Seven out of the 115 delegates to the gender equality initiative are JL members

You may have noticed in a recent story on connected online that The Junior League nominated several of its distinguished members to serve as delegates to Vision 2020, the decade-long gender equality initiative spearheaded by the Institute for Women’s Health and Leadership® at Drexel University’s College of Medicine to coincide with the 100th anniversary, in 2020, of the passage of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote.

Well, we’ve got an update:  Seven out of a total of 115 delegates from all across the country – we’re talking the cream of the crop from all disciplines, industries, professions, and sectors — are members of The Junior League. That’s nearly 10 percent. Call it the trickle-down effect of civic leadership and community impact.

Here’s the skinny on these inspiring luminaries:

Three of the League members are among the 13 Visionary Delegates to Vision 2020. The Visionary Delegates will assist in drafting “The Declaration of Equality” and connect National Delegates to resources and organizations that will facilitate implementation of the Declaration in their states:

Four of the 102 National Delegates (two from every state and the District of Columbia) are League members. They will be responsible for crafting “The Declaration of Equality”:

  • Junior League of Columbus member Subha Lembach is a graduate of Cornell University and Fordham University School of Law, where she was a Stein Scholar in Public Interest Law and Ethics
  • Junior League of Seattle member Bernadette Merikle serves on the Senior Leadership Team of the Highline Public School District (Burien, Wash.) as the Community Engagement Manager
  • Junior League of Wilmington member Liane Sorenson is the Minority Whip of the Delaware State Senate, where she has sponsored legislation focused on the areas of domestic violence, health, genetic testing, education and finance
  • Junior League of Wichita member and former president Mildred Edwards is a passionate community leader, mobilizer and advocate and currently serves as the Executive Director for the Kansas African American Affairs Commission in the Office of Gov. Mark Parkinson

Vision 2020’s first public event will take place Oct. 21-22, 2010, when the National Delegates meet in congress at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.

If you listen closely enough, you may just hear these lionesses roar.

To learn more about the Vision 2020 initiative, visit www.drexel.edu/vision2020