Projects & Programs

2024 – 2025 Community Program

The Junior League of Dallas cultivates leaders who collectively address the needs in our community in three impact areas:

  • Education & The Arts
  • Health & Wellness
  • Strengthening Families

Read more about these areas, our community partners, and how our volunteers make an impact below.

EDUCATION & THE ARTS

166 volunteers & $135,376  funding

As Dallas’ revolutionary high school for 21st century scholar artists, Booker T. Washington High School provides intensive, integrated training to build a bridge to the post-secondary and professional world. 

JLD volunteers staff the Senior Showcase. This event is critical in helping students gain access to post-secondary schools and provide students a collegiate experience in front of more than 100 colleges and conservatories.

The Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum is dedicated to teaching the history of the Holocaust and advancing human rights to combat prejudice, hatred, and indifference.

JLD volunteers serve as Visitor Guides to help orient guests, answer questions about the museum and assist museum staff with various tasks. Tenured volunteers are able to train to become Gallery Docents or Dimensions in Testimony Facilitators. 

DALLAS MUSEUM OF ART

The Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) places art and our diverse communities at the center around which all activities radiate, pursues excellence in collecting and programming, presents works of art across cultures and time, and is a driving force in contemporary art. 

JLD volunteers help facilitate education programs designed to encourage visitors to creatively respond to works from the Museum’s collections while fostering meaningful experiences.

With nearly one million visitors each year, the Dallas Zoo works to create a better world for animals by engaging people and saving wildlife. 

JLD volunteers serve as educators and guides in various areas of the zoo as well as animal care aides, assisting in meal preparation for the animals.

Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas (GSNETX) builds girls of courage, confidence and character, who make the world a
better place. As the premier girls’ leadership organization, GSNETX knows that developing girl leaders is vital because
when women have the opportunity to exercise leadership, communities are more prosperous, families are stronger and individuals are treated more fairly.

JLD volunteers assist with council-led activities and workshops focused on life skills, civic engagement, entrepreneurship, outdoor leadership, and STEM for girls in grades kindergarten through grade 12. They also serve as program volunteers at GSNETX’s acclaimed STEM Center of Excellence in southern Dallas County.

Literacy Achieve’s mission it to equip non-English speaking adults and their young children with English literacy and life skills to promote self-sufficiency and the overall well-being of students, their families, and the greater community by offering programs in verbal, written, and computer communication skills. Classes focus on basic English and life skills such as budgeting and scheduling appointments while promoting cultural understanding among students and volunteers. 

JLD volunteers work directly with adults and children to help them learn to read and achieve literacy. Volunteers also provide weekly subject-based instruction to prepare class participants to pass the GED, or high school equivalency exam.

The Dallas Arboretum builds and maintains a public botanical garden that promotes the art, enjoyment, and knowledge of horticulture, while providing opportunities for education and research. 

JLD volunteers assist in educational activities and special events and serve as docents in the historic DeGolyer House and the Children’s Adventure Garden.

The George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum serves as a resource for the study of the life and career of George W. Bush, while promoting a better understanding of the presidency, American history, and important issues of public policy. The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is the federal agency responsible for maintaining the 13 presidential libraries in the United States.

JLD volunteers at the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration serve as docents at the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum, educating the public on the life and career of George W. Bush.

Health & Wellness

169 volunteers & $231,074 funding

Twice Blessed House provides affordable housing for transplant patients and their caregivers during the evaluation process and post-transplant period.

JLD Volunteers serve as patient/family advocates providing welcome bags and weekly community dinner. 

Children’s Health makes life better for children. 

JLD volunteers assist with parties and events for those who are hospitalized, help in the playroom, plan and participate in family fun nights and provide an art cart and supplies for various crafts.

Equest enhances the quality of life for children and adults with diverse needs by partnering with horses to bring hope and healing through equine-assisted activities and therapies. Equest’s unique therapies result in improved muscle strength, coordination, independence, self-confidence, and overall, a more positive quality of life.

JLD volunteers work directly with clients and the class instructors assisting with the horseback riding classes.

Methodist Dallas Medical Center serves North Texas as a leader in sophisticated, compassionate medical care with world-class medical education and residency programs and is one of the leading teaching and referral hospitals in Texas. 

JLD volunteers serve as cuddlers in the NICU and assist in various other locations throughout the hospital.

The North Texas Food Bank (NTFB) strives for a hunger-free, healthy North Texas. The Food 4 Kids (F4K) backpack program at the North Texas Food Bank supplies qualifying elementary-age students and their siblings with an F4K backpack to take home over the weekend that is filled with nutritious meals. 

JLD volunteers pack child-friendly meals for NTFB’s Food 4 Kids program, which distributes a backpack of groceries to hungry Dallas ISD elementary school students and their families each Friday.

Keeping families together, inspiring strength, and giving love and support to families whose children are receiving essential medical care.

JLD volunteers cook weekly breakfast for the families staying at the House, plan weekly activities/arts and crafts projects, and assist with check-in, check-out, and facility tours.

Scottish Rite for Children treats many of the world’s most complex orthopedic cases, as well as certain related arthritic and neurological disorders and learning disorders, such as dyslexia.

JLD volunteers participate in multiple roles at Scottish Rite, from popping popcorn and running the gift shop to playing games, organizing craft nights for the patients, and assisting with special events.

The Senior Source enhances the overall quality of older adults in greater Dallas.

JLD volunteers assist with residents and plan themed parties throughout the year at Diversicare of Lake Highlands, a local nursing home.

Strengthening Families

165 volunteers & $261,685  funding

Community Partners of Dallas (CPD) provides what abused children urgently need today to thrive tomorrow.

JLD volunteers provide resources and support to Dallas caseworkers by serving as Caseworker Advocates, Rainbow Room assistants, Heart Program volunteers, and Holiday Helpers.

Dallas Area Habitat for Humanity (DAHFH) builds quality, affordable homes in partnership with deserving families by bringing people together to create communities and hope.

JLD volunteers build, repair and renovate homes through Dallas Area Habitat for Humanity’s various homeownership programs. Volunteers are involved in all exterior tasks of home construction and repair, including building and raising walls, siding and roof installation, painting, and landscaping.

Dallas CASA recruits, trains, and supervises community volunteers who are appointed by the courts to represent the best interests of abused, neglected, and abandoned children in protective care. 

JLD provides trained, court-appointed volunteers who investigate and monitor the case and subsequent protection of abused and neglected children and serve as advocates in court to help them get into safe, loving homes.

Dallas Children's Advocacy Center

Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center (DCAC) improves the lives of abused children in Dallas County and provides national leadership on child abuse issues. 

JLD volunteers help with the preparation and execution of the Crimes Against Children Conference – the premiere conference for law enforcement, CPS, and social workers who work directly with child victims of crime. Volunteers also assist in the playroom at DCAC headquarters.

Genesis Women’s Shelter & Support provides safety, shelter, and support for women who have experienced domestic violence and raises awareness regarding its cause, prevalence, and impact. 

JLD volunteers serve as holiday program assistants, hotline and resource volunteers, Kids PALS, thrift store associates, and Conference on Crimes Against Women volunteers.

New Friends New Life restores and empowers trafficked and sexually exploited teen girls, women and their children, and drives awareness of the issue and its prevalence.

JLD volunteers help with curriculum, provide child care and coordination of the evening programs. 

Our Friends Place (OFP) provides a positive and encouraging environment for young women ages 18 to 24 to emerge from adversity through positive role models, counseling, and life skills classes at a supervised apartment setting. 

JLD volunteers serve as life skills coaches and office friends.

Rays of Light is dedicated to nurturing children with special needs and their families in the Dallas metro area.

JLD volunteers support Night Lights which is a unique evening for children with special needs and their siblings on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Fridays of every month.

 

The Family Place empowers survivors of family violence to lead lives free from abuse.

JLD volunteers support various parts of The Family Place including working the hotline and resale shop. Volunteers also support their holiday program and cooking club.