Our Mission
The mission of “I Have a Dream”- East Oakland is to motivate and empower every “Dreamer” (a child “adopted” from a low-income community) to reach his/her education and career goals.
Our Method
Provide a targeted group of Dreamers with a year round program of comprehensive support services from 2nd through 12th grade with guaranteed financial assistance for college.
29 years of helping youth from low-income communities achieve higher education
According to a study done by the Harvard Civil Rights Project in 2004, the Oakland Unified School District has a dropout rate of 52%, causing some critics to dub its schools “Dropout Factories”
For each American teenager who drops out of school and enters a life of crime and drugs, the nation spends $1.7 million (OJJDP, 1999)
Across the nation, “I Have a Dream” projects have an average “On Time” high school graduation rate of 76%--higher than the national average for all students
In 2006, 74% of Dreamers in Oakland’s first “I Have a Dream” project received a high school diploma or GED certificate…over half went on to higher education
"The 'I Have a Dream' program has played an important role in my life. From the very beginning they set out one goal for us which was to go to college. But it was definitely much more than just going to college. They taught me and showed me things I would have never learned or seen on my own...I know that without this advice I wouldn’t be where I am today. I wouldn’t even think about going to college. The IHAD foundation was not a typical after-school program that helped me with my homework; it was like a second home to me."
For each American teenager who drops out of school and enters a life of crime and drugs, the nation spends $1.7 million (OJJDP, 1999)
Across the nation, “I Have a Dream” projects have an average “On Time” high school graduation rate of 76%--higher than the national average for all students
In 2006, 74% of Dreamers in Oakland’s first “I Have a Dream” project received a high school diploma or GED certificate…over half went on to higher education
"The 'I Have a Dream' program has played an important role in my life. From the very beginning they set out one goal for us which was to go to college. But it was definitely much more than just going to college. They taught me and showed me things I would have never learned or seen on my own...I know that without this advice I wouldn’t be where I am today. I wouldn’t even think about going to college. The IHAD foundation was not a typical after-school program that helped me with my homework; it was like a second home to me."
- Linda, West Oakland Dreamer Class of 2006, CSU East Bay