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Winner of the Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund - March 3, 2009
Michelle Scott Honored with $5,000 Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund Award
March 3, 2009

Saratoga Springs, Utah Resident Wins Cash Award To Support Comfort Literacy Program For Women Of Navajo Nation


(New York, NY, March 3, 2009) – Saratoga Springs, Utah resident Michelle Scott, is one step closer to fulfilling her dream of creating a better tomorrow for her community. Michelle was named this week’s winner of the Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund, a weekly $5,000 cash award program from Avon Products, Inc. to support individuals in their work to empower women. She is the first recipient of a Hello Tomorrow Fund award in Utah since the program launched in 2007, and was selected by an expanded panel of judges that includes Sarah Ferguson, The Duchess of York, and actress Phylicia Rashad. Michelle will use her award to support Skilled2Succeed, a computer literacy program to help empower victims of domestic violence and single mothers on the Navajo Nation.

The Navajo Nation is the largest Native American tribe in the United States. Approximately 27,000 square miles spanning over Utah, Arizona and New Mexico are populated by nearly 300,000 Navajos. While in traditional Navajo culture, women controlled the land, owned a home, and played a prominent role in the decision-making process, pressures to Americanize the Navajo culture have yielded a shift in familial authority to a male head of household. As a result, domestic violence and single motherhood are common problems for many Navajo women. Test scores indicate that Navajo women perform at lower levels than the nation’s lowest-performing schools and many lack the proper resources to help make proactive life decisions.

Michelle created Skilled2Succeed by combining her knowledge of technology with her experience working with single mothers in her Utah community. While employed at Certiport, the global administrator of Certiport Internet and Computing Core Certification (IC³®) and the official Microsoft® Office certification program, Michelle came to see the importance of technology education in today’s society. She was also inspired by a call-to-action from Navajo Nation’s First Lady, Vikki Shirley in which Shirley addresses the need for women’s empowerment in the Navajo community as a means to reduce domestic violence. Michelle responded by committing herself to the launch Skilled2Succeed in the Navajo community where she links technology to life skills, culture, and history. Michelle has the dedication to make the program succeed, but lacked the funds to support it sufficiently. That is where the Hello Tomorrow Fund can help.

With help from the Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund, Skilled2Succeed will help many disadvantaged Navajo women become better educated by providing core computer skills in an effort to promote productivity in their lives. Michelle will use her award to train Skilled2Succeed Authorized Instructors to lead the program on the Navajo Nation. In conjunction with fundamental computer skills, the curriculum will also focus on career advancement and life skills. Computer literacy offers the women an advantage for continuing their education, and a resume-building credential for employment opportunities.

Lastly, Skilled2Succeed will offer a digital social network. “I believe this will assist Navajo women of all ages to improve themselves and their families, thus helping the whole Navajo Nation,” Michelle says.

Michelle’s winning application to the Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund met the criteria of clearly presenting unique and achievable objectives to empower women or girls and ultimately improve society. It was selected from a pool of strong contenders by an expert panel of judges, including personal finance expert Suze Orman, actress Phylicia Rashad, Sarah Ferguson, The Duchess of York, and experts in business and grantmaking. “The social challenges that Native American women face are complex and daunting,” commented Sarah Ferguson on Michelle’s proposal. “This program represents a realistic and pragmatic means for helping these women access skill training and move toward higher esteem and independence.”

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