In August 2020, Danielle Hawa Tarigha published her first book, Uplift and Empower: A Guide to Understanding Extreme Poverty and Poverty Alleviation. Increasing access to higher education is a core pillar of poverty alleviation work at a community level and aligns with the ideas she shares in the book.

To uplift and empower her community, Danielle partnered with the Public Education Foundation of Marion County to create the Uplift and Empower Scholarship Fund. Thanks to the generosity of her support network, the fund awarded two (2) $500 scholarships to high school seniors at Vanguard High School in May 2021 and matched both winners to mentors who will support them throughout their first year of college.

For the 2021 - 2022 Academic Year, the fund would like to raise $2,000 to support four students (two from Vanguard High School and two from public schools throughout Marion County).

Danielle launched the #ReadingtoUplift challenge (inspired by the Run for Heroes campaign) to make the fundraiser more interactive. To join, all you need to do is:

1. Read 5 pages of any book

2. Donate 5 dollars to this Uplift and Empower Scholarship GoFundMe

3. Nominate 5 of your friends to do the same thing