The Women's Leadership Council of United Way of Lake County was formed in the Spring of 2005 with 5 members, led by Brooke MacLean. The organization was founded to spearhead strategic imperatives aimed at improving the lives of women and children in Lake County. Women's Leadership Council (WLC) members supplement the efforts of United Way of Lake County staff, executing these programs through fundraising, community activism, mentoring,
and volunteer work.
The WLC's first accomplishment was the inception of the Kindergarten Readiness Calendar which
features 12 months of fun and simple cognitive and language-building activities that help parents
and caregivers prepare children under the age of 5 for kindergarten. The calendar concept required
intensive perseverance to develop, but the project went on to become an enormous success,
distributed by the tens of thousands and has since been statistically proven to positively impact
kindergarten readiness of Lake County children.
Today, the WLC has reached a membership of 100, with five working committees that actively
pursue several initiatives in partnership with United Way of Lake County and its Success By 6
early childhood education initiative.
