The origin of JCI (Junior Chamber International, Inc.) can be traced as far back as 1910 to the city of St. Louis, Missouri, USA, where a young man named Henry “Hy” Giessenbier dared to dream “impossible dreams.” Giessenbier was born on June 26, 1892, and was raised in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1910, Giessenbier and his friends first formed the Herculaneum Dance Club with the main objective of advancing the social standing of its members. That objective changed when Giessenbier realized how much more young people could accomplish for their communities and for themselves, if, inspired by noble ideals, they worked together. This led to the foundation of Junior Chamber International with eight other countries in 1944.
Today, JCI is a membership-based nonprofit organization of 200,000 young people, aged 18 to 40 years, spread among 5,000 communities and present in more than 100 countries around the world. Each JCI Member shares the belief that in order to create lasting positive change, we must improve ourselves and the world around us.
We seek targeted solutions to the unique problems in our communities to build a better world, creating global impact.