Barry Miller founded the 49 Fund, an LGBTQ youth scholarship in the aftermath of the Pulse nightclub shooting. Barry believes he was at Pulse on opening night. It was a nice place to go, the white room was really exotic.
After the shooting his phone lit up. Everyone wondered what could be done. Monday was the vigil at the Dr. Phillips Center. The magnitude of what had happened didn’t really sink in until that vigil. He walked home after the vigil and just sat on the steps of his condo and it sunk in. How could this happen, and how could it happen here? Then he realized he needed to do something. The community needed to do something. How could some good come out of this? That is when he thought about the 49 Fund.
Barry came from an education family. His father was the first in his family who earned a college degree. Education was very important. What better way to memorialize those lost lives than to have their memories go on forever than to give college educations through scholarships.
The fund was founded through the Central Florida Foundation which manages about 400 non-profits in Orlando. He also partnered up with the Center to create the 49 Fund. Leadership is important, Infrastructure for that leadership is important.
The goal is to give out 10 scholarships for $4,900 each. One year after the shooting the first scholarships were given out. The ultimate goal is to raise 1 million dollars. With that much money, it becomes an endowment. Just the interest in the investment should raise the $50,000 needed for the scholarships. Most people didn’t thing it could be done.
AP picked up the story about the fund and we were in 600 news outlets around the county. There was a lot of attention. Most contributions were small. Students could give $4.90. A small business could give $4,900. Every dime raised goes into the scholarships. There is no overhead.
Anyone is eligible in the six county metropolitan area. Applications are online. The need needs to be shown and an essay and letters of recommendation need to be included. One of the questions asked of applicants is, ‘How did the Pulse tragedy affect your life?’ Anyone who gets the scholarship needs to commit to taking a role in the leadership of the LGBT community in the future. If something like the Pulse nightclub shooting happens again we need to have leaders in place who are ready. The age range was from 17 years old to 37 years old.