Live Your Dream Award

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Live Your Dream Award Logo

(formerly Women’s Opportunity Awards)

About the Program

The Live Your Dream Award (formerly the Women’s Opportunity Awards) program, Soroptimist’s major service project, aids women seeking to improve their economic status by gaining additional skills, training and education. The program helps women who, as the primary wage earners for their families, must improve their employment status by entering or returning to the work force.

Live Your Dream (LYD) applicants have faced severe hardships. These hardships have prevented them from pursuing and achieving their educational and professional goals. Most are single mothers and/or reliant on public assistance as their source of income. Many are domestic abuse survivors. Therefore, the LYD Awards helps these women rebuild their lives through improved employment opportunities.

Most importantly, this unique program supplies women with the resources they need to get ahead. Recipients may use the cash awards to offset any costs associated with their efforts to attain higher education, including tuition, books, supplies, childcare and car care. Each year, more than $1 million is awarded through the Live Your Dream Awards program. View this video to learn more about our program.

Live Your Dream Program Structure 

First, the program begins on the club level, where award amounts vary. SI Elk Grove awards 3 – $1,000 scholarships. Next, club-level recipients become eligible for additional awards at other levels of the organization. Finally, Soroptimist grants three $10,000 finalist awards each year.

Each year Soroptimist has funded almost $1.7 million in Live Your Dream Awards and assisted more than 1300 women. In total (including local club activity), approximately $30 million in Live Your Dream Awards has been disbursed to about tens of thousands of women since the program began in 1972.

How to Apply for Live Your Dream Award

First, awards are first granted at the club level. Fill out your application online here! To find out more information, email the region coordinator at LiveYourDream@soroptimistsnr.org. Be sure to include the area you live so she can put you in contact with local clubs.

Submittal deadline to SI Elk Grove is November 15th.

Deadline to Region from Club is February 1st.