The Dream Center: Holistic Youth Development
- Pre-Seed
The Dream Centers Holistic approach to youth development provides disadvantaged youth with a foundation that connects, relates, educates and meets the needs of 21st century youth by equipping them with real world connections, life and work readiness skills.
Our solution is to serve disadvantaged youth by providing youth with access to resources, technology and the development of skills that would prepare and position youth for a purposeful, impactful and influential life.
In providing this type of holistic development it enables young people to gain grit, tenacity and resiliency that shifts mindsets and sparks curiosity and innovation. This produces an outcome that ignites their ability to dream paving the way for future success.
The creation of a state of the art Dream Center consists of spaces dedicated to the specific areas that compliment the development of the whole child. This center will empower youth to turn their dreams into reality. In addition, the center provides workforce training and real world connections for 21st century youth.This will be achieved through a model that holistically serves youth in the following areas:
1.Youth Physical Health & Wellness Development
2.Youth Socio - Emotional Development
3.Youth Education & Development
4.Youth Entrepreneurship & Financial Development
5.Youth College, Career & Life Development
6.Youth Leadership, Social Impact and Justice
If scaled, the Dream Center would affect change across the world by moving us from a one dimensional model of youth development to one that speaks to the young person as a whole. This model would now address development across all platforms of need which in turn would empower our future generations producing society shifters and change agents.
The disadvantaged youth is faced with many challenges and obstacles.The exposure to environmental, personal and social ills create a disconnected and disjointed state of being; making it difficult for a young person to discover their identity, talents, acquire skills and simply believe in themselves.
The Dream Center directly addresses the holistic model of youth development and teaches young people how to take control and ownership over their future and create the lives they've imagined.
Youth today are seen and serviced in parts. There is a need to restore balance through a holistic approach. When you serve youth in parts, you over compensate leading to deficiencies in other areas. This results in an imbalance.
Our model proposes a holistic investment in servicing our youth. It is rooted in communicating value, which establishes trust and relationship. If we can service the whole child, then we can develop a more balanced and empowered young person who would be ready to take on the workforce, life and its challenges.
The impact of our solution is a global transformative approach to youth development. It is a deliberate investment in our youth. This model adequately meets 21st century youth in a changing technological world. This tangible model connects and creates value and develops trust.
Youth lacking in skills, life advancement opportunities and plagued with obstacles that impede their development and chance for success will benefit from our solution.
Dream centers would be created globally. Deployment would involve web based and hands on training and workshops. In addition, mentors will be available to newly created sites for support, guidance and development.
assessment and evaluating project based learning experiences - yearly advancement of youth demonstrating proficiency in workforce and education skills
youth socio-emotional assessments and surveys - positive socio-emotional growth among youth
health and wellness assessment tools - increase in youth physical awareness and wellness
- Adolescent
- Lower middle income economies (between $1006 and $3975 GNI)
- Low-income economies (< $1005 GNI)
- Secondary
- Urban
- Europe and Central Asia
- Latin America and the Caribbean
- US and Canada
- Agricultural technology
- Consumer-facing software (mobile applications, cloud services)
- Digital systems (machine learning, control systems, big data)
- Management & design approaches
- Robotics
Our model is innovative in its use of technology to elevate and impact youth development. This is achieved through the utilization of specific technologies which support the development of specific skills acquisition. From music technology, Computer Aided design to agricultural technology youth will receive real world training and exposure as they gain viable skills for workforce preparation and understand the connection between overall well being and lifetime success.
Our Solve is relationship driven, open to human need and is designed for balance of technology and the user. It incorporates the human perspective as technology is used as a tool of advancement and empowerment.
Deployment will incorporate the creation and development of Dream Centers to be located at various sites in different countries. The extension of this model includes the utilization of social media and apps to increase accessibility and affordability.
- 0 (Concept)
- Non-Profit
- United States
Our teams plan for financial sustainability includes seeking grants and partnerships with government, businesses and community based organizations.
In addition, the establishment of Dream Center Youth Entrepreneurship Divisions which seeks to acquire funding sources through two levels.
1.Youth Entrepreneurship; Production and sales of youth created goods and services
2.Youth Philanthropy; Youth acquiring skills for grant and proposal research and writing. Exposure to government and private funding sources.
Factors limiting the ability of our solution's implementation would be funding, acquiring space and connecting with viable partnerships.
- 1 year
- 12-18 months
- 6-12 months
- Technology Access
- 21st Century Skills
- Arts Education
- STEM Education
- General Wellness
We believe we have a model to transforming and empowering youth worldwide. Support from SOLVE would allow many young people to benefit from this non-traditional holistic approach to youth development. Inspiring our youth to dream, believe and acquire real world skills is not only crucial to the individual but to impacting communities and the world at large.
We want to spark a conversation, transfer vision and build a bridge to better efforts to understanding and connecting with 21st Century Youth.
The Brooklyn Borough Presidents Office
Municipal Credit Union Bank
Capital One Bank
BLICK ARTS
Brooklyn College
Long Island University
Hey Young World Incorporated (CBO)
Helping Young People Elevate (CBO)
YWCA, YMCA, THE BIG BROTHERS & BIG SISTERS, BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB OF AMERICA
CEO