The Junior League of Phoenix, Inc. (JLP) is thrilled to announce that Kelly Larsen, 2022-24 Community Vice President, has been named the 2023 Rising Star Award recipient by the Association of Junior Leagues International (AJLI).

The Rising Star is given to a member who demonstrates significant promise that is consistent with Junior League’s mission, vision and values. The award, which recognizes and celebrates emerging leaders from within the 293 independent Junior Leagues in four countries, was presented at AJLI’s 101st Annual Conference in Indianapolis, IN.

“We are so excited and proud for Kelly!” JLP President Kelly Kaysonepheth said. “Kelly is a rising star in our League, and we’re so excited and proud that AJLI saw this too.” Kelly Larsen was introduced by AJLI Immediate Past President Bett Williams who spoke about the selection committee’s resounding agreement on Kelly’s selection. Kelly was especially recognized for her work in leveraging the JLP’s Phoenix Food Day & HealthFest signature program by maintaining its momentum and reach in the community despite the challenges of COVID-19. Now a third-year Active, Kelly is in her two-year term serving as Community Vice President and as a member of the Management Team.

“Kelly has been a tremendous asset to the Management Team and always makes sure that everyone’s voices are heard and they are seen,” said Ashley Bunch, Executive Vice President. In her current placement, Kelly oversees five community programs and committees. She also serves as a key member on JLP’s Community Research & Development (CR&D) Subcommittee that finalized JLP’s new community partnerships under the new focus area of “Empowering Women & Girls” that will begin in June 2023.

As a part of the Rising Star award, Kelly was invited to attend AJLI’s Annual Conference and was recognized on stage at the AJLI Awards Banquet. Additionally, JLP will receive a grant for additional member training. She was nominated by Kelly Kaysonepheth and Ashley Bunch with endorsements from the JLP Board of Directors.

Congratulations, Kelly Larsen!

Each community partnership will work with a corresponding JLP committee beginning in our 2023/2024 administrative year to assist in our new focus area of Empowering Women and Girls to be academically and financially successful.

We want to work with community partners who will make an impact in this area, who will benefit from JLP’s financial and volunteer assistance, and who will provide the best opportunities for our members to impact the community & improve their leadership skills.

Help us find the best community partner options by sharing the application information. Details on the application process can be found here:  https://lnkd.in/gbBrXBj2.

Application deadline is 5:00 p.m. on Friday, October 21, 2022.

JLP Sponsorship opportunities are available!

Being a Junior League volunteer is special. It means invaluable learning opportunities, ranging from leadership and organizational development training to community program enhancements and nonprofit fundraising skills.

Through a unique curriculum and hands-on opportunities, members learn how to not only manage and train volunteers, but also how to collaborate with community agencies to maximize a volunteer’s impact and thus aid a greater number of vulnerable and underserved people in our community.

Junior League of Phoenix members use this training to serve on the boards of nonprofit agencies and commissions, advocate on issues of public policy, and organize model community programs that address the most pressing needs such as hunger, food insecurity and more.

YOU can make a difference by supporting our efforts in the community by becoming a business partner today!

Click HERE to view our Business Partner opportunities.

The Training Team started early with the two New Leader Training programs in July and August.  Those programs were presented by the Member Training Committee.  For members who attended, we hope they would agree that they went beyond the basic training required for members to hold a leadership position in the JLP. They expanded to provide training to develop the members’ potential as true leaders outside of the League. In fact, in one post-event evaluation, a member said that the program should not be called “New Leader Training” because it taught her important lessons all members needed to learn.  Such as how to overcome uncertainty as a leader,  effectively work with committee members, and navigate diverse personalities.  These are skills that will help to develop our members’ potential in all aspects of their lives. Moreover, they included training segments designed for our time. Such as Diversity Equity & Inclusion Training, Zoom Training, Hybrid Meeting Technology Training, and Marketing and social media training.  Each of these programs will be edited and will be added to the new JLP video library, which is now tied to a restricted YouTube Channel so all members can benefit from these and future trainings. That was a lot of training before the League even had its first General Membership Meeting for the year.

The Member Training Committee is currently preparing for its October 2 Signature Event:  JLP Elevate.  This training will focus on building our members’ skills and knowledge to pivot careers or grow in their current positions and share insights and advice from Hilary A. Schneider, CEO of Shutterfly, a $2 billion company. JLP Elevate’s goal is to elevate our members’ opportunities outside the League.

The Signature Event will be followed by seven In-Home training programs in November. In-Homes are designed to be a less formal avenue to provide a variety of training opportunities in each of our 4 training tracks. While In-Homes traditionally were one-hour trainings offered in a member’s home, this year, they will be presented either virtually or as hybrid events.  

After a short break, the Member Training Committee plans to start off the New Year by collaborating again with the DE&I Committee for some meaningful diversity, equity, and inclusion training.  And they aren’t even done for the year—they still have the rest of the spring programming to plan.

While the Member Training Committee will be presenting the largest number of training programs, JLP members will receive valuable training from the Public Affairs Committee (PAC) and Community Leadership Outreach Committee (CLO). 

PAC is a non-partisan committee with three main goals.  First, to educate members about bills and positions related to our focus area as well as local, state, and national elections involving issues related to that focus area.  Second, to support voter registration.  Third, to encourage members to engage in public policy.

PAC will open with the Women Running for Office event on Saturday, September 18, 2021, where members will hear from a panel of three women involved in politics concerning the realities of running for a political office and how members can support their favorite candidates. Then, ramping up to November elections, PAC is planning a Voter Registration Event, Clean Election Event, and an Instagram Takeover and contest to encourage higher turnout for the upcoming Off-Year Election.  They will then turn to designing training for the spring.

CLO’s mission is to increase our members’ leadership opportunities with other non-profit organizations in the Valley. We have members on a number of community boards, including the Lodestar Center Leadership Council, the Desert Botanical Gardens’ Monarch Council, Waste Not, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and more. 

This fall, CLO will be using to two vehicles to train members about board service in the community.  First, it will be presenting a series of Fireside Chats that will provide members with the opportunity to have intimate conversations with community leaders concerning community leadership issues.  The first Fireside Chat took place on September 14 and featured Jacky Alling, Sr. Fellow for Philanthropy ASU Lodestar Center, share more with our League members about team development in nonprofits and general leadership skills.

Second, CLO will also be offering members a formal mentorship training program.  This is a structured training program that pairs members with board experience with members wishing to serve on a board.  Currently, JLP members are active on dozens of community boards, and we plan to leverage their knowledge and connections to provide a boost for other women looking to make a difference in the community.

Another avenue for training our members is hands-on by serving on committees, the Management Team and the Board of Directors. Our Board and Management Team recently attended a leadership workshop featuring corporate culture coach, Lindsay Bailey, where they took a deep dive into their leadership styles and how to work with others. 

JLP members also receive training at our General Membership Meetings (GMMs) which include keynote speakers on a variety of topics. At our September GMM, we learned about servant leadership from Steve Reese, Chief Information Officer for the Phoenix Suns.

With so many opportunities to develop your leadership potential, learn something new, and hear from engaging speakers, our goal is to provide training to at least 400 members this year.

If you have an idea for a future training program or would like to volunteer to speak to our members, please reach out to Kathryn Honecker Stephens, Vice President of Training, at jlp.trainingvp@jlp.org.

If you are interested in participating in this year’s Light the Night walk, you can learn more here.

Learn more about this here.

Jessi is also a valued member of the Volunteer Action Committee for Junior League of Phoenix this year!