Our Why…

Why Now?

Let us tell you why we started The Greater Joliet League of Women Voters.

As women of the greater Joliet area (including Joliet, Crest Hill, Shorewood, Plainfield, Lockport and surrounding cities), we saw the decline in engagement, the lack of inclusive discussion, and a void in our ability to influence and shape legislation as well as to create a more perfect democracy.

At one point, from 1950 to around 1981, there was an active League in Joliet. There’s an entire archival collection at Northwestern Illinois University. We feel that now is the time to revive this chapter. There is much to say and much to do.

We come together, women of diverse background, education, experience, and of various political beliefs. We come together because we know that, together, we can discuss, discern, and develop programs to help advocate for changes in legislation. We can help register voters, engage people who have turned away from the voting booth, and encourage involvement of future generations.

Our organization follows the tenets of the League of Women Voters:

We are non-partisan. We don’t support or oppose candidates OR political parties. We DO work to influence public policy thorugh education & advocacy.

We are grassroots. We select which public policy issues will be chosen for study & action.

We are fully committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion in principle & practice. These are central to our organization’s current and future success in engaging ALL individuals, households, communities, and policy-makers in creating a more perfect democracy.

We are multi-issue. As women, we know there’s a lot of work to be done and we are committed to taking action on a broad range of issues, from violence prevention to pollution control, campaign finance reform, and local school referenda.

We inform. We register voters, sponsor candidate debates, publish voter guides and public policy research and hold conferences on key issues.

We influence. We lobby elected officials and work in coalition with others to press our agenda in Washington, Springfield, and local communities.

We are interconnected. When you join us, you become a member of a LOCAL league in your community, the Illinois League, and the League of Women Voters in the US.

Individuals do have power. Collectively, those individuals, when they put their minds and hearts toward improving and perfecting our democracy - we’re extraordinarily powerful. Come join us!