Community Projects

  • Junior League Bright Starts
  • Kids in the Kitchen

Bring the family to Urbana Early Childhood School for monthly preschool lessons in basic numbers, letters, listening skills, peer interaction, and emotional development needed to prepare for kindergarten.

Adults will hear what their children are doing that session and be given ideas and materials to use in continuing the lessons at home.

These FREE sessions are open to the whole family. Dinner is provided for up to two adults, the preschool child, and siblings. Childcare is also provided for siblings during lessons.

JLCUBrightStarts20162017_flyer_eng

Conseguir un boletín en Español

2016-2017 Session Dates and Location

Tuesday September 13 5:30pm to 7:00pm
Tuesday October 11 5:30pm to 7:00pm
Tuesday November 8 5:30pm to 7:00pm
Tuesday January 10 5:30pm to 7:00pm
Tuesday February 14 5:30pm to 7:00pm
Tuesday March 14 5:30pm to 7:00pm
Tuesday April 11 5:30pm to 7:00pm

  • Dinner for all will be provided at 5:30. Lessons start at 6:00. Child care for siblings is included.

    Urbana Early Childhood School
    2202 E. Washington, Urbana, IL

    REGISTRATION REQUIRED
    Sign up for any or all evenings at 217-384-3616.

About Bright Starts

In the Junior League Bright Starts program pilot-year of 2015-16, Junior League of Champaign-Urbana partnered with Urbana Early Childhood School (UECS) in the first local community effort to reach families who had not experienced preschool education and environment.

Junior League Bright Starts provides monthly preschool academic instruction and social-emotional skill building to children who are on a preschool waiting list and provide their parents/guardians with ideas to reinforce these skills at home. The program includes the whole family by providing dinner at the start of each session and childcare for siblings.

Children receive classroom exposure to kindergarten preparatory skills such as fine motor skills, letter and number identification, listening skills, peer interaction, and emotional development. Parents receive instruction on skill development and at-home activities and materials to support what their children learn in the classroom. Both children and parents are introduced to the classroom setting, gain exposure to kindergarten skills, get tools to continue learning and developing those skills, and strengthen the parent-child relationship.

Are you Interested in making a donation to Junior League Bright Starts? Donate Here

Kids in the Kitchen

Kids in the Kitchen is designed to help communities address the urgent issues surrounding childhood obesity and poor nutrition by empowering youth to make healthy lifestyle choices.

Junior League of Champaign-Urbana is partnering with the Don Moyer Boys and Girls Club in Champaign, Illinois to launch their 2015-2016 childhood obesity and nutrition education initiative Kids in the Kitchen.  A series of events will be held throughout the school year.

The students and parents will join members of the Junior League of Champaign-Urbana to learn the importance of healthy lifestyle choices. They will be divided into two groups and rotate between two focus areas – fitness and healthy eating.

For the fitness portion of the event, students are taught physical activities and the benefits of exercising. These activities demonstrate to the students that fitness can be fun and can be done in almost any setting.

Since the inception of the Kids in the Kitchen campaign in 2006, over 250 Junior Leagues have implemented local initiatives based on the belief that education is the first step in addressing the urgent issues surrounding childhood obesity. The Kids in the Kitchen initiative builds upon The Junior League legacy of helping children with nutrition issues,which has been one of the many focuses of Junior League volunteers since the first League was founded in 1901.

2016-2017 Schedule:

Thursday September 1 4:30pm to 5:30pm
Thursday October 6 4:30pm to 5:30pm
Thursday November 3 4:30pm to 5:30pm
Thursday December 1 4:30pm to 5:30pm