ZAMI Awards 17 Scholarships

On Sat September 30th, friends and family gathered at the First Existentialist Congregation to honor remarkable scholars from around the country. Fourth Tuesday was among the donors for the 2006 Audre Lorde Scholarships. Since 1997, ZAMI has awarded over $100,000 to out lesbians and gay men of color who are making significant contributions to their communities.

Shirley Adams (Co Chair), with FT 2006 scholarship recipients Karen G Williams and Ruth (Rita) Senecharles
photo by Connie Cross

Fourth Tuesday’s fundraising events made it possible to sponsor two scholarships. Karen Williams, a second year PhD candidate at CUNY, is exploring the critical intersections for gender, race, sexuality and class as it relates to the criminalization of women. Ruth Senecharles, a freshman at Southern Connecticut State U., studies the skills needed to run her own after school program for children from low income families as well as LGBT youth. Both women are passionate about giving to their communities.

The Scholars, Performers, Donors and ZAMI created an evening full of emotion and the excited energy of a younger generation eager to carry the torch for the trailblazers who came before them. Our congratulations to everyone.

The Board and Membership would like to extend a Big Thank You to Pat Coggins and her committee of hard workers who put together our spring Golf Tournament. Those of you Golfers who played are also to be Thanked because the money that was raised by the tournament funded these two scholarships.

ZAMI, Inc. is a not-for-profit collective for lesbians of African descent residing in the Atlanta Metropolitan area. ZAMI’s primary mission is to empower and affirm the lives of lesbians of African descent through scholarships, leadership development, support/ discussion groups, social activities, drum performances, outreach and education.