Dream lives on with scholarship program

The dream is continuing.

That’s how Deanna Green introduced the new I Have A Dream scholarship program, which recently launched its first application period. The scholarship is in honor of Mary Granger, who founded the I Have A Dream Southwest Washington program with 60 fourth-graders and their families at Washington Elementary in 1995. She died in 2010.

That program officially ended in 2017, but Granger had visions of continuing it with a scholarship, said Green, the scholarship manager and program associate for the Community Foundation for Southwest Washington. The foundation, which Granger helped create in 1984, is managing the new scholarship program.

The I Have A Dream Southwest Washington program helped more than 300 kids in four low-income neighborhoods graduate from high school and move to higher education or career training. The program found sponsors and mentors for those students.

This new scholarship is designed to provide post-secondary financial assistance for those who have participated, or whose parents participated, in the I Have A Dream Southwest Washington program. The scholarship is also open to students who are currently living in, or were previously enrolled in, foster care within Clark County.

“Working with students, sponsors realized there was a need for this,” said Green, who worked for the local I Have A Dream program for more than 20 years. “This gives an extended support to those students who might be struggling in our community and provide them a sense of hope.”

The scholarship program will initially award up to $20,000 per year, with individual awards coming between $2,000 and $5,000 per student, Green said. She added that the scholarship program is partially funded by money left over from the I Have A Dream program and other donations. The scholarship program has a little more than $483,000 currently, according to Green.

According to a release from the scholarship program, 90 percent of the 300-plus participating students graduated high school on time.

Applications are due by Dec. 3, and all eligible applicants are encouraged to apply online. More details, including a link to the application, can be found by visiting www.cfsww.org/how-we-grant/scholarships.