good time to set up a screening of Carissa in your community—and don’t forget to read her book, Runaway Girl, when it comes out in August!

The 2012 Award winners as presented in San Francisco tell the tale.

• Mary Harriman Community Leadership Award: New Orleans was still reeling from the human and economic devastation of Hurricane Katrina when Anne McDonald Milling formed a new organization called Women of the Storm to lobby Congress for immediate assistance.
• Rising Star Award: The Junior League of San Diego’s Megan Elizabeth Lim demonstrates the power of voluntarism through her enthusiastic embrace of civic leadership, both within her Junior League and within the larger community.
• Membership Development Award: The Junior League of Boca Raton addressed retention issues with an innovative new curriculum to fully integrate Provisionals into the League. Honorable mention: The Junior League of Durham and Orange Counties for its highly effective membership advisor placement program.

• Vision Award: The Junior League of Hartford tackled a big issue – hunger – with a League-wide initiative that motivated members and raised its profile in the Hartford community. Honorable mention: The Junior League of Oklahoma City for its community-based financial literacy program.
• Fund Development Award: The Junior League of Tampa showed how to breathe new life into an annual fundraising campaign in a tough economy. Honorable mention: The Junior League of Oklahoma City for innovations in its annual campaign.
• Marketing Award: Concerned about recruitment and retention issues, the Junior League of Long Island made an aggressive push to raise its visibility in two of New York’s largest counties. Honorable mention: The Junior League of Kansas City for success in promoting its holiday market on a tight budget.
• Community Impact Award: In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the Junior League of New Orleans found a way to help struggling nonprofits by providing training for their new board members.
• Leadership Development Award: The Junior League of Collin County found a great way to raise its visibility and influence through a program that immersed its members in all facets of community and civic life.

What is the nature of your work over in Afghanistan and what are your responsibilities?
I deployed to Kabul, Afghanistan as part of the United States Department of Justice’s Rule of Law Program. I am serving as a Senior Legal Advisor under the authority of the Justice Attaché at the United States Embassy in Kabul. My primary duties are to train and mentor Afghan prosecutors.

How long have you been on this assignment?
Since February 1, 2012. This is a temporary 12-month assignment, after which I will return home to San Antonio.

What kind of work do you do at home in San Antonio?
Back in the United States I am a prosecutor for the Western District of Texas in San Antonio. There I federally prosecute child exploitation cases, firearm cases, and white collar crime cases. I thoroughly enjoy my job and the opportunity to put bad guys in prison. I never get tired of it, and if anything, it energizes me.

When did you join The Junior League?
I have been with the JLSA for almost five years. I initially joined the Junior League in Beaumont, Texas, and then moved and finished my new member year with the Junior League of Austin.

How did you wind up on this assignment?
I learned about the Afghanistan program from two prosecutors in my office who had previously served as Senior Legal Advisors. In talking with them, I was intrigued by the unique opportunity to mentor Afghan prosecutors, especially female prosecutors. As an aside, the sheer adventure of coming to a war zone seemed exhilarating, and I looked forward to the world travel.

How are you navigating the cultural divide?
I have been fortunate in the three months I have been here so far to meet some very talented, smart, and intelligent female prosecutors and judges. In fact, my favorite days are those when I get to interact with them. They are just as excited to talk with me as I am to talk with them. Girl talk isn’t as easy when you have to speak through a male translator, but it is still fun. Through building relationships with the prosecutors, I am able to discuss their cases with them and hear about the issues they are facing.

Did you acquire any skills during your tenure with The Junior League that you’ve been able to use over in Kabul?
My favorite part about being a member of The Junior League is the opportunity to foster and encourage young leaders. As Membership Development Chair and New Member Chair, I had many occasions to encourage and support my friends and colleagues in the League. My leadership philosophy is to give young leaders the freedom and opportunity to excel, but I am there to catch them if they fall or need support. The beauty of The Junior League is that while we get to foster women as leaders, we also get to help the community at the same time. I would suppose that this is why I was so attracted to the opportunity to mentor and train Afghan women. Not only would it help them as individuals, but it would also help the entire Afghan community.

We read a lot about the gender discrimination that goes on in Afghanistan and other Muslim countries. What is your perception of the situation now that you are on the ground?
While women are still grossly under-represented in the Afghan Criminal Justice System, there are several courageous women who have stepped up to take on these criminal justice jobs. Not only is the job of a prosecutor or judge hard for anyone, but Afghan women must also fight cultural norms that do not support women as professionals and equals. However, every day I see women judges, prosecutors, and investigators that are breaking out of a culture that is oppressive to women. I continue to be impressed by their courage and strength.

How are you dealing with the language barrier?
The main language spoken in Kabul is Dari. (Pashto is the other language common to Afghanistan.) When I arrived in Kabul, I began taking Dari lessons to be able to communicate. It is a difficult language! Fortunately, we have a staff of Foreign Service Nationals (Afghans) that work for us as translators. We take a translator with us everywhere we go in order to communicate with the Afghans. Some Afghans do speak English, but very few. Fortunately, half of our translators are in college and law school and are able to accurately translate legal words and ideas.

How do you cope with the dangerous aspects of your work?
Because this is an active war zone, we balance our mission-related duties with security considerations. While we have all taken on a certain amount of risk by just being here, we are always mindful of the danger that lurks. That said, the Afghan judges, prosecutors and investigators that I have worked with are tremendously grateful for the mentoring, training, and assistance.

Are you homesick?
It was hard to leave my family and friends in Texas to come to Afghanistan for 12 months, but the chance to make a small difference makes it all worthwhile. I regularly email, call, and Skype with my family and friends. The care packages they send always make my day. A piece of America is always fun! At the Embassy, I live in a 10 by 20-foot room called a “hooch.” It is the size of a college dorm room. Every meal is served in a dining facility known as the “dfac.” The food really isn’t bad, and most of the time there are a handful of choices. There is always a salad bar and a sandwich bar. Speaking of bars, there is one bar on the Embassy called the Duck and Cover. It is fun to meet people there after a long day!

What do you most miss about The Junior League?
I miss being involved with The Junior League. It would be fun to start a Junior League of Kabul, but there simply aren’t that many women here. Plus, most of the U.S. women are here on a temporary basis, so no one would ever get through a new member year. When I accepted this detail, I was serving on the Board of Directors as the Membership Development Chair. Prior to that, I served as the New Member Chair. My sister is also a member of the JLSA, and I am sorry to be missing her First Active Year.

Have you ever envisioned a Junior League that included Afghan women?
It would be a difficult task. We would need to create the framework of the organization and then start to fold in the Afghan women. Afghan women don’t drive; they’d have to have a male Embassy member bring them to the Embassy because we could not leave it in order to have a meeting. Even if they work during the day they are still responsible for their household duties.

If you were to send a message to your friends and fellow League members back home, what would it say?
While I really miss breakfast tacos, lasagna, Mexican food, and draft beer in a cold mug, the opportunity to serve on a global level, at such a pivotal time in the history of Afghanistan, is an honor. My hope at the end of this tour is not world peace or total stabilization in Afghanistan, my hope is to make a difference in the life of an Afghan woman.

Because voluntarism is both the legacy and the mandate we received from our founder, Mary Harriman, we applaud National Volunteer Week, now in its 38th year, for shining a light on the power of the volunteer in creating lasting community impact.

But the missing link in many volunteer experiences – and the thing that sets The Junior League apart from other volunteer-focused organizations – is leadership training. We believe in the power of the trained volunteer in bringing about change. Leadership potential is particularly important in an era of cutbacks in funding at all levels for essential community programs. That’s why training is a key focus of Annual Conference itself, as The Junior League continues to ramp up our new master curriculum, including online training programs available to all of our more than 155,000 members.

Webinar Wednesdays were launched last October and will run through early May this year. These semi-monthly, hour-long sessions have provided all Junior League members with opportunities to hear from experts on many aspects of women’s leadership and community impact. Each webinar is also available on-demand on the AJLI website.

The five-part Issue-Based Community Impact series, offered live at Fall and Annual Conferences, was also offered via webinar, and Parts 1–3 are now available on-demand on the AJLI website. Part 4 will be available online before the end of this year. Part 5 will be offered live at the 2012 Annual Conference and after that will be offered via webinar and online on-demand.

Plans for this year included the development of two asynchronous modules. The first, “Blazing Trails,” was developed last fall and is available as a self-paced module on the AJLI website. We have deferred the production of the second module until the next phase of the curriculum development with Cedar Interactive, our adult learning consulting firm.

Work progressed significantly on the curriculum plan with Cedar Interactive. The high level plan, which we received in January 2012, recommends the development the Junior League Community and Civic Leadership Institute (CCLI). The CCLI will include in-person and online learning opportunities for all Junior League members, each of whom will be able to create and track her own individualized learning path. The high level plan will be developed into a more detailed working plan during the last six months of this fiscal year. In total, the CCLI is a three- to five-year initiative and an investment of $1.7 to $2.0 million. A brief overview of the high level plan was presented at Winter Leadership and it will be shared again at Annual Conference during the Service Dialogue.

You can access AJLI’s online learning programs here.

Thanks! And don’t forget to check out the new programs!

But the great thing about the Kashi award is how it will be used – to make the KITK program even better than it is already!

While Leagues are currently applying for shares in the award, in grants of $2,500 or $5,000, and the announcement of the winners won’t take place until Annual Conference in April, let’s take a random peek at how individual Leagues would use the money if they win.

One Southern League would use the money to provide 39 more area schools with a curriculum and a literature-based resource kit to assist teachers in promoting healthy lifestyles. The kits cost $125 each.

A Canadian League would use the money to partner with a local Boys and Girls Club to create an urban garden. The Boys and Girls Club, which operates in the basement of a local church and receives no government funding, serves needy children, most from families that can’t pay the modest $20 per week fee that is associated with the club’s programming.

A Midwestern League would use part of the money on professional development of its community partners and membership in order to increase its understanding of childhood obesity and, in turn, help the League with the ongoing development and effectiveness of its multipronged anti-obesity strategy. The rest of the money would provide educational programming to schoolchildren for next year’s KITK activities.

A Gulf Coast League would use the money to assist in the costs of equipment and supplies for dieticians, physical therapists and social workers used in the KITK program, as well as the food for cooking with the children and their families. The money would also be used for education materials and other resources needed in the League’s ongoing health education program.

A Mid-Atlantic League runs its KITK program in partnership with a therapeutic residential treatment facility for girls ages 12-18, most of whom are pregnant and or recent mothers. The money would be used to move beyond simply educating the girls on how to prepare healthy meals and snacks for themselves to actually purchasing the food and supplies needed to expand the program and focusing on teaching the girls how to cook for and feed their babies and toddlers in a healthy, yet affordable way.

Just ask Carol Rasco.

As president for the last 10 years of Reading is Fundamental, the largest children’s literacy nonprofit in the U.S., Carol has been a tireless advocate for getting books into the hands of children at an early age, particularly those who are growing up in homes without books.

Before going to RIF, she was the executive director for government relations at the College Board. Earlier, as senior adviser to former U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley, she was director of the America Reads Challenge, a four-year national campaign to promote the importance of all children reading well and independently by the end of the 3rd grade. Previously, Carol worked for four years in the White House as domestic policy adviser to President Bill Clinton and directed the Domestic Policy Council. Earlier, back in her home state of Arkansas, Carol worked as the chief policy adviser for then-Governor Bill Clinton for 10 years and also served as the liaison to the National Governors Association.

Some resume, right? Right.

But her leadership training came at the Junior League of Little Rock (JLLR), where Carol got her formal education in voluntarism.

As Carol tells the story, she got to know Junior League members while advocating for education rights for the disabled in advance of the passage of P.L. 94-192 after her son, Hamp, was born with a disability. That led to an invitation to join JLLR, and Carol never looked back. She says now, “It was an absolutely wonderful experience. It added enormously to my knowledge of Little Rock as well as what was happening in the state. I did my first strategic plan there. I headed the committee that set up the League’s first Bargain Barn sale, a major fundraiser, which caused a furor at the time because it involved shutting down the League’s store.”

Eventually, her work with the Clintons led to Carol’s resigning as a JLLR member in the mid-1980s because of the time she was spending in Washington, where she still lives (though she recently became a non-resident Sustaining member, and her daughter, Mary-Margaret, is on the road to becoming President-Elect for 2012-13 later this spring).

But Junior League training as a leader provided an important part of the education that brought Carol Rasco where she is today. Would she do it over again? Yes, she says, in a minute. Just looking at Mary-Margaret’s work at JLLR brings it all back.

But Jean was also a true Junior Leaguer.

She joined the Junior League of Los Angeles in the 1950s, rising to president of JLLA in 1954 and western regional director of The Association of Junior Leagues International, Inc. in 1956, before becoming AJLI president from 1958 to 1960. Her ongoing commitment to voluntarism can be seen in decades of public service, with organizations as varied as the President’s Advisory Commission on White House Fellowships, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the United Way, the American Red Cross, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, and the California Arts Commission.

Washington seems to act as a magnet for some Junior League women, including former First Ladies Eleanor Roosevelt, Nancy Reagan, Betty Ford, Barbara Bush and Laura Bush and Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, as well as our founder, Mary Harriman, who was one of the highest-ranking women in the Roosevelt Administration during the 1930s.

By all accounts, Jean Webb Vaughan Smith enjoyed her time in the nation’s capital, including its social scene. How seriously she took that experience, however, can perhaps be judged by an anecdote told in her obituary in the Washington Post. In 1982, Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen wrote: “The ears of Mrs. William French Smith dangle earrings that cost more than a house,” she fired back in a letter to the columnist that the earrings were fakes that cost about $40, just enough to buy “a small doghouse, into which he could fit.”

Touché.

Consider Oveta Culp Hobby.

By the time she died at the age of 90 in 1995, Oveta had been the first secretary of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare (now the Department of Health and Human Services), the first commanding officer of the Women’s Army Corps, and publisher of the Houston Post, for more than 100 years one of Houston’s major newspapers.

As a young woman, she was an attorney, journalist and member of the Junior League of Houston, and moved on from there to national prominence with grace and ease.

Oveta became parliamentarian of the Texas House of Representatives at the age of 21. Marrying William P. Hobby, the former Governor of Texas and the publisher of the Houston Post, she worked her way up from the newspaper’s research editor to executive vice president, president, ultimately becoming its publisher.

With the onset of World War II, Oveta headed the War Department’s Women’s Interest Section before being named director of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (later the Women’s Army Corps), which brought women into the armed forces to replace men in non-combat support roles, rising to Colonel and later receiving the Distinguished Service Medal for her efforts during the war.

After the war, President Dwight D. Eisenhower named her head of the Federal Security Agency and, in 1952, tapped her to start up the Department of  Health, Education and Welfare, where among other things she made the decision to approve Jonas Salk‘s polio vaccine.

Returning to Houston in 1955 to care for her ailing husband, she also resumed her role in managing the Houston Post and remained active in a wide range of boards and advisory positions there and around the country.

Quite a life!

Nutrition has been a core element of The Junior League’s Mission going all the way back to Mary Harriman and her work with poor immigrant families in New York City 110 years ago. The Kids in the Kitchen program is AJLI’s signature program on fighting childhood obesity, of course, but individual Leagues are finding a wide array of ways to tackle nutrition issues, from educational programs to providing needy children with backpacks full of healthy food to bring home for weekends and vacations.

The Junior League of Greater Orlando is tackling the problem from a wider perspective that has the potential to create “lasting community impact” across all of Florida, the 4th largest state in population and one of the most densely populated. The hoped-for solution: bring investment in fresh-food retailing into Florida’s poorest neighborhoods.

Although the state is the source of much of the nation’s fresh fruit and vegetables, says JLGO member Katherine Martin, “There is a great need in Florida to bring healthy food into food deserts here. I have worked in low-income communities where children did not know what a red pepper looks like and had never tasted yogurt. Just having access to healthy food in schools is not enough.”

Food insecurity is a problem in JLGO’s core community – Orlando and surrounding Orange County have nearly 44,000 people who live in food insecure homes, with more than a quarter of them children – but also Florida as a whole. The League says that 17.5% of children there live in food insecure homes and that more than 27.5% of all Floridians are food insecure.

So JLGO went for a solution (or at least the start of one) that addresses the problem from a statewide perspective rather than just an Orlando perspective.

To that end, JLGO worked with Senator Gary Siplin, who introduced Senate Bill 852 in the Florida Senate. The bill provides critical one-time grant and loan financing to help fresh food retailers overcome the higher initial barriers into underserved, low-income communities, and also supports renovation and expansion of existing stores so they can provide the healthy foods that communities want and need. A major first step in its ultimate passage came in January with the unanimous approval of the bill by the Senate Agriculture Committee, sending it to the Senate Budget Subcommittee on General Government Appropriations.

Recently language from Senate Bill 852 was also adopted by Senator Ronda Storms who amended her Senate Bill 1658 to include the Healthy Food Retail Act which hopes to increase chances of the bill passing out of the Senate and into the House. Will Senate Bill 852 ultimately pass and become law? Time will tell. But this initiative is an important part – but by no means the only one – of JLGO’s new core cause: Childhood Health, Hunger and Poverty.

Stay tuned!

In 2010, JLL started a High School Girls Business Plan Competition. Great program – designed to promote business knowledge for girls, giving them a foundation for success as they pursue careers beyond high school – but kind of a clunky name. Enter Girls in Business, the program’s new name. Says Kirsty Houck, Girls in Business Assistant Chair: “We are excited about our new name because we feel that it accurately describes our mission in a more succinct manner. In addition to a new name we have a brand new logo that we absolutely love.”

And what a program it is! The competition is open to all girls in Lancaster County in grades 9-12 (including home-schoolers) and it requires the girls to create and design an original business plan. The competition is a starting point for students to share ideas, gain exposure to business development, and build confidence in communication skills. The top 10 finalists will be asked to present their business plan to a panel of judges in hopes of winning $1000 for 1st place, $500 for 2nd place, and $250 for 3rd place. The award money is to be used for future academic pursuits or funding to start their business.

Another new feature to be introduced this year involves pairing each finalist with a mentor who has relevant business experience. The mentor will be a member of the Junior League who is business savvy and has real world experience to share with the participants. In addition to being advocates for the competitors, the mentors will meet with the finalists to help critique their presentation and help prepare them for the question and answer portion of the competition.

Truly a win-win situation for all the participants!