Mujeres it's time to step up to the plate

Did you know that:

• Nearly three of 10 Latinos, including recent immigrants, were dropouts (27.5 percent) [cite];
• Forty-one percent of Latinas do not graduate from high school on time with a standard diploma [cite]
  
• 53 percent become pregnant before age 20. [cite]

So if a Latina can work her way thru high school and get into college, she should be able to go. But often we can't afford to go. That is why Rosie Molinary has set up Circle de Luz:

This fall, Circle de Luz will select the second Circle de Luz class from the seventh grade class at Ranson Middle School in Charlotte, North Carolina. From September 2009 until the girls reach high school graduation, Circle de Luz supports them with mentoring and comprehensive programming to help them achieve their goal of graduating from high school and pursuing further education. When they graduate from high school and enroll in the educational opportunity of their choice, Circle de Luz awards them with a minimum of a $5,000 scholarship provided to them by women, called M’ijas, from all over the country that pool their resources in a giving circle for the six years the girls are finishing their secondary education. M’ijas can have any background and can live anywhere. They make a commitment to donate a minimum of $90 a year for six years to the scholarship fund that will support the Class of 2015’s Hijas (our scholarship recipients who are selected as seventh graders).

Can you be a M'ija? Can you commit to giving $90 for the next six years? Or heck, give it all ($540) if you can!

Rosie is looking for 20 new women to commit by MONDAY! So take a day or two to think and then act...if you can. Rosie even accepts the donation in two payments.

And Rosie? I'm committing to it right now.

To learn more about Circle de Luz and read about the fab things that Rosie is doing with these young mujeres, please visit their blog.