Teamwork Makes Dreams Come True
The Live Your Dream: Education and Training Awards for Women is SIA’s cornerstone program with 52 years of impact and lives changed to support it. Over 41,000 women have received over $41 million to support their dreams while they pursue their education as the primary financial provider for themselves and their dependents.
Most women apply to their local club and, if chosen, receive an award and support from Soroptimists who are their neighbors and fellow community members. But not all applicants are lucky enough to live close to a club—women who are more than 75 miles from their closest club in the US and Canada are called “SIAHQ Applicants” and are judged at SIA headquarters by volunteers.
For the 23/24 club year, SIAHQ received 861 applications from these women not close to a club—and we only had the budget to give 60 women an award! That means that if those applications all stayed at headquarters, each woman would have only a 7% chance of receiving an award. Women typically fare much better at the club level, where applicants average a 47% chance of receiving an award.
Our staff, especially Program Coordinator Sarah Detwiler, worked furiously to redistribute applications and find clubs that were willing to consider women who were perhaps from their state or province, but not close by, or from even further afield within their region. The generosity of these clubs to consider non-local applications mean that these women had a much better chance of receiving an award and additional support to live their dreams. Additionally, many clubs shared applications with others in their region to help ensure all clubs with funding to share were able to distribute that to support women’s dreams.
“This collaboration between clubs, regions, and headquarters staff to ensure all women have a fair shot at receiving an award is a great example of the Soroptimist spirit, and propels us forward towards our Big Goal of investing in the dreams of half a million women and girls through access to education.”
We’d like to thank the clubs listed below for knowing that Soroptimist service doesn’t end at the borders of your town and accepting non-local applications!
THANK YOU
SI/Whitefish, MT (Northwestern Region)
SI/Wickenburg, AZ (Golden West Region)
SI/Las Cruces, NM (Golden West Region)
SI/Boise, ID (Peaks to Plains Region)
SI/Treasure Valley, ID (Peaks to Plains Region)
SI/Tuscaloosa, AL (Southern Region)
SI/Cody, WY (Peaks to Plains Region)
SI/San Diego, CA (Desert Coast Region)
SI/Hancock County Area, OH (Midwestern Region)
SI/Algona, IA (Peaks to Plains Region)
SI/Lincoln, NE (Peaks to Plains Region)
SI/Fremont, OH (Midwestern Region)
SI/Davis, CA (Sierra Nevada Region)
SI/Illiana, IL (Midwestern Region)
SI/Cambridge, ON (Eastern Canada Region)
SI/Grand Erie, MI (Eastern Canada Region)
SI/Guelph, ON (Eastern Canada Region)
SI/Haldimand-Norfolk, ON (Eastern Canada Region)
SI/Peterborough, ON (Eastern Canada Region)
SI/Thunder Bay, ON (Eastern Canada Region)
SI/York Region, ON (Eastern Canada Region)
SI/Abbotsford-Mission, BC (Western Canada Region)
SI/Calgary, AB (Western Canada Region)
SI/Canada West Online (Western Canada Region)
SI/Edmonton, AB (Western Canada Region)
SI/The Langleys, BC (Western Canada Region)
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