The 40th annual “I Have a Dream” Scholarship Ball in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on Saturday, Jan. 17, 6-11 p.m. at the Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center will be a special day to raise scholarship money for area students of color while celebrating some important milestones.
The event is hosted annually by Women in Focus Inc., a long-standing organization of women focused on promoting educational excellence and the healthy development of children of color in the Madison area. The non-profit organization has been hosting the MLK “I Have a Dream” Scholarship Ball and raising money for scholarships for students of color since the 1980s.
“This is going to be our big 40th anniversary event, and we are really looking forward to it and are hoping to hit a big milestone,” Women in Focus Inc. President Kendra Gassner tells Madison365. “We’re hoping to cross over the million-dollar mark in our overall money raised for scholarships for students over the years. Right now, we’re at $921,000 [raised]. So we’re hoping to get to the one-million-dollar mark at the event.”
The majority of the scholarships are awarded to graduating high school students seeking to continue their education post-high school through an undergraduate degree, trade-school program, technical college or other post-high school degree or certification.
Women in Focus Inc. began providing scholarships to students of color a few years after the organization was founded in 1983.
“This organization started as four women who were looking for community in a town where they were one of the ‘onlys’ working wherever they were, and it’s just kind of flourished into this organization that is pretty incredible,” Gassner says.
The emcee of the “I Have a Dream” Scholarship Ball will be Brandon Taylor, anchorperson for WKOW Channel 27. Typically, the Scholarship Ball has a program with some music and fellowship, networking, and dancing. This year, things are going to be a little different.
“This year, we are going to do a casino theme. So we have an entertainer coming and running the tables for us for the first couple hours of the evening, and obviously that’s going to be a fundraiser part of our event,” Gassner says. “And then we’ll have a short program, and then we’ll wrap the evening with some dancing.”
Each guest will receive a voucher for $500 of chips for the gaming, and at the end of the games, the chips can be exchanged for raffle tickets for fabulous prize packages.
The Ball will be an elegant, festive evening to celebrate 482 Women in Focus scholarships awarded since 1986 and to raise money for scholarship funding for 2026. The event also serves as a family reunion for the Women in Focus scholarship winners from over the years, who are part of a family that has grown quite large over the decades.
“We’ve invited some of our scholars to come back, so we’ll be acknowledging any of the scholars in the audience that day. So, yeah, we’re hoping to have it be a nice, big celebration,” Gassner says.
The keynote speaker for the 40th annual MLK “I Have a Dream” Scholarship Ball will be Maia Pearson, a native Madisonian and former WIF scholarship winner who serves as a vice president of the board of education for the Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD). Pearson also currently works as the program coordinator of the Mann Scholars program, where she helps students succeed in schools throughout the MMSD.
(Photo courtesy of Women in Focus Inc.)
“We are so happy to have Maia speaking at this event. Maia is a 2006 Women in Focus Scholarship winner. She’s going to come back and be our keynote speaker this year, and we’re really excited to have her,” Gassner says. “She’s definitely had an impact on our community as well. We’re really proud to call her a Women in Focus scholarship winner.”
The Women in Focus Inc. scholarships help bridge educational gaps and provide opportunities for individuals who have historically faced discrimination and disadvantages. Each spring, the winners of the scholarships are honored at the annual Women in Focus Scholarship Reception held at the Goodman Community Center on Madison’s East Side.
Seniors and returning students of color in the Madison area are encouraged to apply for the 2026 WIF scholarships. This year’s Women in Focus scholarship application closes on Valentine’s Day.
“Then we take about two or three weeks to go through all of the [scholarship] applications, and we make our selection. And in that time, we have usually figured out how much money we were able to raise from our fundraising event, so that we know how many scholarships we can give out,” Gassner says. “And early March is when we’ll let the scholars know whether they have been awarded a scholarship or not, and then we acknowledge them and their families in a nice event in April at Goodman Community Center.”
And the major fundraising for all of these scholarships happens on the 40th anniversary “I Have a Dream” Scholarship Ball on Jan. 17 that will include a night of exciting casino games, a delicious buffet dinner, an inspirational program, dancing, a raffle, a wine pull, and more.
There are still some tickets and sponsorships available for the event.
“This is a formal event. We are hoping to connect with local community people and listen to some good speakers. We’re looking to have more of a party vibe this year as opposed to a program vibe,” Gassner says. “We will be giving out a sponsor award. It’s a great fundraiser for a great cause, and an opportunity to come out and have a date night and have fun.”
