Why AI literacy can’t wait 

The need for such an effort isn’t theoretical. By the time our current sixth graders enter the workforce, AI literacy will be as fundamental as reading comprehension is today. More than half of all careers will demand familiarity with AI tools, and fluency in their applications and limitations [1, 2]. This is why our responsibility as a public school extends beyond traditional academics, and involves preparing our entire school community — students, teachers, and staff — for a future where adaptability and discernment are essential.

“By the time our current sixth graders enter the workforce, AI literacy will be as fundamental as reading comprehension is today.” 

Katie Doctor, Chief Strategy Officer at DREAM

As we navigate this path forward, we recognize both the opportunities and challenges that AI presents. At DREAM, we’ve approached this technological frontier with deliberate care. Many educational organizations, especially within the secondary (K-12) education sphere, hesitate to embrace AI. They have legitimate concerns about data privacy, the integrity of student work, and the risk of technological dependence without deeper understanding. These reservations reflect the profound responsibility educational spaces and educators bear: to introduce new tools without compromising our standards. 

AI innovation and support for teachers and staff

The philosophy of considered, thoughtful AI use begins where it can have immediate impact: supporting our educators. Consider DreamCycle, our assessment and reteaching system enhanced by AI capabilities. The technology streamlines grading processes that once consumed evenings and weekends, allowing teachers to deliver personalized instruction with unprecedented speed. Instructional leaders can identify gaps in student learning and quickly turn around reteach plans to address those specific needs. What previously took weeks now happens in days, yet the critical decisions — which concepts to reinforce, how to approach individual student needs — remain firmly in our educators’ hands. You can see our process here. 

Similar innovations have emerged throughout our organization. These include:

• AI-generated Regents (New York State statewide exams required for high school graduation)-aligned science questions that maintain academic rigor while saving preparation time
•  Automated interview scheduling that streamlines school staff recruitment
•  Streamlined IT processes
• Nuanced tracking of student engagement patterns that helps us intervene before small challenges become significant obstacles.

“The efficiency gains are substantial, but what matters more is where we redirect the reclaimed time and attention. Each minute not spent on administrative tasks becomes another opportunity for the meaningful human connections that define a DREAM education — building student confidence, nurturing aspiration, and making learning joyful.”

Adam Feiler, Managing Director of Curriculum and Instruction at DREAM

Empowering students to use AI ethically

We recognize that AI, like any powerful tool, requires thoughtful implementation. Its potential for both benefit and harm depends entirely on how we choose to use it. That’s why we’re particularly focused on cultivating critical thinking about these technologies. 

This critical approach informs how we introduce AI directly to our students. We’ve addressed these challenges through comprehensive policies that prioritize ethical use and transparency. Our Student Artificial Intelligence Usage Policy exemplifies this approach, by treating AI not as a threat to be regulated but as a resource to be explored. Rather than imposing restrictive rules, our AI Task Force has created clear guidelines that empower students to use AI for brainstorming ideas, drafting essays, solving problems, and creating projects, while maintaining academic integrity and critical thinking.

Students learn to use AI, interrogate it, verify information, refine outputs, and own their responsibility to engage with diverse, credible sources. We want DREAM students to not only navigate an AI-driven world but also help shape it — to build businesses, develop applications, and create tools that serve communities like theirs.

“We believe that the best way for students to learn about and utilize AI tools is by experiencing it firsthand. While teachers provide guidance on effective use, students have opportunities to explore these tools as they see fit. Much like they would any other educational resource.”

  Crystal Lane, DREAM’s Chief Education Officer

Keeping people at the helm

These approaches — supporting teachers with AI tools, fostering critical thinking, and empowering students through ethical guidelines — together form the foundation of our practice.

At DREAM, we believe in the transformative power of high expectations coupled with unwavering support, and the irreplaceable value of caring adults who see each child’s potential. We do not believe that AI can replicate these essential human elements. But when thoughtfully integrated into our educational approach, it can help us deliver personalized support more effectively to more students. 

Each innovation we adopt passes through the same filter: Does this help us serve our students with greater love? Does this strengthen our ability to teach, lead, and support?

When the answer is “yes,” we move forward in service of the enduring human connections at the heart of learning. In this carefully balanced approach, DREAM has found improved efficiency and expanded possibility through AI, for our students, our staff, and the communities we serve.

Reach out to us at communications@wearedream.org if you have any questions or want to learn more about our AI policies.

FURTHER READING 

• Enlighten AI x DREAM: A new standard in grading accuracy
• AI at DREAM (Linkedin) 

The post At DREAM, AI is our ally appeared first on DREAM.

Our maxim All Kids Can, This Kid Can reflects DREAM’s belief that all children have unlimited potential and deserve to realize their dreams. We welcome kids from the most underserved communities and backgrounds and serve them with our unique culture of care that is responsive to the unique needs of every child with one goal in mind: to ensure our students have the tools and opportunities to make their dreams real.

At DREAM, 26% of students have identified special needs, which is higher than the city average of 21%. And still, our students have scored consistently higher than district, city, and state peers on the New York State tests.

How do we do this? Charter schools like DREAM fill a unique gap in education while remaining free, public, and open to all. We’re able to serve a diverse group of learners with innovative strategies and teaching models, and by providing individualized attention that is tailored to the academic and behavioral needs of each student. Every DREAM student and alum, from Pre-K through age 24, receives holistic support, year-round, both in and out of the classroom. That’s because DREAM runs extended-day, extended-year schools, with approximately 600 annual hours of afterschool programming; 300 hours of summer programming; and up to six years of formal postsecondary support. We’re especially proud of our strong partnerships with families and the commitment to addressing the specific needs of the community, providing resources and programming that go beyond the end of the school day.

We invite you to visit the site today to meet some of the families of our community, like Angelica and her son Craig, who found a culture of care at DREAM that made them both feel known and seen.

We thank our friends at the Charter School Growth Fund (CSGF) for supporting us in building this beautiful page! 

The post All In For All Kids appeared first on DREAM.

That commitment has resulted in outcomes across the PK-12 continuum that outpace the majority of DREAM’s public school district and charter school peers. With student achievement accelerating and high school graduation and college acceptance rates at 100%, DREAM has mitigated the effects of Covid learning loss. This data tells us we made the right move. DREAM’s approach is working.

DREAM’s growth over the next five years will be oriented toward excellence and sustainability in supporting long-term outcomes for youth—building toward a just future in which every child can influence and lead generational change, bending the arc toward equity.

But it’s not enough. Over the past quarter century, high-performing charter schools have made significant progress in closing the K-12 achievement gap. Despite that, average college persistence and bachelor’s completion rates for charter school graduates—including DREAM—remain significantly lower than those of affluent peers. Wide disparities persist in long-term earnings for these young people, with the average salary for our alumni at age 25 falling below a New York City living wage. So while DREAM students are closing the achievement gap by 12th grade, they are not keeping pace with their more affluent peers after college and into adulthood.

DREAM’s 2024-2028 Strategic Plan is our blueprint for realizing the long-term potential of the children we serve and the communities where we work. It will mean an even deeper investment in people and places—starting in early childhood and continuing through early adulthood—to ensure that the gains our students make in school endure as they move on to college and into fulfilling careers. These investments will compound over time to give our alumni the skills, opportunities, and access they need to reach their fullest potential.

DREAM’s growth over the next five years will be oriented toward excellence and sustainability in supporting long-term outcomes for youth—building toward a just future in which every child can influence and lead generational change, bending the arc toward equity.

Click the button below to learn more.

The post Bending the Arc: DREAM’s 2024-2028 Strategic Plan appeared first on DREAM.

DREAM’s population of special needs students is higher than the average NYC public school or charter school because our work is fueled by our deep belief in all kids. We believe that every child has the right and ability to thrive, no matter their strengths or challenges. And we believe every family should have access to the services and supports that their child needs, deserves, and is legally entitled to receive.

In fact, that belief in every child inspired one of DREAM’s core maxims: All Kids Can. This Kid Can. “It is so easy to write that on a T-shirt or a poster,” says Kristine Rigley, DREAM’s Network Director of Student Support. “It’s an entirely different thing to put those words into action. And every person at DREAM is very committed to making sure that those actions align with the words.”

We live that belief daily through inclusive practices that start even before the first day of school, and last far beyond graduation day:

• Equitable enrollment practices: DREAM backfills every vacant seat in grades PK-10 and focuses on helping all students get to grade level. For students who were new to DREAM in 2022-23, 24% were proficient in Math when they arrived and 71% ended the school year proficient.
• Deep family partnerships: DREAM believes that families are partners in their child’s education, starting from day one. At the beginning of every school year, teachers visit each individual family to get to know them and their child and establish the foundation of a strong, collaborative relationship.
• Integrated co-teaching (ICT) model: All of our classrooms have two teachers in every classroom, ensuring that kids and adults have the support they need to thrive.
• Small group and individual instruction: Our ICT model allows for the small group and one-one-one interventions that benefit all students.
• AP classes for all: At DREAM, we require all students to participate in AP courses, regardless of prior academic performance. By the time they graduate, all DREAM Charter High School students will have taken a minimum of four AP classes – which studies show prepares them better for high-rigor colleges and careers, regardless of their score on the AP exam.
• College access: All juniors and seniors have monthly one-one-one sessions with their college and career counselors to help them find the pathway that’s the best fit for them—academically, culturally, and financially.

At DREAM, we know that transformative outcomes for youth are possible not in spite of our student population’s incredibly diverse learning needs—but in many ways, because of them. The same strategies that we’ve honed for our students with IEPs—intentionally integrating consistency and challenges—work to support the success of all our students. “Consistency helps him become comfortable,” says DREAM mom Shayla, whose son Kamden has an IEP. “He knows he’s coming here. He’s seeing the same people. He’s doing the same things—in a way that challenges him.”

DREAM’s approach, combined with our strong outcomes, are proof that when students learn in diverse classrooms, they all benefit. And with the support of their whole village at DREAM behind them, they’re that much closer to not just excelling in school, but to achieving their dreams.

“It’s my dream that every single student in this building receives an excellent education so that they have the choice to be whatever they want when they grow up,” says Rigley. “The conversations that I have with students are: We want you here. We want you learning every single day.”

“DREAM is special for me because it’s family,” adds Shayla. “I know that I can name five people in this building right now that I can count on.”

The post ‘Not Just a Slogan on a T-Shirt:’ What It Means to Believe in Every Student appeared first on DREAM.

“Growing up in New York City district schools, I could count on one hand the number of male educators I had, and only two were of color,” says DREAM’s Chief Operating Officer Raymie Fernandez. “My life took the direction it did because of a Latino male educator. He has changed my life and it’s a big reason why I got into education.”

Developing Through Fellowship
As a school network leader, Raymie Fernandez is one of several DREAM staff members who have joined the National Fellowship of Black and Latino Male Educators (NFBLME) in an effort to not only grow in their respective roles, but to support the long-term growth of male educators of color. As NFBLME fellows, he and five of his colleagues develop their professional skills, receive direct coaching, and broaden their career and personal networks, all while being a part of a movement to increase the number, longevity, and impact of Black and Latino males in the education sector.

“I’ve never had a supervisor or mentor that was a man of color in this space, so being in a room in fellowship or in a workshop with people with this shared experience—that look like me, talk like me—it’s really impactful,” says Matthew Gonzalez, DREAM’s Director of Postsecondary Success. “The first time I looked around, I got goosebumps. It really stood out to me.”

Founded in 2020, NFBLME’s purpose is to create a dynamic, life-changing, empowering fellowship for Black and Latino males that springboards them into principal, senior-level, and C-suite roles. With a focus on skill development, mentoring and coaching, and building camaraderie among fellows, NFBLME utilizes three pathways (Rising, Senior, and C-Level Leaders) to identify, increase, retain, and sustain the number of effective Black and Latino males in the leadership pipeline.

While within their two-year fellowship cohort, fellows attend fall and winter retreats, participate in workshops, deepen their emotional intelligence, and build connections with other Black and Latino male educators and executives around the country.

“The NFBLME sessions have been some of the most transformative professional development sessions I’ve ever had as an educator,” says Frederick Porter, DREAM East Harlem Middle School Academic Dean. “I’m able to bring something back into my professional space—something I’ve learned in PD, or something I’ve learned from another fellow who is going through the same things.”

NFBLME + DEI at DREAM
The rise of NFBLME participation by DREAM staff members has grown hand-in-hand with the organization’s own efforts to increase diversity among staff across our network.

In 2021, DREAM unveiled our current diversity, equity, and inclusion strategy, with a core focus on developing and growing diverse staff. Since then, this effort has resulted in a 13 percentage point increase in the number of full-time staff members who identify as BIPOC across the network. That includes a 5 percentage point increase for school staff and a 24 percentage point increase for school leaders—today, 88% of school leaders at DREAM identify as BIPOC. Newly created initiatives like the DREAM Teaching Fellowship and the Principal in Residence Program further enhance DREAM’s ability to put educators in our schools and classrooms that represent our students and communities.

As DREAM’s Managing Director of High School and Leadership Development, Jared Francis began to encourage his colleagues to take part in the NFBLME fellowship after he joined the 2021 cohort. He and DREAM Charter High School Principal Brandon Taylor, now NFBLME alumni, engage with the organization as mentors and recruiters.

“Part of our leadership development program at DREAM includes identifying emerging leaders of color,” he says. “If they’re the right fit for NFBLME, we encourage them to apply and make sure DREAM supports them. DREAM has continued to invest in this program, and that sends a message to me as a male leader and male educator of color about what our priorities are.”

Nationally, 50% of NFBLME fellows have been promoted since the organization was founded, and 14 have become senior and/or C-Level leaders, including Francis and Fernandez, who were both promoted to their respective roles in the last two years.

Transformative Outcomes
DREAM’s support of the NFBLME fellowship aligns with our belief that all students can achieve when provided the resources needed to fulfill their vision of success. It’s one of many tools used to ensure DREAM students get a world-class education, surrounded by adults who value and care for them.

NFBLME’s mentorship, education, and development helps build educators equipped to implement DREAM’s Grow the Whole Child model, a system that provides rigorous academics, social-emotional learning, family and community engagement, and physical and mental health and wellness for all students. And it’s because of this model that DREAM students were able to achieve the network’s highest-ever ELA and Math proficiency rates on the 2022-23 New York State Test, while the DREAM Charter High School Class of 2023 received a 100% acceptance rate to college and career pathways, and garnered more than $2 million in funding for their postsecondary pursuits.

DCHS also earned a spot on the 2023 AP School Honor Roll and was granted the 2023 AP Access Award, both from the College Board, in recognition of the school’s pursuit of equitable education for all students and for driving college readiness.

“As an NFBLME fellow, developing clear systems for academic leadership across the school and receiving coaching around how to build targets and monitor KPIs, OKRs, etc. has been instrumental in ensuring consistency and predictability for young people, which has had really tangible student outcomes,” says Brandon Taylor.

A Brotherhood of Support
Outside of DREAM’s schools and classrooms, DREAM’s cohort of NFBLME fellows have found that representation in their professional spaces has not only created better outcomes for DREAM’s students. It’s also allowed them to develop as leaders and people among a supportive community with shared values and experiences.

“I’ve had challenges of being my authentic self at work, and I think I’ve started to lean into it more because I’ve seen these people look and dress and talk like me in prominent roles,” says Gonzalez. “You have this idea of what a leader looks like, and seeing a room of leaders that look like that, it helps me be comfortable with who I am, and makes me believe I look and act like a leader.”

For Ja’Keel Daniels, who recently served as interim principal at DREAM Mott Haven Elementary School and will move into his new role as DREAM Charter High School Principal this coming fall, the fellowship has been instrumental in supporting his professional transition.

“These are people who have done it at every level sharing systems and technical pieces with me, and there’s always someone who can connect me to someone else who can share their insights,” he says. “When you are around other Black and Latino educators, you don’t feel like a small fish in a big pond. You feel that you have camaraderie, and people who share the same experiences. If I didn’t have the fellowship, this work would be a lot harder.”

Part of the fellowship’s support also includes wellness check-ins and 13 months of free therapy to ensure that fellows are prepared not only for the academic side of teaching, but also the impact the work can have on an educator’s mental and emotional health.

“Having that access is amazing,” says Porter. “As Black and Latino male educators, we deal with a lot outside and inside the school building. In the positions that we’re in, we’re looked at as people who are tough and strong, and able to deal with things. I don’t take lightly the fact that this program offers me free therapy. It’s the top thing that I appreciate about being a fellow.”

Real Men Teach
United in a special bond as NFBLME fellows, DREAM’s cohort also bands together under the mantra “Real Men Teach,” a phrase they proudly display on sweatshirts and in photos.

They also work to ensure the phrase is not just a set of empty words. Each fellow sees himself as paving a way for the next set of fellows, for their DREAM staff, and for the students whose futures are entrusted to them.

“I’ve hired three students I used to counsel, and they are all young men of color,” says Gonzalez. “I feel like there’s a tremendous amount I owe to them. I have to win in this to pave the way.”

The post United in Fellowship: DREAM x NFBLME appeared first on DREAM.

“It changed me internally,” says Nick, who spent his fellowship year teaching middle school social studies in Mott Haven. “Being in front of those students and knowing I could teach them something, have an effect on what they’re learning—it made me mature as a person.”

Launched in 2022, the DREAM Teaching Fellowship is a one-year, full-time paid opportunity that creates a pathway for DREAM Legends and part-time staff to become full-time teachers. This past year, Teaching Fellows worked in classrooms throughout DREAM’s network of schools. Under the guidance of mentor teachers, they received regular feedback and coaching, all while building the skills necessary to manage a classroom, lead instruction, and meaningfully engage students and families.

“My mentor teacher, Antione Boardraye, really helped me, and I liked that it was a slow-progressing process,” Nick says. “He let me observe him. Then, gradually, I stepped more into the class and led sections. Toward the end of the year, I was leading everything and driving the content.”

“Being in front of those students and knowing I could teach them something, have an effect on what they’re learning—it made me mature as a person.”

Nicholas Feliz, DREAM Mott Haven Middle School Social Studies Teacher and 2022-23 DREAM Teaching Fellow

Supported by a generous scholarship from DREAM, Teaching Fellows also work toward earning New York State teaching certification and a master’s in teaching from Relay Graduate School of Education. Nick says these studies, paired with his hands-on in-classroom learning, have bolstered his confidence as a teacher.

“When you’re a Teaching Fellow, even the kids see you grow,” he adds. “I had kids coming up to me saying ‘wow, you got better in the classroom.’ Having kids tell me I’ve grown as a teacher, that really puts a smile on my face.”

Now serving as a full-time social studies teacher at DREAM Mott Haven Middle School, Nick is one of four inaugural Teaching Fellows to take on a full-time role within the network. The others include Kim Crawford (DREAM Mott Haven Elementary School), DREAM Legend Jenia Reyes (DREAM East Harlem Elementary School), and DREAM Legend Matthew Sierra (DREAM Charter High School). In his first month, Nick says he’s been laying the groundwork for the year ahead, establishing what his classroom will be like and what his expectations will be for his students. What’s more, he says earning the opportunity to become a full-time DREAM teacher has also affected his life outside of school, including helping him purchase a new home.

“The offer letter for the full-time position is what I used to get approved for the loan,” Nick says. “If I didn’t do the Teaching Fellowship, I don’t know where I would be. This opportunity is really growing me as a person.”

The post Looking Back on the DREAM Teaching Fellowship’s Inaugural Year appeared first on DREAM.

Carolyn Byrne, DREAM East Harlem Elementary School Pre-K Teacher
Elementary Teacher of the Year

Since 2016, Carolyn Byrne has a proven track record of ensuring children have the early literacy and mathematical skills to not only be successful in their lives, but also to become lifelong learners. Students in her class leave as confident, prepared, and strong four-year-olds, and the experiences she creates sculpt and impact their future learning. 89% of her students met the literacy growth goal on DREAM’s Pre-K Every Child Ready assessment, while 83% of her students met the growth goal for the Every Child Ready math assessment. Byrne is a champion of all things early education and truly believes that all kids have the potential to live out their wildest dreams.

Levar Jackson, DREAM Mott Haven Middle School Math Teacher
Middle School Teacher of the Year

Levar Jackson is described as a “teacher who creates a classroom that embodies our maxim ALL Kids Can”—where all kids are deeply engaged, have access to learning, and grapple with rigorous content. He works endlessly to ensure that students feel seen, heard, and valued. In just his first year at DREAM, Jackson led afterschool tutoring and Saturday School, helping his students achieve 30% growth on their math assessments, with 75% of his class reaching proficiency. Jackson also launched and led a black male affinity group for middle school students and served as an invaluable member of DREAM’s DEI committee. He is a powerful member of the DREAM community and shows up each day with optimism and the willingness to support whoever is in need.

Marie Connor, DREAM Charter High School AP U.S. History Teacher
High School Teacher of the Year

Marie Connor was honored as DREAM’s High School Teacher of the Year for her impact not only on her students, but on her fellow teachers, staff members, and families. A supportive and caring teacher and teammate, Connor is able to extend her reach past the classroom and into the further DREAM community, where she is often praised for work. This past year, she led DREAM Charter High School’s debate team to its first-ever tournament, and earned the strongest assessment data for AP History since the school’s founding. Connor also challenges students to be informed about the world around them. As one of her 11th grade students wrote: “My APUSH classes allow me to speak my mind, but with all the facts given. These classes give me a chance to better understand my history and the current global situations that should be noticed. My opinion feels heard in these classes and that’s why they are my proudest academic accomplishments.”

The post DREAM’s 2023 Teachers of the Year appeared first on DREAM.

In a community and a field of work where resources are scarce, time is so dear, and utility trumps aspiration at almost every turn, I’m repeatedly asked the same questions about our newest campus. Why 20 Bruckner? Why a capital project of this scale? And not for a mall or stadium or luxury housing—but for a school?

Here’s our why. At DREAM, we believe that place matters. Place creates context, and context creates meaning—and the meaning of a beautiful school, for students, families, and our community is that they matter. They are worthy of our investment of love and time and, yes, they are worthy of the dollars it took to rebuild this amazing space.

Beautiful learning spaces are common in affluent communities. Just 40 blocks south of Bruckner Boulevard, no one really questions the cost of a school. No one asks “Why?” about Dalton or Nightingale-Bamford or Collegiate.

But if we can agree that all children—no matter their zip code—need the same things to grow up healthy, strong, and happy, the next question is inevitable: How do we afford it?

DREAM has always been more resource-intensive than most of its peer public schools. That’s because we don’t just serve families during the school day: our schools are also built to house afterschool and summer programming in service of DREAM’s extended-day, extended-year approach for every child. 20 Bruckner is even the home base of DREAM’s alumni programming, which serves our high school graduates for up to 6 years, to and through college and into their first job. And since there is enormous inefficiency in having the City’s suite of public services operating in silos, DREAM creates places where a family can get a meal, meet with a counselor or a case manager, and access childcare in the form of afterschool programming, all under one roof.

Today, it is private philanthropy in combination with significant public funding that allows DREAM to build this constellation of supports in one place. And we’re unapologetic about that, because the reality is that public dollars alone do not cover the cost of what low-income Black and brown kids need and deserve. If our students are going to excel, it’s not simply because of our idealism, but because of our effort and our inputs. It turns out investment does drive outcomes, like DREAM’s strong test results or college attainment—especially when you compare the public cost of a good outcome now versus a bad one like unemployment, homelessness, or prison later in a student’s life. DREAM’s thesis is that if we invest at the right scale now, we won’t have to invest at the wrong scale later.

In this work, we have to ask ourselves Why? and How? every single day. The work is harder than ever, and it can be easy to lose track of why you started. But since we cut the ribbon at 20 Bruckner, as we’ve watched our students and staff inhabit their new home with so much joy and pride and wonder, our Why feels like it is more of a living and breathing thing than ever before.

Our students remind us that the point is not that 20 Bruckner is out of scale—but rather, that 20 Bruckner is one of the few things in Mott Haven where investment and commitment and belief is right-sized. Imagine if we could help make this the norm and expectation, to affirm that place matters, for more of our children across our city and country. Imagine if policy and public dollars assumed the true cost of equity. What a difference that would make.

The post The True Cost of Equity in Our Schools appeared first on DREAM.

That generational impact is one of the great gifts of this work. And it’s one of the things that sets DREAM apart. But it goes beyond the fields and the classrooms; it’s passing down something better to each new generation. That’s what DREAM is doing every day—growing, evolving, and investing deeply in the future of our communities.

2022 saw us embark on that next generation of impact—opening our newest school in Highbridge, launching our first-ever Alumni Council, and watching our students excel in the classroom during an era that has halted academic progress for so many students across the nation.

These are just some of the special moments, accomplishments, and memories we’ve made in 2022. Take a look at our Year in Review for much more!

The post DREAM’s Year in Review: A Look Back at 2022 appeared first on DREAM.

At DREAM, we are well aware that our work does not happen in a vacuum. It takes place in the larger context of the world—a world that our students move through every day, and in which they contend personally with issues of inequity. While this has always been the case, the political and social tensions of recent years have made our work with our youth and families, and our DEI investments, more urgent and consequential than ever.

So, now more than ever, our organizational commitment to DEI—which became a core initiative of our strategic plan in 2018—is an inextricable part of the fabric of DREAM. Not just a thing we do, not just an area that we prioritize, but rather a defining aspect of who we are, who we strive to be and how we do our work. 

That is why today, we are excited to publicly share DREAM’s DEI plan. This plan is rooted in three main areas of focus: maintaining a level playing field; growing and developing a diverse staff; and strengthening the student experience. Below is a preview, by no means exhaustive, of some of the projects that are already underway:

• Reviewing and updating our student facing practices and policies to ensure that they do not perpetuate racism and white supremacy
• Ongoing anti-racism training for staff, leadership, and our Boards that pushes the adults in our community, regardless of how they identify racially, to examine how they have both been impacted by and benefited from racism
• Examining our hiring, retention, compensation, and promotion practices, and incorporating accountability for DEI
• Growing the diversity of our organization’s Board of Directors to better reflect the populations we serve
• Forming an advisory council of DREAM Legends (alumni) to have greater voice and power in the organization
• Launching The DREAM Teaching Fellowship, which focuses on creating a pipeline of teachers from the communities we serve
• Annually asking for staff’s feedback about the impact of our DEI work and our organizational culture through a DEI staff experience survey 

Our long term goal is for the adults in our community to be able to create really inclusive spaces where kids feel celebrated, seen, and cared for. That is why our strategy requires that we review and update our systems and policies while also continually pushing the adults in our community to personally reflect and grow. Doing so ensures that our DEI investment is rooted in our culture and the decisions that we make. And we’re already seeing our investment and hard work paying off—in 2021, 79% of promotions were earned by BIPOC employees; 73% of new hires identified as BIPOC; and 54% of DREAM’s management team identified as BIPOC, up from 40% the previous year. Our emphasis on competency-based hiring and our far-reaching, targeted outreach efforts allowed us to onboard incredibly smart, qualified, and diverse team members this year. 

As we try to walk with compassion, humility, and hope, we are committed to listening to and taking guidance from the communities we serve. That includes holding ourselves accountable and continuing the conversation. We welcome any feedback as you explore our DEI plan, and we are grateful to all our supporters as we learn and grow together. Thank you for striving with us toward our ultimate goal: a world where youth, especially youth of color, have permission to dream big—and where together, we dismantle the systemic barriers to making their dreams reality.

Explore Our DEI Plan

The post Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: A Note from DREAM’s Chief DEI Officer appeared first on DREAM.