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Dream.Org

Making dreams real – together.

aka Dream Justice, Dream Green For All, Dream Tech   |   Oakland, CA   |  http://dream.org/

Mission

At Dream.org we close prison doors and open doors of opportunity. We bring people together across racial, social, and partisan lines to create a future with freedom, dignity, and opportunity for all.

Ruling year info

2009

Chief Executive Officer

Nisha Anand

Main address

436 14th St, Stuite 920

Oakland, CA 94612 USA

Show more contact info

Formerly known as

Green For All

Rebuild the Dream

Dream Corps

EIN

26-1140201

NTEE code info

Civil Rights, Advocacy for Specific Groups (R20)

Alliance/Advocacy Organizations (C01)

Employment Procurement Assistance and Job Training (J20)

IRS filing requirement

This organization is required to file an IRS Form 990 or 990-EZ.

Sign in or create an account to view Form(s) 990 for 2021, 2020 and 2019.
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Communication

Blog

Programs and results

What we aim to solve

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

America is just beginning to reckon with our ugly founding reality: a society built on violence against Black people and communities of color. COVID-19 and the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and countless others, is making it clearer than ever that they suffer first and worst from society’s many ills. Systemic racism left us with a dirty-fuel economy where the worst of pollution and health impacts land on communities of color. Those same communities disproportionately work in low-paying, low-skill jobs and make up the millions of Americans incarcerated or suffering under a cruel policing and criminal justice system. Despite growing awareness of these problems, we are a deeply divided nation. But at Dream Corps we know it is possible to deliver help to communities who need it. We amplify the voices of those who suffer from systemic racism and put them at the core of our work, crossing racial and partisan lines to advance tangible solutions and deliver results.

Our programs

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?

Dream Green For All

The Green For All program uplifts the voices of working class families and people of color in the climate movement. We work to ensure that, as the green economy grows, all communities will benefit from good jobs, better health, and increased opportunity. Confronting both poverty and pollution, we have successfully directed more than $55 billion in federal funding to green investments
that have created climate resilience and wealth opportunities for the most impacted communities.

Together, we dream of a healthy, sustainable future that is green for all, not green for some.

Green For All was an independent organization founded by Van Jones before it merged with Dream Corps in 2014.

Population(s) Served
Economically disadvantaged people
People of African descent
People of Latin American descent
Multiracial people

The Justice program brings together leaders impacted by the criminal justice system with unlikely allies spanning the political divide to push for bold and innovative criminal justice solutions. Our network of unlikely allies has built consensus for reform among Republicans and Democrats at the state and federal level. Our Dignity for Incarcerated Women campaign has improved living conditions for more than 30,000 women incarcerated in 14 states.
We’ve spearheaded historic bipartisan federal reform legislation, including the First Step Act, that has brought more than 18,000 people home from behind bars.

Together, we create second chances and work to transform our criminal justice system.

This program was previously known as Dream Corps JUSTICE and #Cut50.

Population(s) Served
Incarcerated people
Adults
People of African descent
People of Latin American descent
Multiracial people

The Tech program provides opportunities to underrepresented communities giving them the training and tools they need to become architects of the future. The Tech program works with major corporate partners to place talented people in high-paying careers. We support them with funding, training, and community to help diversify the technology industry.
Our recent tech cohort graduates now earn a $70,000+ starting salary, with an average salary increase of $30-40,000.

Together, we are creating a pipeline of diverse talent that will shift the culture of the tech sector.

This program was previously known as Dream Corps TECH and #YesWeCode.

Population(s) Served
Economically disadvantaged people
People of African descent
People of Latin American descent
Adults
Unemployed people

Where we work

Our results

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.

Additional revenue and wages generated attributable to the organization's efforts

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Ethnic and racial groups

Related Program

Dream Tech

Type of Metric

Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues

Direction of Success

Holding steady

Context Notes

TECH cohort graduates obtain tech industry positions with average starting salaries of 75,000-90,000

Number of placements defined as full-time

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Ethnic and racial groups

Related Program

Dream Tech

Type of Metric

Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues

Direction of Success

Increasing

Context Notes

96% of TECH cohort graduates are hired into paid, technology roles, which include benefits and pay family sustaining wages.

Number of participants who gain employment

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Ethnic and racial groups

Related Program

Dream Tech

Type of Metric

Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues

Direction of Success

Increasing

Context Notes

96% of TECH cohort graduates are hired into paid, technology roles, which include benefits and pay family sustaining wages.

Number of employer partners offering jobs to clients

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Ethnic and racial groups

Related Program

Dream Tech

Type of Metric

Input - describing resources we use

Direction of Success

Increasing

Context Notes

Dream Corps TECH partners with employers to guarantee placement for cohort graduates.

Our Sustainable Development Goals

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.

Goals & Strategy

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.

Charting impact

Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.

Generations of systemic racism has taken a sledgehammer to the freedom, health, and wealth of Black and Brown Americans. Our three programs work in concert to undo this damage by closing prison doors and opening doors of opportunity:

Dream Corps JUSTICE is a bipartisan effort to transform justice across the country. Over the past six years, we have built partnerships, relationships, and credibility across party lines that have led to passing critical criminal justice reforms at the federal and state levels, while centering policy around formerly and currently incarcerated people and their families. We have spent the past six years cultivating our Empathy Network–a powerful body of advocates who serve as our eyes, ears, and boots on the ground. These partners, the majority of whom are people formerly incarcerated, help us shape and advance our policy agenda in step with the needs of their communities.

Dream Corps Green For All began with the dream that millions of Black and Brown youth would land in green jobs, not jails. Today, we fight for a world that is green for all, not green for some. We work at the intersection of the racial justice, economic, and environmental movements to advance solutions to poverty and pollution.
Our society has over-invested in criminal justice and dirty fuels, and under-invested in communities of color. Environmental racism means these communities suffer the most from pollution and the climate crisis, while benefiting the least from the growing clean economy. We advocate for strong, resilient, and healthy neighborhoods through policy work that ensures as the clean economy grows, it brings good jobs, better health, and opportunity to impacted communities. We are currently advocating for local, state, and federal measures that prioritize clean-energy investments in communities of color.

Dream Corps Tech was born in the wake of the murder of Trayvon Martin to undo the racist image that Black youth in hoodies are dangerous, while young white men in hoodies are potential tech leaders. We’re a national program cultivating future leaders and entrepreneurs from underrepresented backgrounds and creating a pipeline of diverse talent that will shift the culture of the tech sector.
The systemic racism baked into our economy leaves Black and Brown Americans disproportionately trapped in low-wage jobs, despite their talent and creativity. Experts also warn of the potential new, high-tech manifestations of prejudice and algorithmic discrimination. We work to counter these trends in partnership with industry leaders who recognize the need to diversify their workforce. We empower and train untapped talent from underrepresented communities to enter the technology-fueled economy.

To orient people to our work and bring them into our vision for the future, we focus on excellence in three core ways–Communicate,Catalyze, Convene. The“three C’s” best utilize Dream Corps’s comparative advantage in the field.

Communicate: We tap into the genius that already exists in communities of color and low-income neighborhoods and use our platform to amplify these voices and normalize these ideas, needs, and solutions.

Catalyze: We create and seek out the brightest ideas and most innovative solutions and then cultivate and elevate them, creating movements to take the country from where we are to where we want to be.

Convene: We bring leaders from different backgrounds and issues to the table for strategic collaboration, idea sharing, innovation, and creative solutions.

We organize actions and mobilizations that generate media coverage, changing hearts and minds, and raising the necessary resources to take further action. This cycle of mobilization, media, and money drives the growth strategy behind our campaigns.

Dream Corps’ unique and intersectional mission and programming allows us to achieve impact effectively across both the fields of criminal justice reform and tech equity. Our staff expertise is a result of lived experience with these issues, which allows us to be on the forefront of innovating and creating new interventions. Dream Corps is uniquely positioned for success in this field because of our track record of building common ground with unlikely allies to achieve systems change, which differentiates us from others in the progressive movement. The credibility we have built across socioeconomic, racial, and party lines gives us a significant advantage.

Since the Dream Corps was founded by Van Jones in 2015, our approach has led to significant wins in criminal justice reform, environmental solutions, increasing diversity in the tech sector, and increased civic engagement to strengthen our democracy and stand up to hate. Accomplishments include:
– 80+ Black and Brown individuals began life-changing tech careers in paid roles through TECH’s Job Training Cohort corporate partnership model
– $200K in scholarships awarded to Black and Brown talent to advance their careers in the tech sector
– 20,000+ individuals freed from federal prison due to JUSTICE’s work to support the passage of the First Step Act
– 30,000+ women in 15 states with increased access to healthcare and protections from abuse through the JUSTICE Dignity For Incarcerated Women campaign
– $55.5B in federal funding for low-carbon transit infrastructure projects secured through recovery bills through Green For All’s #FuelChange campaign
– Disseminated a Green For All policy toolkit to 1,500 state legislators on how to effectively and equitably price pollution to fund solutions and uplift communities.

How we listen

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.

done We demonstrated a willingness to learn more by reviewing resources about feedback practice.
done We shared information about our current feedback practices.
  • How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?

    To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve

  • Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?

    We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We act on the feedback we receive

  • What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?

    It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, We don’t have the right technology to collect and aggregate feedback efficiently, The people we serve tell us they find data collection burdensome

Financials

Dream.Org
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Operations

The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.

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lock

Connect with nonprofit leaders

Subscribe

Build 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.

Dream.Org

Board of directors
as of 08/23/2023
SOURCE: Self-reported by organization
Board chair

Nisha Anand

Julian Mocine-McQueen

Million Person Project

Henriette Vinet-Martin

Nisha Anand

Dream.Org

Board leadership practices

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.

  • 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

Organizational demographics

SOURCE: Self-reported; last updated 7/20/2022

Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.

Leadership

The organization's leader identifies as:

Race & ethnicity
Asian/Asian American
Gender identity
Female, Not transgender (cisgender)
Sexual orientation
Heterosexual or straight
Disability status
Person without a disability

Race & ethnicity

Gender identity

 

Sexual orientation

No data

Disability

No data

Equity strategies

Last updated: 11/17/2020

GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more

Data
  • We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
  • We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
  • We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
Policies and processes
  • We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
  • We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
  • We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
  • We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
  • We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
  • We measure and then disaggregate job satisfaction and retention data by race, function, level, and/or team.
  • We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.