Dreams Academy International

Dreams Academy (DA) is a 501c3 organization that was founded in 2016. The goal was to fill the void caused by the high number of absent fathers in African American homes-61.3% as of 2016, and the lack of access to activities and lessons necessary to support a full and healthy development of African-American young men. The founder, a former educator, formulated a plan with the goal of providing young men in the Akron community opportunities to spend time with successful African-American men from a variety of creative and professional backgrounds and create a program that was complementary to traditional in-school education. DA is an “excellence incubator”-meaning the curriculum for each session is built with strategies to develop each participants individual, unique excellence. During the sessions, the participants to engage in activities and discussions based on a pre-selected theme always including the below focus areas:

    Etiquette and Image: Participants are introduced to the areas of civility, chivalry, grooming and appropriate dress, presentation and manners.

    Financial Literacy:  Participants are educated on  financial basics including deposit accounts, basic credit principles, and wealth building concepts.  This may include and not limited to presentations from local banks, basic finance activities, budget demonstrations, and entrepreneurship principles

    Problem Solving and Team Building: Participants are engaged in scenarios and projects that foster teamwork, communication and critical thinking skills.

DA offers programming in 8 week blocks, 3 times a year-beginning in February, June, and October. In the 2018-2019 school year, DA was on site program provider at the I Promise School. In 2019, DA expanded and provided services in 10 schools in the Akron and Cleveland region and continues to serve in that capacity in multiple locations.  In our 5 years of existence, we have mentored over 300 students.  

In June of 2021, Queens Academy was born and we had our summer sessions with 16 young ladies.  Queens Academy has the same focus, to expose and assist young ladies to be young ladies of excellence!