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The mission of the Zonta Club of the Joliet Area is to advance the status of women locally and globally. The club, made up of professional women in the Joliet area, is a service based and raises funds through annual  fundraisers. The money Zonta raises goes toward scholarships, international projects, and local charities.

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The Zonta Club of Joliet has a long history of providing small grants to local organizations that serve girls, women and their families. Some past area recipients of these grants include:

Bad Lady Outreach
Big Sisters and Crisis Line
Bridges to a New Day
Catholic Charities 
Center for Disability Services
Daybreak Shelter

Drug Coordination and Information Council for Big Sisters
Easter Seals
Groundwork of Joliet
Guardian Angel Home/Guardian Angel Community Center
Joliet Area Community Hospice
Northern Illinois Food Bank
Prairie State Legal Services
Tri-County Alcoholism Rehabilitation Center
Trinity Services
Will County Center for Community Concerns - purses and personal supplies for
homeless women
Will County Legal Assistance Program (WCLAP)
Will Grundy Medical Clinic

The 2022 Grant Award Recipients

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Bridges to a New Day
A charitable agency with a mission to provide prevention, intervention and educational services which foster non-violence in the lives of children and adults. The grant will provide 20 hours of counseling services to women in the domestic violence program. The pandemic caused an increase in program cost. A previous grant from Zonta was able to provide 27 free counseling services for domestic violence victims.

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Easterseals Joliet Region
Provides exceptional services, outreach, education, and advocacy so that veterans, people living with autism and other disabilities can live, learn, work and play in our communities. The grant will provide six (6) scholarships plus required supplies for 6 girls ages 8 -17 to attend a “Fun, Fit & Fab” program for the summer with a focus on empowering the girls with disabilities to find ways that they enjoy being active and healthy while meeting peers who may experience the same barriers.

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Spanish Community Center
This agency's mission is to help improve the quality of life for Latinos, immigrants, and low-income people through educational social services. The grant will provide 80 life coaching sessions to Spanish Community Center clients that cannot afford the cost for this service. Life Coaching is an 8-week program offered to clients in order to help them cope with their past and current traumas with professional therapists through virtual, weekly sessions.

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Warren Sharpe Community Center
The Center has a special commitment to serving youth, and operates innovative programs targeting at-risk grade school students, teens, young moms/dads, and youth involved in the juvenile justice system. Our grant will help support the Sankofa Art Project. The program will provide a platform for budding female photographers and videographers to share their stories of family, history and community. With the help of university students, ten girls (grades 7 – 10) will learn the technical and creative aspects of video and photographic storytelling, editing and exhibiting and will document their creative process and journey on a private Instagram account on the Center’s blog. The project will culminate with an Art in the Garden special event in June 2023 when the youth’s artwork will be exhibited and celebrated and be available at various Joliet locations as requested.                                      

For the past few years, the Zonta Club of the Joliet Area has contributed funds which directly support women in Herat, Afghanistan.  At the very active AIL (Afghan Institute of Learning) Jebreel Learning Center in Herat, the majority of its 1,477 students are female.  Some 19 types of classes are offered.  These include the very popular literacy courses and tailoring courses, embroidery, English, computers, miniature painting, beautician training, etc.  There is also a preschool.  Jebreel has become a valuable networking base for women and girls.  It costs $25 per student for a six month class.  Thus for every $1,000 our club provides, 40 Afghan women are able to study at the Jebreel Learning Center.