Mission

The Mission of the "I Have a Dream" Foundation is to motivate and empower children from low-income communities to reach their education and career goals by providing a long-term program of mentoring, tutoring and enrichment and tuition assistance for higher education.

The goal of our maing program is to drive a comprehensive program that will help a group of 40 "Dreamers" from the Pisgah View Public Housing Community to become productive citizens by providing a long-term educational support program with an assured opportunity for further education beyond high school.

National History

The "I Have a Dream" movement began in 1981. As New York City businessman Eugene Lang prepared to address a group of graduating sixth graders at East Harlem Elementary, he was told that 75% of the students sitting before him were expected to drop out before graduating from high school. On the spot, Lang was moved to make an astonishing offer: he would pay the college tuition of every student who graduated from high school. Having made that promise, Lang mobilized a variety of people and resources to support the children through their school careers. He called his effort "I Have a Dream" (IHAD), and the P.S. 121 kids became dubbed Lang's "Dreamers". The National IHAD Foundation, founded in 1986 after a staggering 93% of the Dreamers successfully graduated from high school, has carried Eugene Lang's vision across the United States.  To date, there have been over 180 IHAD Projects in 64 cities, serving over 14,000 children.

Local History

When Asheville project founders Ken and Ida Brown saw a 60 minutes piece on the "I Have a Dream" Foundation in 2004, they were inspired to start the first project in North Carolina.  In September of 2006 they officially launched their sponsorship of 20 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade students living in Pisgah View Public Housing Community.  These "Dreamers"  will receive a year-round program of academic, cultural and social activities from elementary school through high school followed by tuition assistance for higher education.  At the start of the second year, the Browns recruited 10 more students and currently there are 32 Dreamers in the program.

Local Services

In School

• Follow up with teachers
  
• Classroom tutoring
  
• Helping to provide a link between school and community
  

Daily After School Programming 

• Reading, Math, Science, Art
  
• Technology
  
• Character development
  
• Health and Recreation
  
• Individual and group tutoring
  
• Community service
  
• Team-building
  
• Field trips
• Test preparation

Summer Program includes all of the above for 5 weeks.