Susie Istock
18 April 2007

Junior League to Host Public Forum on Community Service Needs for the Women and Children of Boston at the Boston Public Library on April 19th

As part of its Centennial celebration, the Junior League of Boston will host a three-part lecture series with Boston-area subject matter experts and partners about important topics related to the JLB’s mission and community focus.

(Boston, MA) April 18, 2007 – The Junior League of Boston (JLB) announces details about lecture series running in conjunction with the “Women Volunteers in Action, A Century of Commitment” exhibit at the Boston Public Library (Copley Square Branch) from April 6 – April 27, 2007.

The Junior League of Boston will host the last forum of a three-part lecture series held during the month of April on Thursday, April 19. Topics have related to the Junior League of Boston’s current focus area, The Health and Education of Women and Children. “We’re very excited to discuss women’s and children’s community service needs at the Boston Public Library this April,” said Kirby Lunger, President. “The lecture series will raise the level of dialogue around these community needs and trends.” The lecture series will be held in the Rabb Lecture Hall at the Boston Public Library (Copley branch) in the lower lobby. All lectures are free and open to the public.

The April 19 panel will discuss current community service needs and trends for women and children in Boston, including a discussion on underserved populations; the types of services that are needed in our community today; and ways community volunteers can get involved.

The session will be moderated by Kirby Lunger, President of the Junior League of Boston, and will include a question and answer period with the audience. The lecture will be held at 6:30pm ET in the Rabb Lecture Hall.

Panelists:                                                                                                                      Kirsten Alexander, Director of Community Service, JLB

Emmett Folgert, Executive Director, Dorchester Youth Collaborative

Sylvia G. Ferrell-Jones, President and CEO, YWCA Boston

Marie Turley, Executive Director, Boston Women’s Commission

Speaker Biographies

Kirsten Alexander is the Director of Community Service for the Junior League of Boston, overseeing its 18 community service projects and more than 300 volunteers during the organization’s Centennial year. She recently started as the Marketing and Communications Officer at the Boston Athenæum, which is celebrating its 200^th anniversary this year.  Previously, Alexander was the president of Alexander/Swift Associates, a marketing consulting company working with non-profit organizations including the Annie E. Casey Foundation, The Boston Home, the Women’s Union, and several high-tech clients. She is an active volunteer in her Dorchester neighborhood, serving on the Board of Directors of the Dorchester Artists’ Collaborative, the advisory boards of Ashmont Hill Chamber Music and Boston CareerLink, and is a Trustee of the First Parish Church in Dorchester, the oldest congregation in present day Boston. Prior to starting her own company, Alexander managed the marketing and editorial groups at two Internet start ups and was a columnist and senior editor for an online magazine, Web Review. Alexander also worked extensively in community-based outreach campaigns as the Marketing Manager for Community Newspaper Company’s Interactive Group and its Town Online Web site. As an adjunct faculty member, Kirsten has taught graduate, undergraduate, and continuing education marketing and writing courses at Champlain College, Marlboro College, Emerson College, and American University. She received her BA from New York University, spent a semester at The American University in Paris, and earned her MFA in Creative Writing from American University in Washington, DC.

Sylvia G. Ferrell-Jones is the President and CEO of the YWCA Boston, an organization committed to promoting racial and gender equity that provides a unique array of programs and services promoting community education and social change, women’s health and wellness, leadership skills, and safe, supportive housing to more than 10,000 women and their families each year.  She joined the YWCA Boston in February 2007 from the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic Region of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, where she was the Director of Agency Development, providing management and strategy consultations to Big Brothers Big Sisters of America affiliates. She worked for the national organization for five years and previously served on the Board of Directors for Big Brothers of Massachusetts Bay, Boston, MA.  Ferrell-Jones has spent most of her career in the field of investment management for institutional investors, primarily focusing on real estate-related assets as director at AEW Capital Management, headquartered in Boston, and as a principal investment officer with the state of Connecticut Trust Funds. She earned BA from Cornell University and her JD from Yale Law School. She has been active with community and professional organizations including the Massachusetts Conference of the United Church of Christ; Pilgrim Congregational Church, UCC; the United Church Foundation, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America; Big Brothers of Massachusetts Bay; LeadBoston; The Partnership; Youth Soccer; New England Women in Real Estate (NEWIRE); National Network of Commercial Real Estate Women; and Pension Real Estate Association.

Emmet Folgert is the Executive Director of the Dorchester Youth Collaborative (DYC), an organization established in 1981 in Field’s Corner in Dorchester whose mission is to engage the most at-risk youth Boston in relationships and projects that promote the health and safety of the community and the psychosocial development of the youth.

Marie Turley is the Executive Director of the Boston Women’s Commission, a department that promotes equality and economic opportunity for women, girls and families in Boston.  Ms. Turley, who is also Mayor Thomas Menino’s adviser on women’s issues, represents the Commission on several Boards, including Patriots’ Trail Girl Scouts, Teen Voices Magazine, and the Leadership Council of the Girls Coalition of Greater Boston. She has been recognized for her work by several organizations, and has received the Wonder Woman award from the Massachusetts’s Women’s Political Caucus and the Achievement Award from Big Sister Association of Greater Boston. While best known for advocacy and policy work, one of the Women’s Commission’s signature accomplishments under Ms. Turley’s leadership is the Boston Women’s Memorial. This public art sculpture honors Abigail Adams, Lucy Stone, and Phillis Wheatley –each of whom lived outside the traditional social boundaries of their era and who all left a legacy to future generations through their writings. A graduate of the College of New Rochelle, New York, Ms. Turley taught elementary school in the South Bronx before moving to Boston. After earning a Master of Counseling Psychology from Antioch New England, she worked as a clinician at the Roxbury Comprehensive Community Health Center. Marie’s first job in government was as a legislative aid for Representative Eleanor Myerson. Since then, she has held a variety of positions in state and city government. Ms. Turley is also active in her neighborhood of Jamaica Plain. A founding member of the Friends of the Shattuck Shelter Board, and the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Council Zoning Committee, she is a member of the Jamaica Plain Art Center advisory board, and is an elected Democratic State Committeewoman.

About the Exhibit: The Women Volunteers in Action exhibit celebrates 100 years of the Junior League of Boston’s volunteer work to improve the social conditions in the Greater Boston community and features archival materials from 100 years of innovative community service projects. The JLB’s current community service initiatives are featured in lively, large format photographs (produced as a pro bono project by Boston University’s Center for Digital Imaging Arts) to tell the story how the JLB’s over 1,200 women volunteers continue to impact the community. The exhibit can be viewed at the Copley Branch of Library in the Boston Room and Rabb Lobby. For more information about the exhibit and lecture series please visit www.jlboston.org. The exhibit is free of charge and the public is welcome.

The Junior League of Boston warmly thanks “Women Volunteers in Action” exhibit partners: the Boston Public Library, Hart-Boillot LLC, Boston University’s Center for Digital Imaging Arts, Samuel Adams, and George P. Johnson.

About The Junior League of Boston: The Junior League of Boston is an organization of over 1,200 women committed to promoting voluntarism, developing the potential of women, and improving communities through the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers. Its purpose is exclusively educational and charitable. For more information, please visit our web site at www.jlboston.org. The Junior League of Boston joins 293 Leagues across the world to form the Association of Junior Leagues International. These Leagues have nearly 170,000 members in Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom and the United States. Together, they represent one of the largest international volunteer organizations for women interested in making a positive impact in their communities. For more information, visit the web site www.ajli.org.