About the Jaycees

The Illinois Jaycees are part of a global network of more than 5000 chapters with over 200,000 members in 120 countries around the world. We offer our members throughout Illinois the following opportunities:

Leadership Development
Leadership development through community involvement has been the basis of the Jaycees since its inception in 1920. The goal of the not-for-profit organization is to provide members a means to reach their full potential through networking and personal growth opportunities and is ideal for proactive young people, ages 18 to 40. Members enhance a variety of skills as they work together to plan and run civic and individual development activities in their home communities and chapters, such as:

Developing a business plan for maximum success and impact for each event.
Learning to successfully manage volunteers.
Communicating effectively, through the writen word, and public speaking.
Discovering the needs of the community and managing resources to meet them.
Organizing efforts to make the most of dollars raised and hours volunteered. All members have unique talents to offer. We provide them an outlet to share those talents in programs and projects that benefit

Your involvement with the Jaycees will provide you opportunities to meet people, impact your community, and apply skills to enhance your career.

Networking Opportunities
It is often said that it’s who you know that matters – and Jaycees are people who are connected. This organization has been known to not only produce successful business owners and other prominent leaders, but it has also brought together many friends and families. Statewide conferences are held where members take advantage of various training seminars, round table discussions, and socials to network with people from across the state. The true value of the program is in sharing with others the experience of participating.

Community Involvement
Few organizations touch as many lives, in as many ways, as the Jaycees. Chapters:

Provide assistance with national and international disaster relief.
Support a not-for-profit cancer organization, camps for individuals with developmental disabilities, collection drives for troops serving our country, and other diverse programs.
Are involved in their communities running festivals, raising funds for worthwile causes, as well as directly helping individuals in need.

Individual Involvement
Whether interested in being a chapter officer or simply working on a project committee, members have the chance to develop skills ranging from planning, budgeting, marketing, personnel management and more. There are endless training opportunities through speakers and formal training programs. Members decide their chapter‘s programming.