Since our founding in 1988, Colorado "I Have A Dream" Foundation has built our program on a foundation of long-term partnership and worked alongside over 1,000 youth and their families in the Denver Metro area. Our organization follows and supports the same group of youth as they pursue their education and fulfill their life dreams.
We offer after-school, evening, and summer programming. During these programs, youth participate in activities from three of our pillars:
Academic Development: Our academic development courses focus on distinct learning pathways that give youth access to content-area experts, hands-on learning opportunities and real-life experiences. These sessions reinforce academic skills through engaging project-based learning experiences. Our youth also have access to one-on-one tutors who help youth with homework assignments, studying for tests, working on projects, completing intervention lessons, and offering academic enrichment opportunities. Additional academic development opportunities include service projects, a speaker series, and leadership development workshops led by team members, program alumni, and community members.
Emotional Wellness Development: Our emotional wellness development work with youth is grounded in an exploration of the social and emotional competencies identified through the Devereux Student Strengths Assessment (DESSA): self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, goal-directed behavior, personal responsibility, decision making, and optimistic thinking. Our youth work daily with staff to develop and enhance their social and emotional learning (SEL) skills. We also support emotional wellness development by offering one-on-one therapy sessions for our youth. Licensed therapists on our team work alongside youth and families, using the methods of play-based therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavioral therapy, and other remedial treatment, all with a strength-based perspective to support emotional wellness.
College and Career Development: Our college and career development work supports youth in building essential skills required for high school graduates to enroll in college and pursue a meaningful career. We provide youth the resources to be prepared for college, obtain a degree, and chart the right path to their career. Youth in our program create individual program plans to identify their strengths and areas of interest as they begin to identify their professional goals. We support our middle and high school-aged youth by counseling them in college and career exploration, financial literacy, college application assistance, and internship opportunities. Our team introduces youth to different types of higher education institutions through tours, campus visits, and special events hosted at our program sites by higher education alumni and faculty.
Systems Advocacy: Through our systems advocacy pillar, we partner with families to navigate the different systems in our community that may impact the overall well-being of youth and their families. Each family in our program is assigned a team member who works in partnership with the family to ensure theirfull range of needs is met. This person meets with the family and youth at the beginning of each school year to create an individual program plan (IPP) for each youth that includes goals and areas of focus for the year. Our team member then connects with families at least once every two weeks to check in and see if any support or resources are needed. Our program seeks to bridge the gap for essential services such as housing stability, food security, medical assistance and ensure that any barriers to academic success are removed. We collaborate with other community partners to further our wraparound care for our youth and families.
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Since 1988, Colorado “I Have A Dream” Foundation has provided academic, social, and emotional support to over 1000 youth and their families in the Denver Metro Area through our after-school, evening, and summer programming.
