Deadline this week for DECA young leadership scholarship

Community-minded young leaders graduating in Danforth East could collect a $2,000 scholarship from a local community-minded organization.

Applications are now open for the Second Annual DECA Young Leaders Scholarship, a local scholarship that highlights coaching, activism and leadership in community engagement and gives a hand up to local students.

“Community leadership is important for this neighbourhood and for the personal development of young people,” says Elizabeth Dove, spokesperson for DECA Connects, the DECA working group that aims to increase the neighbourhood’s sense of community by addressing local social issues. “Through this scholarship we want to recognize, encourage and support young leaders in our community.”

DECA (Danforth East Community Association) is a non-profit neighbourhood group that covers the area from Monarch Park to Main Street, Lumsden/Mortimer to the train tracks. To qualify for the scholarship, the student must live or go to high school in that catchment area, be 25 years or younger, “be graduating this year and have a plan to continue education, identify a financial need, and have a strong record of activism or engagement.”

Last year’s winner, Chantelle Johnson,  from Danforth Collegiate, used the money to help her with her first year of study at Humber College in Fashion Business Management.

The DECA scholarship is part of a larger scholarship program created by Scadding Court Community Centre in 2001 that has given out hundreds of thousands of dollars in scholarships to low-income students over the years.

Like last year, DECA will be raising money for the scholarship through a ping pong tournament at area parks in June.

The application deadline is March 24.

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