346 members as of May 2003 (157 Actives, 189 Sustainers).

We made great strides this past year toward reaching our vision of being the leader in making our community a place where all children can reach their full potential. I am honored to have served as President this past year, a year filled with many accomplishments. Our theme for this year was “Phenomenal Women, Meaningful Work.”  I chose this theme to recognize the League’s most valuable asset, our members, who perform countless hours of community service furthering the meaningful work of our League.

Leadership focused on creating external partnerships in the community and internal partnerships among our own committees. To encourage and lead this new directive, the Ambassadorship Program, was created. This committee is responsible for generating goodwill and forging quality relationships in the community with other groups, including non-profits, community organizations, businesses, government agencies and schools.

We were included in the “Welcome to Annapolis” civic club sign on Rowe Boulevard.

We authored a one-year strategic plan that will be used as a blue print in the coming years.

The office manager worked an average of 12-15 hours per week.

Community Impact

• We are in the second year of our signature project, TEAM (Teen Empowerment and Mentoring). We were awarded a $10,000 Community Smile Award from Crest Whitestrips in May of 2003 in recognition of this project.  We doubled the number of teens we reached, from thirty-five our first year to over seventy this past year. We also teamed with Anne Arundel Medical Center to start a pregnancy awareness and prevention education program in area high schools, and piloted this program at Broadneck High School. TEAM also sponsored a child car seat safety check in the Spring
• COPR (Community Outreach and Project Research), organized numerous “Done-in-a-Day Projects” including: the “Race for the Cure;” a coat drive and Halloween party for Allen Apartments; “Rebuilding Together – Anne Arundel;” the Maritime Republic of Eastport’s Tug-of-War (we won our tug!); Kids~n~Kaboodle Children’s Fair; Bookbag Project supply-drives; dinners at the Lighthouse Shelter; food and baby supply a drives, including providing multiple families dinners during spring holidays.
• During the tenth year of our Back-to-School Bookbag Project we provided over 1,000 needy children in Anne Arundel County with school supplies and formed a partnership with Office Depot.
• With the assistance of a $8,500 grant from the Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Foundation we revised, printed and distributed 20,000 new Teen Resource Guides, enough to provide one for each ninth grader the County’s public high schools.
• Our Provisional Class hosted “It’s a Doggone Book Day” at the Robinwood Recreational Center, reading stories and distributing books to over sixty children.
• Education and Training organized a two day networking and volunteer education seminar, “University Days” was held in partnership with the Volunteer Center of Anne Arundel County and the Institute for Diversity and Multicultural Affairs at Bowie State. E & T sponsored a community “Power Breakfast” in January in conjunction with Bowie State University; another breakfast is scheduled for the fall of 2003.
• Public Policy hosted a legislative luncheon that was attended by the county executive and members from the state legislative bodies. JLM night was cancelled; the JL of Baltimore withdrew their support.
• $4,120 in Community Assistance Donations was awarded to: Mom and Me, CASA, Kids~n~and Kaboodle, and Hospice of the Chesapeake.
• $2,500 of proceeds from the Sustainers’ “2 Good 4 Goodwill” sale was awarded to Arden House.

Financial Resources

• Our fundraisers had a fantastic year, meeting or exceeding their goals. Membership voted in the spring of 2003 to institute a new fundraiser for the 2003-4 year, a speaker event, “Talk of the Town,” as well as to renew Cookbook, Chefs by the Bay, and Fund Development and Evaluation (FDE). The Totally Terrific Tag Sale was not renewed.
• The fourth annual Chefs by the Bay fundraiser held at the Radisson Hotel raised more than $39,000.
• Located at the Armory and in its twenty-third year, the Totally Terrific Tag Sale raised over $34,000.
• Preview Party was a casino-themed “Viva Las Vegas” and the day of the sale drew over 1,500 members of the community.
• Cookbook went through a transition year, changing publishers from Wimmer to FRP. In January we printed 12,000 cookbooks for our 9th printing. Sales were down due to the slow economy, but so were expenses, and the committee met its net goal of $ 32,000.
• Fund Development and Evaluation authored 12 grants and received over $8,500.

Membership

• Education and Training scheduled community trainings before each GMM and secured speakers for every GMM as well as a number of board meetings. Committees were offered custom trainings at their request. E & T assumed responsibility for Multicultural Development.
• Our Provisional Committee welcomed 29 new members this year.
• Nominating and Placement sent nine Active members to AJLI Organizational Development Institutes and hosted a “Five-year Plus Service” recognition event, honoring League members for their longevity and dedication to the JLA.

Communications

• Public Relations designed and printed a new League brochure and compiled a League media kit. Press releases were picked up for nearly every League event by The Capital and once by the Baltimore Sun. Tidings was published in the fall of 2002 and in the summer of 2003.

Meetings and Events scheduled a number of social events as well as GMMs and oversaw the return of the February Group Area Meetings. Due to the snowstorm of the century in mid-February and the “Washington-area Sniper” in the fall of 2002, many events were cancelled and rescheduled numerous times.  The Holiday Luncheon featured speaker Marie L. Martin, the League’s first president, concluding the celebration of the JLA’s 20th anniversary. Annual Dinner was held at Chartwell Country Club on May 9th.