SOROPTIMIST INTERNATIONAL of VISALIA

Women's Opportunity Awards Luncheon

Soroptimist International of Visalia gives cash awards to assist women who serve as primary breadwinners for their families and seek to improve their economic status through additional training or education.

Women's Opportunity Awards enable these women to offset any costs associated with their efforts to attain a higher education, including child care and car expenses.

The Women’s Opportunity Awards program is Soroptimist International of the Americas major project. The program aids women who, as primary wage-earners for their families, must enter or return to the workforce. Many Women’s Opportunity Award winners are domestic abuse survivors who use the funds to help rebuild their lives while gaining additional skills, training and education to upgrade their employment status.

The program begins on the local club level, with club recipients becoming eligible for the region-level awards. Currently, the program culminates with three $10,000 federation-level awards. Each year, more than $1 million is disbursed through the program. Since the program’s inception in 1972, Soroptimist has disbursed approximately $20 million in Women’s Opportunity Awards. The Women’s Opportunity Awards program received the Award of Excellence from the American Society of Association Executives’ (ASAE) Associations Advanced America award program.

Soroptimist International of Visalia funds these awards, as well as other service projects on the local club level, by using proceeds from the annual Top of the Line Arts and Craft Show held the first weekend in November at the Visalia Convention Center. Applications will be available at College of the Sequoias, San Joaquin Valley College, Fresno Pacific University, and Golden State College or by contacting Anne Morehead at (559)732-9629. Completed applications must be returned to Soroptimist International of Visalia by December 15.