The Dream Program, Inc. – DREAM Boston
Grades Served: K2-11; Program Model: Not sure; Start/End Dates: 6/28/2022-8/10/2022
Location: The Dewitt Center, 122 Dewitt Dr., Boston, 02120
Contact: How should parents/guardians contact you if they’re interested in registering their student at your program? (e.g. website, application link, program staff contact information) (pre-filled) Our program works exclusively with partnered low income housing communities. We recruit inside each community in a number of ways, including knocking on doors. Families can enroll online on our website or via a physical enrollment form. Start Date: (pre-filled, if you want to change this please leave a note at the end of the application) End Date: (pre-filled, if you want to change this please leave a note at the end of the application) Days of Program (select all that apply): (pre-filled, if you want to change this please leave a note at the end of the application) The DREAM Program offers day enrichment programming 4 days a week for 8 weeks over the summer. From June 28 to August 10.
Skill Development: Critical Thinking; Perseverance; Creativity; Social Awareness & Relationships; Communication; Teamwork; Growth Mindset; Self-Efficacy; Self-Regulation
Program Goals: DREAM structures its summer programming around 4 key learning objectives: Building competent, motivated readers: A child who can’t read at grade level by 3rd grade is four times less likely to graduate by age 19 than a child who does read proficiently by that time. To build competent, motivated readers, our summer team provides easy access to reading material, involves youth in what they are reading (e.g., asking questions, connecting reading to other activities, etc.)., builds a fascination for the knowledge books can open up and creates space for regular reading practice (at least 20 minutes a day). Foster problem solvers: Problems are a part of life and those who can solve and cope with problems are better positioned to achieve their dreams. To foster problem-solvers, our summer team: provides creative play opportunities that involve challenge and require imagination, and offers activities that teach the basic problem-solving steps. Support healthy minds and bodies: Because the experience of poverty and other childhood stressors can significantly weaken parts of the brain that are vital for learning, memory, and processing emotion. Two of the best ways to reduce toxic stress are by practicing mindfulness and promoting physical health. To promote healthy minds and bodies, our summer team: Offers 10+ minutes of daily activity that builds awareness of thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and/or environment (through dance, yoga, spidey-sense walks, mindful eating, etc.), structures 30+ minutes daily of physical activities (sports, competitions, etc.), provides healthy snacks with explanations and garden-to-plate connections. Inspire artists and creators: Art increases creativity, confidence, communication, decision making, academic performance, and more. It also releases the spirit and provides a wellspring of meaning in life. To inspire artists, our summer team: provides a variety of outlets, materials, and media for our DREAMers to explore their imaginations and flex their creative muscles, connects art projects to the community by addressing and exploring community needs and issues, and creates avenues for DREAMers to share and be recognized for their creations. What is special about your program’s approach? At this program, students will have the chance to… At our program youth will have the chance to participate in three summer programming opportunities: 1) daily onsite summer enrichment programming; 2) week-long residential summer camp sessions at Camp DREAM, and 3) regional adventure trips. DREAM focuses on developmental relationships. DREAM?s Village Mentoring model builds a strong support network around each participant by providing both one-on-one and team mentoring. (Plus, it is a heck of a lot of fun, providing a hook to retain both mentors and participants.) The relationship between a child and a caring student mentor is at the heart of our program and has a significant influence on the child. The one-on-one mentoring activities are tailored to the individual mentee’s needs and interests and are guided by the Search Institute’s “Developmental Relationships” Framework and the Elements of Effective Practice. These relationships cultivate self-confidence and help to establish new norms through role modeling, caring attention, and positive messages. Relationships between mentor-mentee partners in DREAM average three years and, because children form relationships with new mentors when their current mentors graduate, they receive the stability and support of mentorship for the long term. DREAM also takes a long-term approach. DREAM engages mentees for the long-term, starting with children in kindergarten and growing with them through high school graduation. By the time a DREAM participant graduates high school, she will likely have had over 10 years with the organization. This longitudinal intervention provides sustained contact with caring adults and a constant pipeline of meaningful experiences and opportunities. DREAM is year round, including academic year and summer programming. Summers are a particularly important focus for us at DREAM. Our children often lack basic enrichment activities and adequate nutrition over the summer. Many of them spend significant time in unsafe and unsupervised spaces, missing out on important opportunities for growth. The summer opportunity gap (and related summer developmental slide) has very real short-term and long-term effects on youths’ academics, health, and behavior, and it accounts for almost half of the achievement gap between our DREAMers and their peers.
Special Program Approach: DREAM focuses on developmental relationships. DREAM’s Village Mentoring model builds a strong support network around each participant by providing both one-on-one and team mentoring. (Plus, it is a heck of a lot of fun, providing a hook to retain both mentors and participants.) The relationship between a child and a caring student mentor is at the heart of our program and has a significant influence on the child. The one-on-one mentoring activities are tailored to the individual mentee’s needs and interests and are guided by the Search Institute’s “Developmental Relationships” Framework and the Elements of Effective Practice. These relationships cultivate self-confidence and help to establish new norms through role modeling, caring attention, and positive messages. Relationships between mentor-mentee partners in DREAM average three years and, because children form relationships with new mentors when their current mentors graduate, they receive the stability and support of mentorship for the long term. DREAM also takes a long-term approach. DREAM engages mentees for the long-term, starting with children in kindergarten and growing with them through high school graduation. By the time a DREAM participant graduates high school, she will likely have had over 10 years with the organization. This longitudinal intervention provides sustained contact with caring adults and a constant pipeline of meaningful experiences and opportunities. DREAM is year-round, including academic year and summer programming. Summers are a particularly important focus for us at DREAM. Our children often lack basic enrichment activities and adequate nutrition over the summer. Many of them spend significant time in unsafe and unsupervised spaces, missing out on important opportunities for growth. The summer opportunity gap (and related summer developmental slide) has very real short-term and long-term effects on youths’ academics, health, and behavior, and it accounts for almost half of the achievement gap between our DREAMers and their peers.