Dreams for Youth Scholarship Program Stories of Success
Laura Perez: The Retreat
Starting in 2011, United Way of Long Island partnered with the Long Island Women’s Fund to provide community service scholarships of $1,000 each to the Shapiro-McCormick Young Woman Leaders. The community service scholarships funded through the Dreams for Youth Scholarship Fund provide the young women with opportunities to help their respective community service organizations. The Shapiro-McCormick Young Woman Leader Award recognizes an exceptional young woman who:
- Advocates for girls within her school or community
- Makes a difference in the lives of young women, through philanthropy, advocacy, or other community service efforts
- Has faced obstacles and taken risks to pursue her goals despite the views of others
- Has a vision beyond her years and brought others to that vision
- Shows leadership and promise as a future leader for women’s causes
Laura's Project: The Retreat
Laura’s community service project is to raise awareness for the Retreat, a licensed domestic violence shelter and agency that provides residential housing services for women and children who are the victims of domestic violence. The Retreat also offers a 24-hour hotline, legal advocacy, individual and group counseling services and nutritional workshops. Her service project funded through her DREAMS for Youth scholarship is to raise awareness for the Retreat and to advocate for women’s rights against domestic violence with 7th and 8th graders in her local middle school. She intends to develop several projects with the young women in her middle school and to develop a National Teen Violence Dating Awareness Month project in February.