Friday, January 21, 2011

The Crayons Girls Draw With Self-Development Program

Visions of Rainy, Inc. is proud to partner with Raising Expectations, Inc. in a mission to make a positive impact on the inner city youth of Atlanta. Ten beautiful young ladies have been selected and awarded the LaVerne Douglas Scholarship in order to participate in Visions of Rainy, Inc. pilot after school program The Crayons Girls Draw With Self-Development at Kennedy Middle School. During the course of 19 weeks, these young ladies will be afforded classes in the following fields: Visual Art, Dance, Photography, Environment, Meditation, Yoga, Creative Writing, Theater and Multimedia. On a weekly basis the students will be sharing their life perspectives, art, vision, photographs and experiences will participating in this program. To show community support in their self-realization, please follow their entries leaving words of encouragement and input on The Crayons Girls Draw With blog site.

Visions of Rainy, Inc. thanks you in advance for the love, time and energy invested to support our mission of promoting the "Self-Literacy" of our youth via art education.

Sincerely,
Lorraine McCall, Founder | Executive Director

Friday, October 08, 2010

Saturday, October 02, 2010

Gift of Giving | The Color of A Black Girl Book

Donations of $2500 or more will receive a signed special limited edition of The Color of A Black Girl: Poetry, Prose & Visual Art Book packaged in doll box designed by Lorraine K. McCall. (See image)

Monday, July 05, 2010

The Color of A Black Girl is in Print!!!

Lorraine K. McCall is the Author and self-taught Artist of The Color of A Black Girl: Poetry, Prose & Visual Art. A compilation of words assigned to various mediums of art ranging from accrylic paintings to graphically altered photographs that depict her journey to date as an African American woman. Her book is the catalyst for her upcoming tea bag workshop entitled The Crayon Girls Draw & Write With offered to girls age 10 and older as well as women. She dedicates this book to Black Girls that are in search of their voice and are beginning to define and create their own tangents in life.

Excerpt |

Between the Blues that leaned on the walls of my mother’s bedroom and hung on the hangers attached to clothes, I knew in the third grade that it did not represent me. I requesting oranges, yellows, and reds for the following school year. While Blue was the only color to be seen at every turn, Black was the color spoken and assigned to me “Black Girl”, by the lips of my grandfather.

How was I to know what it meant if his words never confessed what he saw within my inner child? Who are Black Girls’ who are named by people they love? Who do Black Girls’ become in a world that seems uninterested in our plight not to be defined but merely just be? Who affirms Black Girls’ beauty and promotes their self-worth? Where do you find a Black Girl that is not in search for understanding or reflections that look like she? What does a Black Girl sound like in a crowded room? Does she even recognize her own voice?

My grandfather would never know my nickname would cause me to climb on top of the bathroom sink to study the pigment of my face in the mirror. Only later to compare my physical attributes to all the girls in my fifth grade class and declare myself ugly. It would be my reason not to smile and the reason to shy away from being the center of attention. Before the day I confidently spoke my disposition, it was words attached to paper that kept me safe, sound and ensured that I didn’t go missing at least not from myself. It became crucial for me to take heed to all that influenced me directly and indirectly. In order to move beyond the blacks, blues, pinks… spaces, faces of strangers who had no idea of the weight Black Girls’ carry when wanting to be more than what they are.

It would take ten years for me to discover that this name was given in recognition of what was within and out, when my grandfather proclaimed me “Queen of Sheba” before all I love and all who loved me. I am writing to say let us celebrate what Franz Fanon calls the “ability to absorb the effluvia of the universe”. Let us restore the bonds of Black Girls’ born to men named Arizona or birth sons we call AC or Sims. Let us not mistaken our color for anything less than Black Gold. So this book is for all the little and growing Black Girls that will one day become who ever they decide. This book is to affirm the beauty that lies within as well as out. For I only want to speak of the relevance of our physical and spiritual person who both have the need to beam brightly.

The Color of A Black Girl Submissions for 2011 2nd Series











The Color of A Black Girl is an annual series that will publish the visual art (all mediums) and writings of Black Girl 6 to 18 years of age. Visions of Rainy, Inc. is accepting submissions for the 2nd series of The Color Of a Black Girl 2011.

Rules:

  • A maximum of 4 submittals per child
  • Visual art should be submitted as pdf file with a resolution of 350
  • Poem/prose should have name and contact information in right hand corner of each page
  • 1 Page biography
  • Deadline: January 31, 2011
  • Send to: thecolorofablackgirl@gmail.com

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Scholarships for Minority Women

Scholarships for Minority Women
Actuary Scholarships for Minority Students
American Chemical Society Scholarships

American Geological Institute Minority Geoscience Student Scholarship
American Institute of Certified Public Accountants

American Political Science Association Minority scholarship list
Barbara Jordan Health Policy Scholars Program

Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation
The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta
Engineering for Minorities
Gates Millennium Scholars

International Education Financial Aid
The Jackie Robinson Foundation
(high school seniors only)
Jack Kent Cook Foundation Graduate Scholars Program
John L. Carey Accounting Scholarship
Kaiser Media Internships in Health Reporting

LGBT Scholarships
Microsoft Scholarships (for computer related degrees)
Morris K. Udall Undergraduate Scholarship (for environmental studies)
National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent Grant (SMART Grant)
Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education
Students of Color Scholarship
Unmet Need Scholarship

USA Funds

Scholarships for African -American Women
Herbert Lehman Education Fund
The Jackie Robinson Foundation
(high school seniors only)
Ron Brown Scholarship (high school seniors)
Black Excel Scholarship Gateways
Congressional Black Caucus Foundation
Dr. James M. Rosin Scholarship
Fisk Premedical Summer Institute / Minority Medical Education Program

General Mills Technology Scholars Award
Law School: MCCA Lloyd M. Johnson, Jr. Scholarship Program
NAACP Earl Warren Shearman and Sterling Law School Scholarship
NAACP Scholarships: Earl G. Graves Scholarship, Agnes Jones Scholarship, Lillian and Samuel Sutton Scholarship, Roy Wilkins Scholarship, and the Hubertus W.V. Williams Scholarship
National Association of Black Journalists

National Black Police Association
National Society of Black Engineers Scholarship List
Sallie Mae Fund American Dream Scholarship

Siemens Teacher Education Scholarship Program
Spieler, Rhea and Louis Scholarship Program
UNCF Merck Science Initiative
United Negro College Fund
Scholarships for Latina Women
Hispanic Scholarship Fund (also for college students)
Adelante US Education Leadership Fund
Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute
(Congressional Internship)
First in My Family Scholarship Program
Hispanic Alliance for Career Enhancement
Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities

Hispanic Internship Program
La Unidad Latina Foundation
Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund
National Association of Hispanic Journalists
Salvadoran American Leadership and Education Fund
State Farm Hispanic Scholarship Fund