The Christina-Taylor Green Memorial Scholarship

By educating young women and girls about the importance of politics, and imbuing them with the skills they need to be leaders, we give women the “running start” they need to achieve greater political power. With an earlier start in politics, women will climb higher on the leadership ladder, allowing more women to share in the decision making power of this country.

On January 8, 2011 nine-year-old Christina-Taylor Green went to a political event in Tucson, Arizona, to hear her Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords speak. Christina-Taylor was only nine, but she had already developed an interest in politics, and had just won a student government position at her school.

During the assassination attempt on Congresswoman Giffords, young Christina-Taylor was killed along with five other people.

To honor Christina-Taylor’s memory, Running Start has created a scholarship in her name for our flagship program, The Young Women Political Leadership Program. This program is held for a week every July in Washington, DC, and is a hands-on seminar educating our participants about politics, and teaching them what it takes to become a political leader.

This year, our program will be held July 18th – 23th at American University.

Although our program is geared for high school students, the Christina-Taylor Green Memorial Scholarship will be given to a mature young woman between 9 and 18 years old, from Southern Arizona who is already interested in politics and dreaming about running for office. The Christina-Taylor Green Memorial Scholarship will allow us to identify and mentor young girls like Christina-Taylor so that their spark of interest in politics and leadership increases as they move through high school, college and beyond.

Applications for The Christina-Taylor Green Memorial Scholarship are open from April 18 – June 1, 2011.  Girls age 9-18 from Southern Arizona are eligible to apply. Applications are available online at www.runningstartonline.org. Please note that girls under the age of 14 are required to bring a chaperone to the program.  The scholarship will include accommodations and airfare for the student and a parent or a guardian to attend the program with the scholarship winner.