SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 1, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- 1,000 Dreams Fund (1DF), the national non-profit that provides micro-grants to young women in the U.S., today revealed during a livestream from Twitch's headquarters the inaugural group of 1DF - Twitch BroadcastHER Grant recipients. These 50 aspiring female gamers and broadcasters, chosen from a field of more than 600 applicants, will be awarded grants ranging from $500 - $2,000 for items that align with 1DF's funding mission, including conference travel, equipment upgrades and more.

The first BroadcastHER Grant winners are:

Announced during an interactive livestream hosted by popular Twitch creator Tina Degenhart (@ShadowFoxTV), the 50 BroadcastHER Grant recipients represent a diverse array of emerging talent in the burgeoning esports, gaming and live broadcasting industry. Recipients stream from different parts of the world, including North America, Europe, Asia, South America and Australia.

"Playing and streaming games has emerged as a powerful global industry," said 1DF founder and CEO, Christie Garton. "The support of partners like Twitch and members of its community as well as technology powerhouse HARMAN is giving us the global reach and scale to impact young women in places like Russia, Brazil and Argentina, as well as here in the United States with dreams of pursuing careers in this important industry."

The 1DF BroadcastHER Initiative grew out of the financial funding gap for young women in the ever-expanding gaming and broadcasting space. The 1DF BroadcastHER Grants are funded in part by the nearly $50,000 raised by 30 female Twitch creators during the 1DF Streams for Dreams charity event hosted on Twitch in March 2018.

Applications Now Open for BroadcastHER Academy - Powered by HARMAN
Given the popularity of gaming and streaming, 1DF and its partners are finding new ways to support the careers of women in this rapidly growing sector. 1,000 Dreams Fund was joined by David Glaubke, Director of Communications, HARMAN, to open applications for the new BroadcastHER Academy – Powered by HARMAN, which will run from October 2018 to September 2019. Announced at the E3 Expo in June, HARMAN has committed to fund $1,000 scholarships to 24 established female broadcasters that create educational content that inspires others to pursue opportunities in streaming and gaming and across the live video broadcast marketplace. All BroadcastHER Academy grant recipients will also receive a pair of JBL Everest 710 Wireless headphones.

"HARMAN has very ambitious diversity and inclusion goals that aim to create opportunities for women of all levels across our global enterprise," explains Glaubke.  "The 1,000 Dreams Fund BroadcastHER Academy utilizes a similar approach, encouraging women to educate and empower other future leaders."

To apply for the Powered by HARMAN scholarship or for more information on the 1,000 Dreams Fund BroadcastHER Initiative and related programs, please visit https://1000dreamsfund.org/apply/1000-dreams-funds-broadcasther-academy/.

About the 1,000 Dreams Fund 
The 1,000 Dreams Fund (1DF) is a national scholarship fund for American girls in high school and college. 1DF believes that big expenses should never stand in the way of big dreams. Since its launch in November 2015, over $100,000 in funding has been granted to talented young women in need, helping them pay for the "extras" in school like study abroad, tech devices for the classroom and travel to conferences and seminars. 1DF has been featured in NBCNews.com, USA Today, MarketWatch, Forbes, Huffington Post, Chicago Tribune, Entrepreneur, TODAY and others. To learn more about 1DF, visit http://1000dreamsfund.org/.

About Twitch
Twitch is the leading social video service and community for gamers where tens of millions of people come together each day from all over the globe to interact around live and on-demand content. This includes watching, talking, and chatting about video games and esports, as well as traditional sports, anime, music, the creative arts, and other shared interests. Twitch also runs TwitchCon, the annual convention for celebrating the Twitch community. For more information about Twitch, visit our Press Center, Twitter feed (#Twitch), and Blog. 

About HARMAN
HARMAN (harman.com) designs and engineers connected products and solutions for automakers, consumers, and enterprises worldwide, including connected car systems, audio and visual products, enterprise automation solutions; and services supporting the Internet of Things.  With leading brands including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, Mark Levinson® and Revel®, HARMAN is admired by audiophiles, musicians and the entertainment venues where they perform around the world. More than 50 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and connected car systems. Our software services power billions of mobile devices and systems that are connected, integrated and secure across all platforms, from work and home to car and mobile. HARMAN has a workforce of approximately 30,000 people across the Americas, Europe, and Asia. In 2017, HARMAN became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

MEDIA CONTACTS

Tony Labriola for 1,000 Dreams Fund
tony@thinkinsideout.com

Chase for Twitch
chase@twitch.tv

Alex Wittner for HARMAN
alex.wittner@icrinc.com

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SOURCE 1,000 Dreams Fund