2. DREAM A DREAM’s VISION:
Empowering young people from vulnerable backgrounds by developing life skills and at the same
time sensitizing the community through active volunteering leading to a non-discriminatory society
where unique differences are appreciated.
Dream A Dream is a professional, registered, charitable trust. We empower over 12,000 young
people, referred from 17 NGO partners, through life skills-based programs. These are delivered by
our core team working with an active and enthusiastic base of 2000 volunteers in Bangalore.
IT ALL BEGAN THIS WAY:
One afternoon in 1999, when the world was worrying about Y2K, Brinda Jacob was planning how to
bring about a change in society. She had a simple idea – engage with young people and channelize
their passion and energy to create change in their communities.
Soon, 11 others joined hands. Young marketing officers, management graduates, software engineers,
chartered accountants, future business tycoons, photographers, ad professionals, a contemporary
dancer, all huddled in a garage to discuss the idea.
There were many dreams; many suggestions. They were bound by a single thought: give back to the
community and unleash the „power of one‟. The result: Dream A Dream was born in November 1999.
The twelve founder dreamers were Arjun Dugal, Brinda Jacob, Neha Shah, Pramod Ramprasad, Rahul
Mathur, Rashmi Bajaj, Sandeep Wadhwa, Shweta Kothari, Supreeta Sampath, Vipul Chhabria, Vishal
Talreja and Vishwa Prasad.
“We came together because we thought we could make a difference in a very small way. None of us
realised the power we were unleashing – the power of one. We didn‟t know how far we would take
Dream A Dream, but what we did know was that our lives would never be the same again and we
would greatly impact the lives of a few children.” – Vishal Talreja, Co-founder and Executive Director,
Dream A Dream.
3.
4. Measuring how we transform lives
Numbers that speak:
Dream A Dream runs over 109 batches of core life skills programs, across 17 locations in
Bangalore, India, 1-2 times a week. We engage 25-30 children in each batch. Our programs
have a healthy gender ration: 1298 girls (42%) and 1768 boys (58%) have enrolled in both
sports and arts programs.
In 2011-2012, Dream A Dream :
1. Impacted 3066 children through life skills programs.
2. Conducted 9 Dream Outdoor Experiential Camps covering over 296 children. The Outdoor
Experiential Camps were designed in partnership with PYE Global – an international
organization that works with young people from difficult circumstances and uses a unique,
creative community and creative facilitation model.
3. Conducted career talks for 248 young adults.
4. Enrolled 144 young adults in the ‘Life Skills For Career Development’ program, which
taught them spoken English, computer education, money management, communication and
workplace readiness skills.
5. Engaged 50 new mentors in the Dream Mentoring Program.
6. Saw 300 children and young adults complete their Dream Life Skills Program and graduate
to accept bigger challenges in their life.
7. Trained 160 adult facilitators in our life skills philosophy impacting 16,000 young people
through our partners.
8. Up to March 2012, over 1400 volunteers have clocked 17,500 hours of active volunteering
with us.
OUTREACH
5. PROGRAMME PARTNERS
NGO PARTNERS :
1. Ananya Trust
2. Bosco
3. Viswas (Helpline Charitable Society)
4. R.B.B.P. Annaswamy Mudaliar School
5. Bangalore Metropolitan Round Table School
6. Vibhutipura Mutta
7. Center For Social Action (Christ Education Soceity)
8. RAZA Education and Community Development Society (Excellent English
School, Bannargatta Road)
9. Excellent English School, Bommanahalli
10. Citizen High School, Frazer Town
11. Infant Jesus Trust (Stella Mary School)
12. Somanath Educational Society (Mount Everest School)
13. Samruddhi Trust
14. Makkala Jagrithi
15. Sri Sadguru Saibaba School
16. Government Murgesh Palya School
17. Shubhodhini Convent Englis School
18. Shree Shama Vidya Shala
6. PROGRAMME S
Impacting over 12000 young people through 5 key programmes since 1999
Dream A Dream’s programmes use innovative, interactive methods to
engage with young people from vulnerable backgrounds. We provide non-
traditional educational opportunities designed to allow them to explore,
innovate and build important life skills. These include:
1. Interpersonal skills such as teamwork, communication, negotiation and
coping skills.
2. Cognitive skills such as decision-making, problem solving and critical
thinking.
3. Creativity, confidence, self-awareness and a passion for learning.
OUR PROGRAMMES :
1. Are innovative, interactive and fun – participants enjoy themselves and
socialise, which motivates them to attend the programmes for a longer
period.
2. Let them explore interests, gain self awareness and a healthy self-esteem,
and assume leadership roles. They develop critical thought and other life
coping skills, which often fall outside the pale of the conventional schooling
system.
3. Provide them with the ‘tools’ necessary to engage with life in a
wholesome manner.
They include:
1. Dream Life Skills Through Sports, which
uses football as a medium to develop skills and
complement class-room education.
2. Dream Life Skills Through Arts for
interactive sessions where young people use art
and craft to communicate effectively.
3. Dream Outdoor Experiential Camps, where
adventure games and outdoor camps build self-
esteem and team work in participants.
4. The Dream Connect Programme for career
development. It offers the tools and foundational
life skills that help transform ability to capability.
5. Dream Fundays, where young adults learn on
fun, educational visits to new places.
6. Dream Mentoring, where a caring adult
mentor encourages young adults to find answers to
the challenges of growing up.
