The Junior League of Albany Has Served the Capital Region for over 100 years.

The Junior League of Albany was founded in 1917 under the leadership of Laura Spencer Townsend and Grace S. Carter and first focused on knitting goods for US soldiers overseas. Since then, the Junior League of Albany has been a constant force of change in the Capital Region community, supporting diverse community projects that include Albany’s Ronald McDonald House, Equinox’s Domestic Violence Shelter, Hope Club (Gilda’s Club), Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, Dolly’s Imagination Library, Albany Girls Club, Inc, HATAS Weekend Backpack program and Journey’s Palliative Care Program at Albany Medical Center. For its Centennial celebration, the Junior League of Albany granted $100,000 in funds to 11 Capital Region organizations that support our community impact issue of alleviating hunger and improving the wellness of women and children in the Capital Region.

Who Founded the Junior League?

Mary Harriman founded the Junior league in 1901 in New York City. Since then, The Junior League has evolved into one of the largest, and most effective women’s volunteer organizations in the world, encompassing more than 115,000 women in over 298 communities in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Mexico, and Kenya. Mary was a NYC debutante who, at the young age of 19, had more than social teas and dances on her mind. The daughter of Union Pacific Railroad titan and financier E. H. Harriman, she used her life of privilege as a platform for social reform and founded The Junior League for the Promotion of Settlement Movements. She mobilized an inaugural group of 80 other young women (including Eleanor Roosevelt) to work to improve child health, nutrition and literacy among immigrants living on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

The Junior League soon expanded into new cities and issues, such as social, health and educational issues that affect the community at large, such as poverty, hunger, illiteracy, domestic violence, foster children, childhood wellness, etc. The Junior League has had many extraordinary members including Eleanor Roosevelt, Barbara Bush, Nancy Reagan, Laura Bush, Sandra Day O’Connor, Julia Child, Katherine Hepburn, and many more.

Our 75th Anniversary Video:

Our History, as told by Sustainers in 2010:

Our Impact Timeline

• 2024 - 2026

  $25K Donation to The Food Pantries of the Capital District

  The Junior League of Albany awarded The Food Pantries for the Capital District $25,000 in funding, along with volunteer support, to advance The Food Pantries’ Infant Needs and Menstrual Health Program. Read more

• 2019 - 2021

  Donation to A Child's Place at Unity House

  The Junior League of Albany raised funds to support A Child’s Place at Unity House, a program with roots dating back to the 1970’s. Low-income families were provided grocery gift cards and backpacks with needed childcare items.

• 2018 - 2019

  Funded Capital Roots' "Taste Good series" at Sheridan Preparatory Academy

  The Junior League of Albany provided financial support to The Capital Roots to teach 100+ pre-K and Kindergarten students the importance of nutritious eating for health and well-being via fun activities and fresh fruit & vegetable tastings. Read more

• 2016 - 2017

  $100K - Centennial Grants Initiative

  The Junior League of Albany celebrated our 100th Anniversary in 2017 and granted $100,000 to local programs and organizations aimed at improving women and children’s health and wellness and addressing our focus issue of hunger and food insecurity in the Albany area.

  The Food Pantries for the Capital District: $10,000 funded their (JLA-founded) food shuttle, which picks up leftover perishable food and delivers it to organizations providing meals to those in need.

  Girls, Inc. of the Greater Capital Region: $10,000 helped fund Girls, Inc.’s “Sporting Chance” program, designed to help girls develop positive attitudes toward physical activity & enjoy healthy competition.

  Capital ROOTS: $10,000 helped fund their Healthy Stores program, which aims to increase the amount of healthy food stores sell. Store owners can purchase produce at wholesale cost and sell it at reasonable markup, making it accessible to shoppers at locations where they shop every day.

  Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York: $10,000 supported their Patroon Land Farm project through the purchase of seed and soil amendments, compost, chicken manure, rock powders, and fertilizer materials for organic production.

  Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute: $25,000 helped launch RPI’s Greenhouse Project in partnership with Troy City School District. It provided STEM education through a greenhouse at Troy Middle School.

  Catholic Charities of Fulton and Montgomery Counties: $5,000 funded their food pantry in Amsterdam, which provides nutritious and balanced supplements to eligible families in need. 

  Girls on the Run Capital Region: $5,000; this award will support Team Trinity, a running program for girls and families in Albany’s South End.

  Capital Region Friendship Circle: $5,000 supported their Cooking Circle program, which provides an innovative way of teaching nutrition and cooking to children with special needs, so they learn how to make nutritious snacks and meals for themselves.

  Sheridan Preparatory Academy: $5,000 helped cover costs for the school’s construction of a new playground area for students.

  Radix Ecological Sustainability Center: $5,000 helped support the Green South End Collaboration, a collaboration between Avillage, Inc. and Trinity Alliance which benefits Albany’s South End neighborhood through educational programming and increases access to fresh food and gardens. 

  Albany Medical Center’s Journeys Program: Donation to a local hospital program that provides support and services for families whose child is facing a debilitating, life-threatening or terminal medical condition.

• 2009 - 2012

  Dolly's Imagination Library

  Now funded locally by the United Way of the Greater Capital Region, Dolly’s Imagination Library first made its Albany debut with the Junior League of Albany’s help in 2009, in partnership with Albany Medical Center. Books were distributed to local children & families.

• 1990 - 2015

  Mother's Day Project

  After learning that some local mothers were using dishtowels as diapers, New Member Claudia Carroll founded the long-running Mother’s Day Project. Funds raised with customized Mother’s Day cards were used to donate diapers, formula, clothes, food, and other supplies to local community groups.

• 2005 - 2010

  Founded Gilda's Club of Albany

  After working with local cancer organizations through the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, the Junior League voted to establish Albany’s Gilda’s Club, which later became the American Cancer Society’s HopeClub. League members secured financing, community support, medical staffing, and more.

• 1992 - 2001

  Founded The Food Shuttle

  The Food Shuttle evolved from our Mother’s Day Project. The Junior League shuttled daily, would-be food waste from local grocery stores to local food pantries, feeding thousands of families over a decade. Ownership was transferred to The Food Pantries of the Capital District.

• 1995 - 2018

  Brought Susan G. Komen 5k Race for the Cure to Albany

  The Junior League of Albany brought the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure to Albany. The race ran for 23 years and raised millions of dollars for local and national cancer care & research.

• 1992 - 1994

  Co-Created Local Rape Awareness Project

  With the Junior Leagues of Troy & Schenectady and Tri-County Rape Crisis Centers, the JLA hosted a series of seminars and created interior & exterior posters for CDTA busses covering the theme “Rape is Everybody’s Problem.” We also supplied transitional clothing to rape victims at Albany Med & Albany Memorial Hospital.

• 1992 - 1994

  Redesigned Albany Medical Center's Women's Unit with "Design for Healing"

  The Junior League of Albany raised over $40,000 and redesigned 16 units of the gynecology/oncology unit of Albany Medical Center to be more comfortable. We installed privacy curtains, $25k of original art, faux marble walls, new sofas, televisions, VCRs, refrigerators & microwaves.

• 1989 - 1990

  Helped Develop the Swyer House, Homeless Shelter

  The Junior League of Albany helped launch & furnish the Swyer House, a homeless shelter to help people on their way out the shelter systems.

• 1986 - 1989

  Founded Equinox's HomeSafe, Domestic Violence Shelter

  Albany County lacked a shelter for victims of domestic violence and their families. The Junior League of Albany sprang into action raising funds from women’s groups, getting licensed from the state, forming relationships with local police, and realtors to find the right home in the right neighborhood, all in secrecy.

• 1980 - 1983

  Co-Established Albany's Ronald McDonald House

  The Junior League of Albany was the catalyst for establishing Albany’s Ronald McDonald House for families whose children were undergoing life-saving medical care at Albany Medical Center.

• 1979 - 1982

  Created Milk For Life - Breastmilk Donation Bank

  Some babies’ bodies simply cannot digest baby formulas. If their mothers cannot produce enough breastmilk for them, worry may turn into panic. The Junior League of Albany recognized this issue and created the first Albany-area breastmilk donation bank.

• 1979 - 1983

  Established the First Hospice in N.Y.S. to Offer Inpatient & Home Care Services.

  In the 1970’s, hospice was commonplace in other countries, but a foreign concept here in America. The Junior League of Albany furnished, staffed, trained volunteers for St. Peter’s Hospice, as well ask cooked for and comforted its ill & dying patients.

• 1977 - 1980

  Helped Establish Kidspace at Harmanus Bleecker Center

  The Junior League of Albany helped establish an arts center for children in Albany, offering painting, pottery, marionettes, storytelling and theater.

• 1975

  Published "Access to Capitaland," a Guide to Navigating Albany for Disabled & Aging

  ~

• 1974 - 1978

  Helped Sponsor Home for Women with Alchoholism

  Next Step is halfway house for women with alcohol abuse. The Junior League of Albany helped to sponsor & finance the home, as well as funding Albany’s Project Hope, a program for teenage girls who were having family issues, drug problems, and alcohol-related problems, but were too young to be part of Hope House.

• 1967 - 1972

  Helped Establish Albany's Volunteer Bureau

  “Always a pioneer in community services,” according to the Times Union, The Junior League of Albany helped establish an organization that matched Capital Region organizations with Capital Region volunteers. The bureau became one of thirty Volunteer Action Centers in the United States.

• 1965

  Helped Establish the Heldeberg Workshop in Altamont, NY

  The Junior League of Albany made a three-year commitment to the establishment of the Helderberg Workshop, supplying money, volunteers, and leadership in leading outdoor learning experiences for children.

• 1961

  Provided Funds to Launch Albany Girls Club

  ~

• 1960 - 1961

  Funded Albany Institute of History & Art's Dutch Room

  In 1960, the Junior League of Albany created an authentic Dutch room at the Albany Institute of History and Art in honor of the area’s founding settlers. The room’s artifacts were authentic & researched, including a Dutch tile fireplace. The grand opening was attended by representatives from Holland, Governor Rockefeller & Mayor Erastus Corning.

• 1952 - 1962

  Co-Sponsored the Northeastern Speech Center

  The Junior League of Albany and the Rotary Club co-sponsored the Northeastern Speech Center run by a local doctor, Easterseals and the State Health Department. In the 1950’s, state & federal governments did not provide comprehensive medical services for the needy. We furnished money, volunteers and board members to help fill gaps.

  “Mrs. Crummey, who was president of the Junior League in 1954 when it began co-sponsorship of the Center, said that the number of children receiving speech therapy has increased from nine to about 75.”

  “Every penny received by the League through money raising activities for the Community Trust Fund is returned to Albany through various League projects such as the Northeastern New York Speech Center, the new Dutch Room at the Albany Institute of History and Art, and through League support of community services … The records add up to a substantial and commendable contribution to the community in both service and education.” – The Times Union

   

• 1957 - 2003

  Established and ran a "Next to New" Thrift Shop

  The Junior League of Albany ran, for decades, a high-volume, thrift store at a time when gently-used, affordable clothing & household items were hard to come by (and Walmart & Amazon did not yet exist.) The store both raised funds for public donations and provided the public an inexpensive & friendly place to shop.

  “Today, more than 300 women in the Albany area do volunteer work in 45 different organizations. All members are required to collect money for the community chest; devote a certain number of hours to working in the league’s Next to New Shop, and donate clothes and money to that shop.” – Knickerbocker News, 1962

• 1951

  Co-Sponsored the Albany Senior Citizens Center

  The Junior League of Albany co-sponsored the Albany Senior Citizens Center with the Council of Jewish Women.

• 1945 - 1949

  Helped to Open the Albany Blood Bank

  The Junior League of Albany assisted in organizing & operating the Albany Blood Bank. The Red Cross took over in 1949.

• 1942

  Established a Childcare Center for Working Mothers

  During WWII, The Junior League of Albany established a childcare center for working mothers and received national recognition as the first Junior League to do so. It later moved to Albany Med to care for children of hospital employees.

• 1940 - 1941

  Established the Albany Children's Theater

  ~

• 1929 - 1930

  Assisted in Establishment of Occupational Therapy Department of Albany Medical

  “After three yours of development the occupational therapy department at Albany Hospital, financed be the Junior League of Albany, is going stronger than ever.”

• 1928 - 1929

  Established Pushcart Patient Library at Albany Med

  ~

• 1920

  Established West End Clinic

  The Junior League of Albany furnished a laboratory at the “Home for Incurables” and new clinics in the South End and West End for preschool children (The West End clinic was turned over to the Visiting Nurses Association in 1927.)

  Quotes from articles:

  “The league, which started the health work in the West End last season through the donation of $500 to help finance the station on Central avenue, has become so enthusiastic about the remarkable progress and results obtained that the decision has been made to “carry on” in still broader terms. The organization will assume the entire financial responsibility for the health station, paying the salary of a nurse who will be in charge at all times and also for the upkeep of the place.”

  “The increasing population in the west end made a third health station imperative, and through the cooperation of the Albany Guild for Public Health Nursing to supply nursing service, the Junior League of Albany established the center almost two years ago.”

   

   

• 1917

  The Junior League of Albany was Founded During WWI

  Albany became a part of the Junior League of America in 1917 led by Laura Spencer Townsend and Grace S. Carter and first focused on knitting goods for US soldiers overseas. They also purchased radios for patients in the Hospital for Incurables, and established playground equipment for the “Tuberculosis Sanitorium.”