DreamYard
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
DreamYard is located in the economically poorest Congressional District in the country and NYC Community District 3. Here, 63% of children are born into poverty, less than half of school-age children meet City and State learning standards, and less than 10% of adults have a college degree.
Unemployment statistics for older youth and adults (16 years of age or older) who are actively seeking employment show a rate of 17.8% compared to 9.8% in NYC. Over half (50.9%) of young adults 16-19 years old are unemployed, as compared to 39.5% of similarly aged youth across NYC - this speaks to the economic barriers faced by young adults surrounding the area in which we work.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
DreamYard Prep High School
DreamYard Preparatory High School was founded in 2006 as a Bronx public high school offering a rigorous college preparatory curriculum that includes AP classes, SAT prep, arts majors, and options for international travel.
It is the mission of DreamYard Prep to produce graduates that are life-ready - this means that our young people are ready to embrace a meaningful career, believe that they can be successful adults, and are prepared to contribute to society purposefully.
DreamYard Prep helps students become life-ready through the implementation of the school's three core values Scholarship, Artistry, Character - these core values are present in every aspect of the school's curriculum. DreamYard Prep has a 16% higher graduation rate than the average Bronx high school.
In School Programs
At DreamYard, art is action. Our In School Programs combine NY State-Standards-based arts instruction with social justice pedagogy principles to inspire students to develop character, scholarship, and an artistic voice to create change.
Our year-long program model offers both in-school and after-school arts residencies; one and two 90-minute sessions per week respectively plus weekly collaborative planning and reflection time. The following art programs are available: dance, maker, music, poetry, theater, and visual art plus leadership development and digital arts.
Each DreamYard teaching artist receives over 50 hours of professional development each year. Every teaching artist works in close collaboration with our department heads in a coaching model, creating excellent project arcs and lessons plans, and taking part in a layered coaching model in which every artist works on a pedagogical skill with the outside eye and support of their coach. All this work is guided by our Framework, a curriculum development and reflection tool based on our Core Values of Empower, Create, and Connect.
During the 2016-17 school year, DreamYard served 250 public school classes (Pre-K-12th) across 44 schools, impacting 6,500 students through 200 residencies, and reached 175 teachers through professional development and yearlong collaboration.
DreamYard Art Center
As the only arts and digitally-integrated facility in the neighborhood, the DreamYard Art Center has become an important cultural and educational space in the South Bronx - addressing a real need for high-quality programming for youth in an out-of-school-time setting.
DreamYard Art Center programs run during after school hours (4 PM-6 PM), Saturdays (10 AM-3 PM), and throughout the summer (10 AM-4 PM) for a total of 1500 hours of programming each year. Over 300 students take part in a variety of arts classes such as fashion, visual art, theater, digital learning, music and audio recording, poetry, arts and social activism, and dance. Furthermore, all of our students have access to leaderships development opportunities and academic supports such as college advisory, community building, internships, and social work services.
HERE-TO-HERE
HERE-TO-HERE (H2H) is a collaboration between DreamYard, Big Picture Learning, and the James and Judith K. Dimon Foundation. We are bringing together a best in class place-based Prek-12th-grade youth development provider, a top national internship and out-of-school-time career provider, and a funder with meaningful ties to employers. Each partner brings a desire to affect lasting systemic change.
H2H is introducing thousands of high school students to career pathways and professional mentors who share their interest and will support students through a guided pathway to a promising career. Students build their personal and professional networks and gain social capital through summer youth employment, internship learning, and overall relationship building.
By 2020, H2H's goal is to have 10,000 14-24-year-olds on a path to a family-sustaining income and career.
Where we work
Awards
The National Arts & Humanities Youth Program Award 2012
President's Committee on the Arts & Humanities
External reviews
Photos
Videos
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
DreamYard is defined by its strong commitment to teaching for equity, justice, and hope and by its deep roots in the Bronx. DreamYard was successful in reaching – and in some place surpassing – the goals or our first strategic plan (2004-2009). The implementation of that plan resulted in the articulation of the DreamYard Educational Pathway: the deliberate effort to frame and align the organization's programming to reach and impact young people as they progress through the education system. Through the process of revisiting previously identified strategic priorities and assessing progress towards these goals, our last strategic plan (2012-2017) identified opportunities for strengthening our work through specific strategic priorities. As a result of our last strategic plan, DreamYard successfully developed an Instructional Voice, resulting in great improvement in student work and deeper integration of our core values Empower, Create, Connect; our internship programs continue to grow and fill a critical need for our young people as it helps students' likelihood of college acceptance and their readiness for a career; and we saw a 20% increase in overall programming as a result of new partnership (SONYC and 21st Century).
DreamYard is now preparing for our next strategic plan. Working with Yancey Consulting, DreamYard recently embarked on a Theory of Change process that affirms and codifies the change DreamYard seeks to evoke as a result of its mission and community-based work and subsequently guides the strategies to achieve set goals and objectives over the next five years.
Theory of Change
DreamYard's Theory of Change articulate a framework regarding how positive social change happens for young people. DreamYard is committed to focusing its efforts on getting specific outcomes for our target populations of PreK-12th-grade students. DreamYard believes that through an interconnected, thoughtful, and deliberate roster of programs, systems of social and academic supports, and partnerships we can help young people in their educational pathways to becoming vibrant, creative, and productive adults.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
We want to create real systemic change that breaks the cycle of poverty. Our goal is to flip the odds so that young people have a chance of getting what they need to succeed. To do this, we are creating multiple pathways to success and a network of resources for our young people to tap into so that they can succeed in school and compete in today's job market.
These pathways include:
- Bronx Arts Learning Community, a network of 45 Bronx public school (K-12th-grade) committed to supporting academic and artistic needs while working towards racial equity
- At DreamYard Art Center we have created a pathway of top-quality art and social justice programs for over 300 young people in PreK-12th-grade;
- Internship and Career Development Pathway - HERE-TO-HERE - a collaboration between Dreamyard, Big Picture Learning, and the James and Judith K. Dimon Foundation that is introducing 14-24-year-olds to career pathways and professional mentors who share their interests.
Using DreamYard's Theory of Change work as a foundation to support our strategic planning process we will create a document that will be used as a benchmark over the next five years around the following critical areas:
1. Local Leadership & Policy Pathway
2. Alumni Network
3. Career Pathways
4. Tools/Pedagogy Pathway: The Bronx to citywide to national
5. Programming Alignment & Expanded Reach and Impact
6. Scale & Impact
7. Real Estate Imprint
8. Organizational Effectiveness
9. Social Justice & Racial Justice Integration
10. Inspirational Community Vision
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
DreamYard has developed an aggressive and diversified funding strategy to ensure program continuity and growth. Our budget is broken down as follows: 24% of our revenue comes from fees for service and city, state and federal contracts; 50% comes from local and national foundations, and 26% comes from individual and corporate giving. Funding sources include Foundations: Annenberg Foundation, New York Community Trust and the James and Judith K. Dimon Foundation; Government: Bronx Council Members, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, and New York State Council on the Arts; Corporate: JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
INSTRUCTIONAL VOICE
We have successfully developed an Instructional Voice through a multipronged approach that included discussions among staff and a compilation of key research from the field of education and youth development. As a result, we have seen vast improvements in student work and a deeper integration of our core values of Artistry, Character, and Scholarship into the process of creating artwork. Our teaching artists are much more comfortable and empowered with strategies to teach for social justice and have taken ownership of classroom culture.
PROGRAM GROWTH
Collaboration is an important aspect of DreamYard's work and at the core of HERE-TO-HERE's work. In our first year, we have successfully forged partnerships with the following six high schools. We have also successfully partnered with the following 11 community based non-profit organization/institutions.
The Bronx Arts Festival grows every year. The Bronx Arts Festival is the largest celebration of student artwork in the Bronx. In 2017, 1150 young artists from 26 schools performed, 200 students participated in a gallery tour, 150 young makers attended the Maker Jam, 200 pieces of student artwork were on display, and 70 young poets competed in the poetry slam.
EXPANDED OPPORTUNITIES FOR STUDENTS
This past summer, HERE-TO-HERE placed 430 Bronx teens in stipend summer career exploration programs and internships. Furthermore, 9th and 10th-grade students took part in robust summer programming at the DreamYard Art Center that included several weeks of career exploration experiences, and 11th and 12th-grade students took part in formal internship opportunities with employer mentors across a variety of sectors including creative technology and community/public art and design.
This past January, the DreamYard Art Center held its annual Alumni Homecoming at the DreamYard Art Center. Thirty-five alumni attended the event, which provided a space for former students to reconnect with their peers, expand their network and attend arts-based and career-focused workshops facilitated by HERE-TO-HERE. The half-day Career Exploration workshop was aimed at helping alumni identify and understand their interest and passions. The workshops focused on activities that allowed participants to learn about possible career paths that align with their interest, passions, and talents, and learn how to explore those pathways in depth. Participants:
- Identified the competencies that are aligned with their interests and passions.
- Identified career pathways that align with their interest and make the best use of their talents and skills
- Analyzed the potential career paths and identified specific professions within them.
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
DreamYard
Board of directorsas of 02/13/2023
Patricia Perez
1901 Partners Management, LP
Term: 2006 - 2022
Peter Duchin
Peter Duchin Orchestras
Abby Turk
NISFIN, LLC.
Patricia Perez
O'Melveny and Myers
Andy Berndt
Erickson Blakney
The Pinkerton Foundation
Lisa Giuffra Diaz
Goldman Sachs
Mark-Anthony Edwards
B. Michael America
Ethan Hawke
Actor
Chris Howe
Boston Consulting Group’s Global Practice Areas
Samantha Magistro
Bronx Pro
Helen Pardoe
Boys Club of New York
Leslie R. Rylee
GRF Group
Sarah Calderon
Art Place America
Ken Maxwell
Gagosian Gallery
Allison Nathan
Goldman Sachs
Renee Watson
Author
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes