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Dreamers in the "Real World"
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High school students interned at a number of places this summer including
Thorne Nature Experience (left), Genius Labs (top right) and Intrado (bottom right).
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The "I Have a Dream" Foundation's 2015 "Seeding the Dream" Summer Internship program was a huge success! This summer, 29 students participated in the six-week paid career internship program, now in its 16th year. A majority of the participants were Dreamers from the Iris class, and thanks to a grant with the Colorado Opportunity Scholarship Initiative, we were able to partner with the
Adelante! program at Boulder High School and offer paid internship placements to those students as well.
The internship program works with students starting in their freshman year of high school through college graduation and prepares them to successfully work in a professional environment by providing professional development workshops and real world work experience. This year's workshops included resume writing, mock interviews, personal finance and more.
Six organizations hosted interns across Boulder County including Intrado, the University of Colorado-Boulder, and Thorne Nature Experience, in addition to "I Have a Dream". We were thrilled to add new internships placements this year at Boulder Housing Partners and Genius Labs.
Check out one of the newsletters our Dreamers created about their internship.
"Intrado has benefited tremendously from our participation in the "I Have a Dream" Internship program. The opportunity to give talented young people their first exposure to the corporate work environment is exhilarating and rewarding for our management team. We hope the kids enjoy the experience as much as we do." - Mary Hester, President, Intrado
If your company would like to host an intern next summer, please contact Dan Skikkink Johnson at [email protected].
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RSVP for our 25th Anniversary Luncheon!
Our Luncheon is our signature fundraiser of the year, and this year we have a dream that collectively with your help we can sponsor 100 low-income children (our Dreamers) in pursuit of their academic dreams. While there's no cost to attend this event, in lieu of ticket sales, you will be asked to make a donation.
This year's Dream-Maker Luncheon will bring together 1,000 community members, elected officials, and business leaders to meet our Dreamers and listen to their stories about "I Have a Dream's" impact on their lives.
Please RSVP today to save your spot for this exciting 25th Anniversary Dream-Maker Luncheon!
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"Feeding Our Dreams"
2015 Local Dreamer Conference
A team of six Dreamers planned this year's annual Dreamer Conference for 200 Dreamers from all across Boulder County. The July conference, themed "Feeding Our Dreams: 2K15," was held at Alexander Dawson School, and engaged Dreamers in conversations about cooking, healthy eating, culture, body image, and social justice.
The conference
included workshops from renowned Boulder-area institutions including Escoffier Culinary School and professors from the CU Institute of Cognitive Science, who discussed how various foods affect the brain. Additionally, Boulder County Public Health delivered a presentation about sugar and its effects on health. Dreamers and their families took the pledge to cut sugary drinks from their diets for 30 days. The CU Women's Center delivered a presentation on food and body image for the middle and high schoolers. Younger Dreamers tried new foods like beets, starfruit, and red cabbage, and created art with their discoveries. Read about the conference in the Left Hand Valley Courier.
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Partner of the Month: Big City Mountaineers
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| Watch our Dreamers on their five-day hike! |
We have been partnering with Big City Mountaineers for the last six years. Based in Golden, Big City Mountaineers takes low income urban youth
on
wilderness mentoring expeditions that instill important life skills
, supplying
them with all the equipment they need.
They have taken large groups of
D
reamers on one night camping trips since they were young, providing them with team-building exercises as well as presentations about nature and science. Now that the
D
reamers are older, a group of them were able to do their first
five-
night backpacking trip and they are hoping to do one every year from now on! Thanks Big City Mountaineers!
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Dreamer Alumni Spotlight
Armando Avila graduated in 2002 from Holy Family High School and attended Western State Colorado University, where he graduated with a degree in Psychology and Spanish. After nearly a decade of public work in child protection and law enforcement, Armando now works in IT for Western State College in Gunnison. He's married with a one-year old son and is also a foster parent.
"The guidance I received from everyone involved in 'I Have a Dream' was key to my pursuit of higher education. When I lost motivation they were there pushing me. When I needed help they were there again with a helping hand. They understood my struggle. Thanks to 'I Have a Dream,' I was the first of my family to graduate from high school, and the first to graduate from college."
"I Have a Dream" also provided exposure to activities that I would have otherwise not done. For example, they planned a multi-day backpacking expedition through the base of Mt. of the Holy Cross which tested my physical and mental strength. This and other activities gave me exposure to a world outside the borders of our neighborhood. These activities gave me the thirst to expand my horizon, to travel, and now my love for the outdoors."
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Our Open House was a Blast!
We had so much fun at our
Open House Fiesta and Ribbon Cutting in July. We welcomed more than 100 supporters at the party, at which we had live music, a salsa bar and tacos by Sancho's Authentic Mexican Restaurant, and margaritas from Suerte Tequila. Guests were able to tour the new building, which houses our program support staff and our AmeriCorps and volunteer training rooms, while enjoying a trivia game about "I Have a Dream!"
Thank you to everyone who attended, and especially to our sponsors:
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Rocksteady
Landscaping
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See more photos from the party
here
!
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Upcoming Events
August 28
September 11
September 22*
3:45-5:15 pm
Rocky Mountain Class (Longmont)
October 2
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There are 29 AmeriCorps Members starting their year of service with us in September - 10 of which are returning for a second year with us!
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On Fri. Aug. 28,
4pm-7pm,
Gebhardt Volkswagen in Boulder (2470 49th Street) is hosting a Block Party with Blues music and BBQ-and they'll be collecting school supplies for our Dreamers! Click
here
for more information.
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Hassan + Cables would like to invite you to their fifth annual golf tournament on
Friday, Sept. 11
at Indian Peaks Golf Course in Lafayette, CO to
benefit the "I Have a Dream" Foundation.
For more information click
here.
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for helping STUFF THE BUS
with school supplies
through our Crayons to Calculators partnership for Dreamers
last weekend at their
Block Party and Sneak Peek
at the new Longmont mall.
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Be a Role Model!
We're recruiting tutors and mentors for the 2015-2016 school year. If you've wanted to sign up but haven't yet, fill out our volunteer application to start the conversation! Tutors are asked to volunteer once a week for at least one semester, and mentors are asked to meet with their Dreamer at least twice a month for a year.
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About the "I Have a Dream" Foundation of Boulder County
Since 1990, the award-winning "I Have a Dream" Foundation of Boulder County has assisted 780 children from low-income areas in achieving their education and career goals by providing long-term personal and academic support, tutoring, mentoring and four-year tuition-assistance scholarships to each graduating student. The organization sponsors entire groups of students from elementary schools or from low-income housing sites and works with these children and their families from elementary school through high school graduation and then "to and through" college. Currently, there are seven active "I Have a Dream" classes in Boulder County, with three classes in Boulder, two in Longmont and two in Lafayette. The "I Have a Dream" Foundation of Boulder County has doubled expected graduation rates for its graduating classes of students and has awarded $2 million in scholarships. The program follows the national model established in New York in 1981 by founder Eugene Lang.
"I Have a Dream" Foundation of Boulder County
5390 Manhattan Circle
Boulder, CO 80303
www.ihaveadreamboulder.org
303-444-3636
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