I Have a Dream Foundation
Project Title
For project support of career, college, and civic readiness at I Have a Dream Foundation East Harlem
Date
Sep. 10, 2026
Duration
18 months
Description
Founded in 1981 by businessman Eugene Lang in East Harlem, the “I Have A Dream” Foundation (IHAD) has grown into a national organization serving approximately 3,000 Dream Scholars across 11 affiliate and chapter sites in 28 states through a “first grade to first job” model that provides long-term academic, social-emotional, and career readiness support to every scholar regardless of need, achieving a 96 percent high school graduation rate and 88 percent postsecondary enrollment rate in New York City. Entering its 45th year, IHAD is expanding its East Harlem and Chelsea sites, including the launch of a new site at P.S. 146 in September 2026. The proposed grant will support three initiatives: a Dream School Pipeline Expansion enrolling 170 new students, a Workforce for the Future Initiative providing career readiness programming to 140 scholars and a Service Learning and Civic Engagement Initiative engaging 40 Dream Scholars through youth councils and community-based leadership projects, reaching 350 or more Dream Scholars in total.
Website
Project Title
For project support of career readiness and postsecondary success services at I Have a Dream Foundation East Harlem
Date
Mar. 06, 2025
Duration
18 months
Description
Founded in 1981, the “I Have a Dream” Foundation (IHDF) works to ensure that all children have equal access to the educational, mentorship, and career opportunities so they graduate from high school, pursue and complete higher education and fulfill their innate potential. As a national program engaging with different cities across the country IHDF works with affiliates to adopt their framework and build upon it by customizing programming to meet their community’s specific needs. This proposal will support IHDF’s local East Harlem site reaching 114 Dreamer Scholars, elementary to college age. With support from the Corporation IHDF plans to strengthen their NYC based career readiness and postsecondary preparation offerings. This grant will support thirty-nine Dreamer Scholars who have completed high school and will receive one on one support on the last stage of their journey, and their newest cohort of seventy-eight Dreamer Scholars and their families will begin to receive services which will improve their postsecondary outcomes.