At IMPACT Bay Area we believe that all people, regardless of their financial situation, have the right to personal safety. The Cori Couture Scholarship Fund, named in honor of our founding Director, ensures that our classes are accessible to anyone who needs it. We reserve a quarter of the spots in each public class for scholarship recipients. 100% of your contribution will go to our scholarship fund. IMPACT Bay Area is a 501c3 non-profit, so your contribution is fully tax-deductible.

$650 sponsors a full scholarship for a 20+ hour Basics class

$300 provides a full scholarship for a teen student

$85 provides a full scholarship for a 3-Hour Intro class or a partial scholarship

Donations can also be mailed to IMPACT Bay Area, PO Box 23831, Oakland, CA 94623. Make sure to note "scholarship" in the memo.

About Cori Couture

Cori served as IMPACT Bay Area Instructor and Executive Director in the 1990s (in fact, Cori was around before we even had the name IMPACT)! Cori not only built the Bay Area organization, she also worked to build empowerment self-defense programs at an international level through teaching students, training instructors, and helping people start chapters across this country and in many others, like England, Costa Rica, Australia, and Japan. Cori was a strong leader who took our organization to the next level through both her compassion for others and her passion for personal safety. We are so grateful for her leadership and vision and the impact she made on IMPACT Bay Area. Cori passed away in 2015, but her legacy lives on every time we are able to train another student who might not otherwise have been able to attend one of our classes. To continue to help us make IMPACT available to all, please consider donating to the Cori Couture scholarship fund.

"When a woman knows she can defend herself, that she will never again be a victim, her whole life changes and that of the people around her. By never allowing anyone to hurt her, she has broken the cycle of violence. I believe that, 16 women at a time, we are changing the world!"

- Cori Courture, Founding Director