Circle De Luz radically empowers young Latinas by supporting and inspiring them in the pursuit of their possibilities through extensive mentoring, programming, and scholarship funds for further education. You can help us achieve our goals.
In fact, you can help reach your own goals of reaching out to others and self-fulfillment; one of our recent M’ijas commented that even though she had been in tune with the mission of Circle de Luz since its inception, she finally felt secure enough in her own career to make the monetary commitment. It was her belief in herself that made her want to give back by committing to the giving circle. Isha Ashan Lee said: “Making a six-year commitment made me nervous because I’m early in my career and times are uncertain. I did it because I know I work hard and will always have enough to share with the next generation of women. There were women who always had enough time and treasure to share with me as a girl, so I can’t shy away from doing the same.” Please join our giving circle today.
In late August, we will select the Circle de Luz Class of 2016 from the current seventh graders at Albemarle Middle School in Charlotte, North Carolina to begin the program. From now until the girls reach high school graduation, we will support them with mentoring and comprehensive programming to help them achieve their goal of graduating from high school and pursuing further education. When they graduate from high school and enroll in the educational opportunity of their choice, we will support them with a minimum of a $5,000 scholarship provided to them by women, we call them M’ijas, from all over the country that pool their resources in a giving circle for the six years the girls are finishing their secondary education.
We need your help in radically empowering these young women to live the lives they have imagined. So far, we have enough M’ijas to select two girls into the program and we’re hoping to have at least five more. M’ijas can have any background and can live anywhere. As a M’ija, you make a commitment to donate a minimum of $90 a year for six years to the scholarship fund that will support the Class of 2016’s Hijas (our scholarship recipients who are selected as seventh graders). You do not need to make your donation for the 2010-2011 school year at this time. In fact, all we need right now is your Letter of Commitment. We then ask that ½ of your year’s commitment be paid by September 15 and the other half by March 15, 2011 (don’t worry, we’ll send you a reminder when the time comes!). All scholarship donations are placed in a CD or money market account designated for our Class of 2016 Hijas so interest can begin to accrue and provide them with an even more robust scholarship by the time they graduate. The Letter of Commitment is attached, and you are welcome to mail, scan and email, or fax it by following the directions on the form. Please take a look at our video at www.circledeluz.org to understand why this effort is so important. Please join our team and giving circle!
Important statistics:
Latinos have the highest dropout rate of all racial and ethnic groups.
Adolescent girls who had a serious school failure- like dropping out- are significantly more likely to suffer a severe bout of depression. In fact, thirty-three percent of girls who drop out later become depressed. Researchers believe this might be because girls more acutely suffer the worst consequences after dropping out like higher poverty levels, higher dependence on public assistance, and lower rates of job stability.
A third of Latinas who dropped out cited marriage or pregnancy as the reason.
Fifty-three percent of Latinas will become pregnant at least once before the age of 20.
Thank you for helping us radically empower the lives of girls!
