THE “I HAVE A DREAM” FOUNDATION (IHDF) provides opportunities to youth living in under-resourced communities �to reach for – and achieve – their most ambitious dreams. We are an international non-profit organization focused �on breaking the cycle of intergenerational poverty through a comprehensive program of support that follows the same group of young people (“Dreamers”) from elementary school to their first career. Founded 40 years ago through the vision of founder Eugene Lang, IHDF operates in 8 cities and New Zealand, and has served over 20,000 Dreamers in over 200 programs.
�OUR MISSION
The “I Have A Dream” Foundation's mission is to empower children from underserved communities to succeed in school, college, and career by providing academic, social, and emotional support from elementary school through high school and beyond, along with guaranteed post- secondary tuition assistance.
About the “I Have A Dream” Foundation
Educate. Empower. Achieve.
OUR VISION
Our dream is a world where every child has equal access to the educational and career opportunities that will ignite their innate potential.
OUR CORE COMPONENTS
The entrepreneurial spirit of our founder, Mr. Lang, lives in all our programs. “I Have A Dream” programs are tailored to meet the individual needs of our Dreamers and their communities. However, eight core components define all “I Have A Dream” programs.
CALIFORNIA�Los Angeles
COLORADO�Boulder�Denver�Frederick�Lafayette�Longmont
FLORIDA�Miami
NEW JERSEY�Newark
�NEW YORK�Chelsea
East Harlem
TEXAS�Dallas
�WISCONSIN�Milwaukee
NEW ZEALAND�Auckland�Upper Hutt
WHERE WE ARE
Our Network
Where We Are: Our Network
Where we are
OUR NETWORK
We currently support a network of 9 affiliates, including one in New Zealand, serving 4,000 Dreamers in every grade from Kindergarten through Post-Secondary. In our organization’s 40-year history, we have impacted the lives of more than 20,000 Dreamer Scholars nationwide and around the globe.
Our long-term,
Individualized model
Family Partnership &
Engagement
Establish strong partnerships and relationships with families, includes home visits and regular parent/caregiver meetings.
Academic
Enrichment & Support
.
Promote academic success, love of learning, and strengthen the connection to school. Tutoring, test prep, homework completion.
One to One�Mentoring & Support Networks
Foster volunteer mentors to develop long-term, positive, and trusting relationships with Dreamers.
Socio-Emotional Learning�& Life Skills
Provide learning about wellness, nutrition, peer pressure, unintended pregnancy, & substance use prevention to help Dreamers thrive.
Financial Literacy�& Scholarships
Provide financial literacy programming and scholarships (or college savings accounts) for college, vocational, or technical programs.
Leadership & Civic Engagement
Help Dreamers serve their community, learn an instrument, play sports, join and lead clubs, & more.
Summer Learning
Academies
Provide summer programming to prevent learning loss & foster growth and leadership.
Post-Secondary Preparation
Tours, workshops & guidance to prepare kids for post-secondary programs —from 1st grade through high school graduation & beyond!
Long-Term�Support
Program staff (and volunteers) stand side by side students all the way through their academic journey, building close relationships over 16 years.
Career�Readiness
Facilitate paid internships to teach teens work-readiness skills, help them choose a career
path, and build our future talent pipeline.
Wraparound
Support
Go beyond just mentoring, academic support, or funding for college or postsecondary programs—combine all that and more.
OUR MODEL
Our model takes a comprehensive, holistic approach to sparking success for the children in our program. We believe that a multi-faceted approach is necessary to create equitable access to educational opportunities, including individualized support, creating mentoring networks, teaching social and emotional life skills, focusing on health and wellness, fostering civic engagement, ensuring career readiness, emphasizing financial literacy and resources, and supporting academic success. Our approach offers this comprehensive, wrap-around program to Dreamers beginning in kindergarten or first grade and continuing "to and through" their post-secondary education, supported with a scholarship provided to each Dreamer. We know it works.
Our Impact
Only 9% of low-income students earn a Bachelor’s degree—compared to 77% of their high-income peers.
While the college graduation rate for high income students has nearly doubled in the past 40 years, the graduation rate for low income students has stagnated.
51% of students in U.S. public schools—that’s 25 million—are low-income.
The Need
Our Dreamers
90% of Dreamers complete high school, compared to 74% of low-income students nationally.
Dreamers are 3x more likely to earn a bachelor’s degree than their low-income peers.
College graduates earn, on average, an additional $1 Million in lifetime earnings.
Most Dreamers are the first in their families to graduate college—over 75% do not have a parent or guardian with a 4-year degree.
Since 1981, the “I Have A Dream” Foundation has worked with over 20,000 Dreamers.
The majority of Dreamers come from low-income families, with 91% qualifying for free or reduced lunch.
Over 80% of Dreamers identify as Latino or Black/AA (52% Latino, 31% Black/AA, 10% white, 5% Asian).
The “I Have A Dream” Foundation serves about 4,000 Dreamers �(K through college) today.
The Impact
20,000
4,000
Dream UP
University Prep
THE NEED
The “I Have A Dream” Foundation (IHDF) transforms the lives of children by getting them to and through postsecondary education. IHDF provides consistent, long-term support to children (“Dreamers”) living in under-resourced communities so that they can achieve their full potential. We work with Dreamers after school, on the weekends, and over the summer beginning in elementary school and continuing through college to help them prepare academically, socially, emotionally, and culturally for the challenges of today’s world.
THE OPPORTUNITY
Each year, our talented middle and high school Dreamers from across the nation come to a college campus to engage in a number of activities aimed at college and career readiness. The Dreamers live in college dorms, eat in the dining hall and attend workshops in college classrooms. The workshops are all aimed at reinforcing the goal of college and career success by emphasizing topics such as academic persistence, career exploration, and financial literacy, while the social activities are designed to foster a sense of unity amongst Dreamers from around the country. For many of our Dreamers, attending Dream UP (University Prep) is their first experience traveling out of state, and with their peers.
Dream UP is an opportunity for Dreamers not only to continue striving for academic and college success, but also to experience college first-hand, fine-tune career goals, and give back through civic engagement. Dreamers accomplish all of this with an opportunity to explore a new part of the United States while participating in fun-filled activities in age-appropriate college and career tracks. They return home armed with the tools needed to make college success a reality, and eager to share what they have learned with their peers.
New college and Alumni tracks not only provide space for professional development, but allow younger Dreamers to envision themselves in college and career. Last year, alumni and college Dreamers led panels, networked with young Dreamers from throughout the country, and were available to answer questions about their professional paths.
Over the past 19 years we have organized this college immersion experience across the country and Dreamers have learned about universities such as Boston College, University of Colorado at Boulder, University of Illinois at Chicago, Drake University, and American University.
Our last Dream UP was hosted at the University of Miami in Florida. Over 100 Dreamers from around the country participated.
I learned how the sand felt under my feet and I experienced my first time being outside of Colorado.
I learned to persevere and reach for your goals, no matter what obstacles you encounter.
“I learned a lot from the older Dreamers about college life and everything.”
-Allin, 11th Grade, Portland, OREGON
I learned how to trust. I didn’t know what that was like until I got into the “I Have a Dream” Foundation.
THE NEED
Over the course of our 40-year history, the “I Have A Dream” Foundation has proudly worked with over 20,000 students (“Dreamers”) living in under-resourced communities to help transform their lives by providing higher educational opportunities. In this time, we have learned the hard lesson that our Dreamers need support not just in getting to college, but also through college. While Dreamers have over 3x the college success rate of their peers around the country in similar socioeconomic circumstances, the gap in college graduation rate between students living in underserved communities and their peers in higher income zip codes continues to widen. We can and must do more to ensure postsecondary success for all Dreamers. While the college graduation rate for students growing up in middle class neighborhoods has nearly doubled in the past 40 years, the graduation rate for students in the areas we serve has stagnated.
THE OPPORTUNITY
We are committed to increasing postsecondary success rates for our Dreamers. Over the next three years, 580 Dreamers will be graduating from high school and beginning their postsecondary pursuits. During this critical time, we will commit to providing the following suite of additional services to ensure that Dreamers can persist and succeed in college at even higher rates.
Great Expectations:
Postsecondary Success
FEW INVESTMENTS YIELD AS HIGH A RETURN AS A POSTSECONDARY CREDENTIAL.
COLLEGE GRADUATES EARN, ON AVERAGE, $1M MORE IN THEIR LIFETIME.
THE NEED
Children from under-resourced communities graduate from college at much lower rates than their more affluent peers. Students whose families are in the lowest quartile of income earners have an 9% college graduation rate, compared with 77% for students in the top quartile. Financial barriers present both a real and a perceived obstacle to college admission and completion.
THE OPPORTUNITY: ONE PIECE OF THE SOLUTION
We have learned important lessons from the 20,000 students (“Dreamers”) we have supported since our founding. First, getting our Dreamers to college is critical but not enough. Second, while our program has had a profound impact on the lives of thousands of children, there are thousands more who need our services. We must broaden our impact to ensure that more students have these opportunities.
Building on these insights, we have developed an innovative College Savings Account (CSA) program, called DREAM Accounts, to reach more students and to ensure that they are equipped to get to and through college. Our DREAM Accounts are designed to inspire and educate Dreamers as they climb the mountain to college graduation, by:
The program is unique in that we stage the deposits we make into student accounts to align with important milestones in the Dreamers’ educational trajectory that best prepares them to succeed in college and beyond. Research conducted at The University of Kansas found that low and moderate income children with college savings are 3x more likely to attend college and 4x more likely to graduate college.
DREAM Accounts
Building the Dream
Summer Internship Internship Program
THE NEED
Paid internships are an excellent way for our Dreamer Scholars and other eligible students -- all of whom come from underserved backgrounds -- to explore career interests and build professional experience while they are still in high school. We know that this exposure to professionals in the workforce helps these students build the confidence and skills they need to pursue their college and career goals. Similarly, Internship hosts benefit from the energy, enthusiasm and unique perspectives of the students they work alongside.
THE OPPORTUNITY
The “I Have A Dream” Building the Dream Summer Internship Program places high school and college Dreamer Scholars in internship positions at various businesses and nonprofit organizations.
The program is a paid 6-8 week internship to help students gain the necessary skills to be able to compete and succeed in the job market. We prepare and develop students throughout their internship experience so they can learn professional skills while at the same time perform valuable work for their internship hosts.
What the Internship Host Provides...
What “I Have A Dream” Provides...
Once we have the company’s internship(s) description(s), “I Have A Dream” staff will provide potential candidates for each position. Internship Hosts will interview the candidates on one of our Interview Super Days and rank their top choices. Our interns will also rank their top choices. “I Have A Dream” staff works to make the best match for both host and intern. We will then facilitate the connection between the host and intern to decide internship dates, hours, and other expectations.
Volunteer Opportunities
Conduct mock interviews at our Career Readiness Boot Camp
Offer a workshop to our Dreamers in your area of expertise, i.e. Computer Skills, Financial Literacy, Public Speaking
Host a job tour for a small group of Dreamers at your office so students can learn more about your organization and career
Early Literacy
THE NEED
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THE OPPORTUNITY
Social Emotional Learning
THE NEED
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THE OPPORTUNITY
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