A day after the massacre at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, as downtown church bells tolled 49 times for the dead, signaling the end of a massive vigil at the Dr. Phillips Center, attorney Barry Miller walked home through the crowd and sat on the steps of his Lake Eola condo.
Across the way, he could see the lake’s famous fountain lit in rainbow hues.
“I’ve lived in Orlando since 1983, and this community was not always so accepting,” he said. “But as I sat there that day, still holding the candle from the vigil, having seen Christians and Muslims …. and gay and straight … all walks of life and every age come together, I was so moved. I knew I wanted to do something to continue to make this community better.”
This week, Miller, a businessman and patron of the arts, announced the result of that soul-searching — a scholarship fund exclusively for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in Central Florida, believed to be the region’s first. It is, he said, a chance to give a future to an LGBT leader in honor of those whose lives were cut short.
With leaders from The Center, Central Florida’s LGBT community center, Miller has launched The 49 Fund. On the one-year mark of the tragedy — June 12, 2017 — the fund will award $4,900 each to up to 10 local students for use at any accredited college or university.
Miller’s eventual target is to raise $1 million for the fund, perhaps by year’s end, enough to create an endowment for the fund to continue in perpetuity.
Terry DeCarlo, The Center’s executive director, said the scholarship idea is particularly apt given the youth of so many of the 49.
“As young as these kids were — because I think of them as kids — I keep thinking how they could have grown up to do amazing things,” DeCarlo said. “One of them could have become president.”
The Center’s staff will help select the winners, and the charitable Central Florida Foundation will administer the fund. Applicants must live in Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Lake, Volusia or Brevard counties, be openly LGBT, document a financial need, have a letter of recommendation and write an essay on their community involvement and the leadership role they envision for themselves.
Special consideration will be given to Pulse survivors or to immediate family members of those whose lives were lost.
The deadline for applications — available through the49fund.org — is March 31.
“It’s a tight turn-around,” said Heather Wilkie, director of the Orlando-based Zebra Coalition, which supports LGBT teens and young adults through housing, mentoring, counseling and other programs. “But we are spreading the word that this is a great opportunity for the youth we serve.”
Researchers have found LGBT youth face a gauntlet of risks — including a greater likelihood of homelessness, suicide and school absenteeism — she noted.
“That’s the extreme, but there are a lot of other youth that may be estranged from their family and can’t have that [financial] support to attend college,” Wilkie said. “We are a marginalized population.”
Miller wants to give them “a chance to flourish” — a way, he said, of repaying a community that has been good to his career and business. But as president and CEO of The Closing Agent, a title company with five Central Florida locations, and an attorney specializing in real estate, Miller already has a long track record of giving back — including leading the Orlando Fringe Festival out of debt.
His own Barry L. Miller Foundation for Arts and Education has given tens of thousands of dollars to local causes. Miller himself has been a frequent volunteer and occasional producer.
“Arts and education are passions of mine,” he said, “but this project has a bit of a different angle. We want really everyone to contribute. Yes, hopefully, some of the bigger companies will give us $49,000, but we’ll take donations of $4.90 and $49 all day long, because we want thousands of people to participate.”
ksantich@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5503. Follow Kate at @katesantich
