What we do
We Empower Youth & Families
Our Mission
The “I Have A Dream” Foundation – Los Angeles provides long-term support to youth living in under-resourced communities to enable them to achieve their full potential. We promote, from an early age, values of higher education and career success and provide opportunities guaranteed through financial resources, enrichment programs and more.
Our Vision
Our vision is for all children to have the opportunity to earn a college degree and to fully capitalize on their talents and aspirations and fulfill their dreams of attaining successful careers and productive global citizenship.
Our History
“An impulsive move on the part of one visionary man sparked a national movement to positively impact the lives of children in low-income communities from coast to coast…”
Our Roots
Throughout its 35-year history, the national “I Have A Dream” Foundation has been known for it’s whole-child education approach – a legacy from it’s very first program.
New York businessman Eugene Lang founded the national “I Have A Dream” Foundation in 1981 when, prior to giving a speech at his middle school alma mater in Harlem, he was told that 75% of the students in attendance would drop out before graduating from high school. Eugene was so alarmed by this figure that he changed his speech on the spot and offered to pay the college tuition of every student in the room who graduated. Inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech, the “I Have A Dream” movement began and eventually expanded to over 60 independently-run nonprofits in cities across the United States, Canada and New Zealand.
“I Have A Dream” Foundation – Los Angeles (IHADLA), the second affiliate, was founded in 1987 by the Whittier Family Foundations, which funded the early programs across Los Angeles.
IHADLA’s founding vision was championed by Winifred “Win” Woodward Rhodes, whose compassion and leadership helped bring the “I Have A Dream” model to Los Angeles. Win believed that meaningful change required more than financial support, it required long-term relationships, personal commitment, and a willingness to meet students and families where they were. Her dedication laid the foundation for IHADLA’s whole-child approach and continues to guide our work today.
For over 30 years, IHADLA has cumulatively impacted over 11,500 individuals from under-resourced communities including Dreamer Scholars and their families. We have also inspired many Dreamer alumni to come back and help their communities.
Our mission is to provide our Dreamer Scholars with the academic, socio-emotional and cultural resources to help them develop the skills needed to graduate from high school and to and through a college education. We serve our Dreamer Scholars for 12+ consecutive years from first grade to high school, and then to and through college – helping them effectively navigate an educational pathway to an empowered future. Unique among education charities, IHADLA offers the only academic, socio-emotional and family assistance program that is in school, after school, year-round, and long-term (16-plus years).
We currently serve nearly 300 youth across 3 programs from the under-served communities of Boyle Heights, Watts, Inglewood & Pasadena.
