Soroptimist International Of The Americas Inc Huntingtn Bch

Our mission is to improve the lives of women and girls through access to the education and training they need resulting in economic empowerment.

Soroptimist International of Huntington Beach is part of a global nonprofit, Soroptimist International, whose vision is that every woman and girl has the resources and opportunities to reach her full potential and live her dream. Soroptimist International was founded in 1921 in Alameda County, California and now includes 5 federations: Soroptimist International of the Americas, Great Britain & Ireland, Europe, South Pacific & Africa. Soroptimist International has consultative status at the United National as a non-government organization (NGO) and works with other NGO's on the sustainable development goals that affect women & girls, like gender equality and poverty. Soroptimist International of Huntington Beach was chartered in November 1963. The two signature programs of Soroptimist International of the Americas are the Live Your Dream Awards, a cash grant given to a woman, head of her household with at least one dependent who is accepted into or enrolled in an undergraduate program, a vocational or trade school or a certification program & Dream It, Be It Career Support for girls who face obstacles to success. The Live Your Dream Award begins at the club level and one awardee from each club has the potential to advance to the region and federation level. The goal of Soroptimist International of the Americas is to improve the lives of 500,000 women & girls by 2031 through these programs and others than have educational in nature & are led by Soroptimists. An example of another program would be giving scholarships to women who have not received a Live Your Dream Award.

Soroptimist International of Huntington Beach gave 15 Live Your Dream Awards in 2024. In June 2024, our club had 9 graduates: 1 with a BA and 8 with AA degrees. We have 1 who became a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, 1 who started her own business, 2 who are pursuing joint masters/PhD programs and more. We go "beyond the cash award" by adopting 4 single moms for our Soroptimist year (July 1-June 30) to assist with things like unexpected expenses, extracurricular activities for their kids, admission fees and to ensure that every holiday and special occasion is a joyous one. Our club collaborates with another Soroptimist club to deliver the Dream It, Be It Program to teen girls at a continuation high school plus we deliver a modified version of the program to low income 6th and 7th grade girls through another nonprofit, Higher Ground OC. In addition, our club is highly active in the fight to stamp out human slavery in all forms, working with Waymakers, the Salvation Army and the Orange County Human Trafficking Task Force and in 2022 became a founding member of a 4 county coalition of Soroptimist clubs. Our club also hosts a Day of Empowerment in collaboration with the Assistance League of Huntington Beach where 24-25 women are treated to a day "just for them" that includes a continental breakfast, a $100 shopping spree in the Assistance League Thrift Store, hair & make up services, an educational workshop, lunch (provided by Jersey Mike's), sharing and a "swag bag” plus off-site, licensed childcare, paid for by our club. We have a monthly virtual "Happiness Hour." for any woman who would like to be part of a community. We also provide support to senior women and the Youth Shelter in Huntington Beach run by Waymakers.

Our greatest need is financial. We are looking for sponsors for our Live Your Dream Program. Our total award spend year was $22,500 ($1500 per award) not including the cost of the awards program, additional gifts to awardees and applicants who did not receive an award and ongoing emergency or educational financial assistance. We are looking for sponsors for our Dream It, Be It Program which has been expanded to include larger gift cards, certificates of achievement & gifts & for the Day of Empowerment which currently has a $2000 budget covering the cost we pay for childcare. We are also looking for overall sponsors at the $5000, $10000 & $25000 level which have specific benefits for the sponsor. All sponsors are recognized on our website and social media. Donations of any size at any time are always welcome.

Although we are located in Huntington Beach, California our reach extends far beyond. Our Live Your Dream current and past awardees are from all over California including Bakersfield, Pomona, Fontana and Los Angeles. As a member of Soroptimist International, our work to empower women & girls is global.

Soroptimist International of Huntington Beach is an all-volunteer organization. Although we do not have paid staff, we still have operating expenses, like the cost of room rental for our business meetings, program meetings and fundraisers, our website hosting, tax accounting, insurance, postage and more.

I am so proud to be a member of Soroptimist International of Huntington Beach. To play a small part in the journeys that the women we serve and have served in the past are priceless. We are blessed to experience their successes with them. Our Live Your Dream honorees have gone on to graduate with 4-year degrees, some even have Master's degrees and we know of one who has a PhD and two others who are on their ways to achieving joint Master's/PhD's in their respective fields of Psychology and Audiology. And still others have purchased their first homes. Several have become members of our clubs because of the impact we have had on their lives and the lives of their children. We become part of their families and they part of ours. I chose to become a Soroptimist because, I wanted to make a difference in the lives of women and girls and being a member of this club has exceeded my most wild expectations. And it isn't just the women we serve, it's the members of our club who continue to step up to the plate and contribute in any way they are able to. Our biggest challenge is financial. We worry from year to year. Aside from the Live Your Dream Awards, our Dream It, Be It Programs and our Day of Empowerment, we also give scholarships to three community colleges, Golden West, Orange Coast & Coastline, a scholarship to one woman in the Project Self Sufficiency Program and another to a female high school student interested in dance, , the latter in honor of one of our past presidents who passed away at a young age who was a dancer.
We welcome all to attend our business meetings, either in person or virtually. Our business meetings are held the 2nd Thursday of each month from September through June. For more information about our club, visit our website at soroptimisthuntingtonbeach.org or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.