We are fundraising to provide 5 $1000 scholarships to 1st generation college students image

We are fundraising to provide 5 $1000 scholarships to 1st generation college students

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We are fundraising to provide Five $1000 scholarships to 1st generation college students

Since our founding in 2009, Athena's Warehouse has always provided annual scholarships to students regardless of citizenship status, or "resume buffers." We grant scholarships to our ladies who show up for themselves! The ladies who ask questions, are engaged with our programs and who aren't afraid to ask for help and grow.

Will you stand with young women and ensure financial support for students who are often overlooked by their own school guidance counselors?

About our participants: Our typical participant is a first generation citizen or an immigrant herself. It is not uncommon that the highest level of education for her parents is elementary school. She typically works and/or helps with family care, has no car and relies on public transit, and she wants to go to college but has barriers related to citizenship and economic accessibility. It is also not uncommon that she suffers from trauma including but not limited to self-harm, eating disorders, and sexual assault. Other things to note: overwhelmingly all participants report low feelings of self-worth; and overwhelmingly they all agree that helping others is important to them.

What our past scholarship recipients had to say:

Our current Executive Director received the then "Empowerment Scholarship", now "Warrior Scholarship" in 2012 as a freshman at Oglethorpe University. She used that scholarship to purchase books, school supplies and Marta passes she would not otherwise have been able to access without her $500.00 scholarship. As a biology major her average text book cost over $300.00 but having grown up with less all her life she was able to strategically spend her scholarship dollars on the things she needed most.

We rely on your support to grow our scholarship fund. From 2009-2019 we were only able to provide 3 scholarships. In 2020 we provided 4 scholarships including our 1st "continuing education scholarship," which went to a student currently enrolled in college.

When you support this campaign with $20.00 or more before June 30th 2022, you'll receive a thank you package containing an AW winter tote bag.


More about our Discover Your Inner Program:

Each week participants are educated on domestic violence, sexual health, emotional wellbeing, and how to apply for college. We work to increase academic curiosity by introducing students to careers & subjects that are not often covered in the classroom like, “Decolonizing Your Food, the field of Geographic Information Science, Civic Participation for citizens & non-citizens alike ect…”


We work at Cross Keys High School in Atlanta, GA. One of the most ethnically diverse schools in the metro area with 85% of students identifying as Latinx, 7% as Black, and 7% as AAPI. The school has a unique history of financial neglect from the school district juxtaposed with the surrounding increasingly affluent area. This environment breeds champions of hardship and community leaders who fight every day to overcome financial challenges while exceeding the expectations set by historical narratives.

Women of color experience high rates of Adverse Childhood Experiences such as abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction particularly those girls who are living in poverty. According to Connections Matter GA, “three out of five people in Georgia have experienced significant childhood trauma.” Children with a higher number of ACEs are more likely to score lower on standardized tests, have difficulties developing language skills, be suspended or expelled, or even fail a school grade. Girls are more likely than boys to have four or more ACEs. Adults experiencing four or more ACEs are twice as likely to have a heart attack, twice as likely to have severe financial problems, and are six times more likely to have clinical depression.
Research proves that ACEs do not have to be fatal and can be overcome by introducing positive experiences to children who live in poverty. Positive experiences can buffer bad experiences and when children feel connected to their community, when they know they can grow their social capital and experience positive relationships with adults and their peers the adverse impact of ACEs can be overcome! In order to achieve their academic and economic dreams, girls need more exposure to positive experiences such as yoga, meditation, 1-on-1 mentorship, gardening, cooking, resume writing workshops, and college essay writing workshops.
We need to expand our program to provide connectivity to resources as well as break down financial barriers to accessing higher education. Studies show that when black girls have access to a monthly earnings subsidy, sponsored health care, child care, and employment placement assistance that they are more able to access higher education so we need more funding to be able to provide these resources in-house. We want to increase our use of a strength-based approach, wherein we help students to secure their attachment to their ethnic group thus alleviating negative racially-based experiences in school and providing support for academic success. We would do this by taking field trips to places of historical relevance, bringing in experts, attending age-appropriate concerts, helping students connect with nature, and other activities which grow the sense of belonging to one’s ethnic group.
Most importantly we need funding to grow the reach of other programs serving our students. Even if we had infinite resources we still could not adequately serve the needs of every unique student. So we need to have resources exclusively for partnering with organizations and experts from and outside of our community so that we can grow an extensive and connected network that only grows our transformation opportunities.
In 2020 we held our first-ever summer program virtually which gave us the opportunity to work with students on their needs all year long. Since we were able to serve students all year long our we saw fantastic results in 2020:
  • 7% of participants were NOT sure if they were going to go to college when they entered the program and 100% of students reported they planned to attend college after the program
  • 35% reported being confident about being interviewed for a job at the start of the program and in the end 100% of students reported that they felt confident about their job interview
  • Only 10% of students were confident in finding help after experiencing or knowing a friend experience sexual assault after our program 90% of participants knew how to find help