I Have a Dream Foundation of Boulder County

Founded in 1990, the “I Have a Dream” Foundation of Boulder County is dedicated to motivating and empowering low-income children (Dreamers) to achieve their educational and career goals, subsequently helping to reduce high school dropout rates and halt the cycle of poverty. To serve as inspiration to forge ahead, each Dreamer is promised a last-dollar, tuition-assistance scholarship upon high school graduation. Since its founding, “I Have a Dream” has expanded its service area throughout Boulder County, Colorado to include not only the city of Boulder, but the cities of Lafayette and Longmont as well, working with 300 Dreamers annually, divided between six Dreamer classes. Because “I Have a Dream” operates on a long-term model—from third grade through high school graduation and into post-secondary education, its program staff and volunteers are able to develop unique relationships with the Dreamers, relationships that take into consideration what it means to be a youth, potentially from strained domestic situations, where education and career goals are littered with political, economic, and cultural obstacles that many of us will never be able to fully understand. The program, ultimately, fills in the gaps where other people and programs have come up short, vowing not to give up on these youth. 

The organization follows the national “I Have a Dream” model, which began in 1981 under the direction of philanthropist Eugene Lang and has included more than 200 sites across the country, with Boulder County’s program being one of the largest. In spring 2012, Lang’s vision is expanding here in Boulder County with the launch of two new Dreamer classes in Lafayette, with fundraising efforts already underway for a new Dreamer class in Longmont. To date, the organization has provided services to over 600 Dreamers--with services reaching family members and “guest” participants to impact over 2,000 people.

In the St. Vrain and Boulder Valley School Districts, more than 14,000 students, nearly 1 in 4, qualify for free or reduced lunch based on their family’s income, a number that has more than doubled over the last decade. Of these 14,491 youth, many are at greater risk of dropping out of high school, resorting to a life of crime, and developing unhealthy behaviors[1]. Over the past 22 years, “I Have a Dream’s” long-term focus on educational support has produced, on average, a 90 percent high school graduation rate for the Dreamers, whereas the graduation rate for all students eligible for free or reduced lunch in St. Vrain was 62.6 percent and in Boulder Valley, 59.9 percent[2]. In addition, at least 85 percent of those Dreamers who graduate from high school pursue post-secondary education.

 

[1] Annie E. Casey Foundation: Kids Count Data Center. (2012). http://datacenter.kidscount.org/data/bystate/Rankings.aspx?state=CO&ind=469.

[2] “The Status of Children in Boulder County.” (2011). http://www.bouldercounty.org/find/library/family/statusofchildren2011.pdf