DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. | Rainbow Alliance, an organization benefiting LGBTQ youth in Volusia and Flagler counties, has launched a scholarship program for students in the community looking to attend college.
Ranging from $500-1,000, the scholarships can be applied for by any LGBTQ student in Volusia and Flagler who plan to attend a college, university or post-secondary vocational program between July 1, 2020 and June 30, 2021. The grant can be used on tuition, campus room and board, books or supplies.
“They just simply add to a student’s other forms of income,” Rainbow Alliance Chairman Paul Edson says. “There’s going to be an opportunity to buy books more readily or perhaps get more meals, pay their tuition.”
Edson says the recipients of the scholarships will be chosen by a Scholarship Selection Committee, separate from the Rainbow Alliance’s board, to keep everything fair. The committee will consist of diverse individuals from various academic backgrounds who are sympathetic to the struggles and issues within the LGBTQ community.
The Rainbow Alliance has given out 14 LGBTQ scholarships in the past. One of the group’s most recent recipients is Miguel Moore, an Argentinean student studying aerospace engineering at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach. Moore applied for the scholarship after transferring from Argentina and getting more involved with the local LGBTQ community in Daytona Beach.
Moore has been the president of three LGBTQ clubs on his Embry-Riddle campus — PRIDE, OSTEM and NGPA — and has been a vocal activist for LGBTQ students.
“I’m very committed to bringing visibility on campus and in our community,” Moore says. “I’ve been talking to a lot of university officials and staff here on how to make things better and how to accommodate people from our community.”
Since receiving the scholarship, Moore has attended several meetings with the Rainbow Alliance and has built a connection with the board. He believes this scholarship not only helps LGBTQ students financially but also helps to increase awareness on campus of the local LGBTQ community and lets them know that there are resources for them.
“Engineering is not a career that many associate with a gay man, so I thought engineering was going to be hard as a gay man because I thought I wouldn’t find a lot of people like me,” Moore says. “Organizations like this exposed me to people like this. They are queer. They are doing engineering like me. We are out there.”
Application forms can be found online at VFRainbow.org and at the Alliance’s Facebook page. Applications can be typed or handwritten and mailed to Volusia-Flagler Rainbow Alliance, Attn: Scholarships, 3520 W. International Speedway Blvd., Daytona Beach, FL 32124.
The deadline for application submission is April 1.
