“As the founder of the Terra Brantley Foundation, thank you for visiting this website. I started the Foundation to fulfill a promise I made to myself when I was a struggling college student. During my sophomore year my family was separated and I had to leave school to give my mother my college money so we wouldn’t lose our home. While working as a hostess at a restaurant, a customer gave me a $1,500 tip that enabled me to go back to school and graduate as if I had never missed a beat. I never saw that customer again, but I promised myself that one day I would help someone else go to college, like the stranger helped me. This Foundation is the realization of that promise.” — Terra Brantley
The Foundation will partner with the Boys and Girls Clubs Smart Girls program to offer an annual $15,000 college scholarship to a high school junior or senior who is a graduate of the Smart Girls Program.
The scholarship is to be used at the college of her choice providing the student is pursuing a college degree in Creative Arts, Business, Education, Fine Arts, Internet/Digital/Web technology, Management or Media disciplines such as but not limited to: Broadcasting, Creative Writing, Dance, Film, Fine Arts, Graphic Arts, Journalism, Media, Music, News Gathering, Photography, Public Speaking, Sculpting, Theater or Television Production.
The Foundation will be responsible for funding the scholarship with an agreement that any monies donated to the Boys and Girls Clubs specifically for the scholarship will solely be used for that purpose. The scholarship will be applied toward tuition and fees and awarded in increments of $3,750 per semester to equal no more than four for a total of $15,000.
In 2022 and beyond the Foundation will expand the scholarship availability to include female students in all Northeast Indiana and Northwest Ohio Boys and Girls Clubs Smart Girl Programs.
Eligible scholarship applicants at the Boys and Girls Clubs must have a GPA of at least 3.0 and be heavily involved in community service. Each applicant will also be required to attend at least three career development workshops, the subject matter to be decided upon by the Board of Directors.
Additionally each applicant will be required to submit at least a 600 word essay on a topic to be chosen annually by the Foundation’s Board of Directors. The scholarship winner will be chosen based upon a combination of the highest essay score and highest level of community service score with 100 points total being the maximum an applicant can receive. A group of three to five judges will rate the essay on a scale of 1 to 10 in five different categories to be selected by the Board of Directors. The community service involvement will be judged likewise with five different categories also selected by the board.
The Foundation would request that during the recipient’s college career and at its completion, the recipient attend the Foundation’s annual fundraiser to give testimony about the benefits of the scholarship and Foundation workshops, to inspire others to apply. The goal is to provide a positive venue to cultivate under-represented minorities such as but not limited to: Women, Hispanic Americans, Africans and African Americans, Asian Americans, Americans of Middle-Eastern descent and Burmese Americans. The Foundation will help stimulate the local and regional socioeconomic base by serving as a pool from which other businesses can draw minority talent for internships, employment and/or volunteer work in the Creative Arts, Fine Arts, Communication/Media and other similar fields.
In addition to providing annual scholarships to a female college bound student in the Boys and Girls Clubs’ Smart Girls Brilliant Women program in Northeast Indiana and Northwest Ohio, starting in 2022, the Foundation will work to provide a $15,000 scholarship to a graduate of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Fort Wayne Passport to Manhood Program.
In 2022 the Foundation will partner with Genesis Outreach to provide a one-time $1,500, Second Chance Scholarship to an adult who is returning to school to secure a degree in any field.
The Foundation will be responsible for funding the scholarship with an agreement that any monies donated to Genesis Outreach specifically for the scholarship will solely be used for that purpose.
The Foundation will also partner with Genesis Outreach to provide local playwrights of any age, gender or sexual orientation the opportunity to enter and win a contest to have their one act play/musical production/spoken word performed during the annual Genesis Outreach Gala and potentially at other local, regional and national venues.
PRESIDENT / CEO
Terra Brantley | President & CEO, Fort Wayne Urban League
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Dr. Tom Blake, DDS | Dentist, Family Cosmetic Dentistry
Taylor Brantley | Associate Underwriter, MedPro Group
Albert Brownlee | Consultant, Genesis Outreach
Joe Jordan | CEO, Boys and Girls Club of Fort Wayne
Ngozi Rogers | CEO, QuestNcreate Marketing
Chris Stockamp | Realtor, Investors Property Mgmt.
Jane Surbeck | President, Allen Co. Christmas Bureau
Dr. Jeanne Zehr | CEO, The MindCAP Center