Live Your Dream Award
Applications are now being accepted! See if you qualify.
Soroptimist Raleigh: We Empower Girls & Women
Soroptimist Raleigh is a local club of Soroptimist International. Soroptimist is a global volunteer organization that provides women and girls with access to the education and training they need to achieve economic empowerment. The name, Soroptimist, means “best for women,” and that’s what the organization strives to achieve. Soroptimists are women at their best, working to help other women to be their best.
Our service projects collaborate extensively with women’s groups, governmental agencies, educators, international and statewide coalitions, and concerned citizens. In terms of our local service projects:
Live Your Dream
The Soroptimist Live Your Dream: Education & Training Awards
for Women program is our signature service project. This award aids women who are the primary wage earners for their families and are seeking to improve their economic status by gaining additional skills, training and education.
Live Your Dream Plus
In our “Live Your Dream Plus” program we follow up with our awardees for up to three years, mentoring them to afford ongoing support both non-financial as well as financial. With our Live Your Dream Plus program, our awardees know that there is a network of women who are ready to help in any number of ways.
Dream It Be It
Dream It Be It targets girls in secondary school who face obstacles to their future success. It provides girls with access to professional role models, career education and the resources to live their dreams.
Real Stories
Here are a few stories of some recipeints of the Live Your Dream Awards. Perhaps they will encourage you to take the steps to achieve your dreams, big or small.
Cecilia – 2024 Live Your Dream Awardee
Cecilia is a junior at Meredith College and expects to graduate in 2025 with a bachelor’s degree in biology, and then continue on to dental school. She currently works part-time as a pediatric dental assistant, and is the mother of 3 boys, ages 6, 2 and 1. Cecilia...
Giordanna – 2024 Live Your Dream Awardee
Giordanna is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in hospitality at North Carolina Central University. She works full-time and has one son. In 2021, Giordanna experienced a series of challenges that led to deep depression and weight loss. First, she was involved...
Shannon – 2024 Live Your Dream Awardee
Shannon is enrolled at Wake Technical Community college majoring in Psychology, with an expected graduation in June 2024. A Raleigh native, Shannon is the youngest of eight children and the first member of her family to attend college. As a single mother of three...
News and Events
Live Your Dream Award Recipient Receives Promotion
Congratulations to Latisha Wooten, center, a 2021 Live Your Dream Award recipient, for being promoted to a testing teacher assistant (with her own office!) at Ligon Magnet Middle School. The well-deserved promotion recognizes Latisha’s talents, especially working with...
Raleigh Soroptimists at Dress For Success
Above image: Sarah, Mary Ann & Karen (l-r) helped staff the Fall Boutique Sale. At SI/Raleigh, we are deeply committed to our partnership with Dress for Success, a remarkable organization in Raleigh that has been integral to our mission for many years. In 2001, we...
SIA 48th Biennial Convention
In July, Soroptimist Raleigh members Carolyn Skowron and Lashonda White traveled to Bellevue, Wash., for the Soroptimist International of the Americas (SIA) 48th Biennial Convention. The inspiring event brought together nearly 700 members representing 360 Soroptimist...