Dream A Dream provides children from vulnerable backgrounds with non-traditional educational opportunities designed to allow them to explore, innovate and build important life skills. These life skills are fundamental to child/youth development and to the successful transition into adulthood and becoming fully functioning and productive members of our society. Dream A Dream programs allow children to develop Life Skills including:

• Interpersonal skills including teamwork, communications, negotiation and coping skills
• Cognitive skills such as decision-making, problem solving and critical thinking
• Along with creativity, confidence, self-awareness and a passion for learning

Life skills development at Dream A Dream is fostered through a variety of weekly programs for children referred to Dream A Dream by our partner NGOs in Bangalore communities. These children are deemed vulnerable as they may be orphans or abandoned children, street children and other children from slum communities. They are children whose basic needs such as food, clothing, shelter and education are being met but who, without additional support and opportunities run a high risk of falling back into the vicious cycle of poverty and life on the street. Instead, Dream A Dream helps these children dream of a better future and develops the skills needed to succeed through our varied programs:

Dream Sports - A unique life skills development program, running since 2003, for children from vulnerable backgrounds where in they can participate in team sports and benefit from professional coaching. Currently, Dream A Dream offers Football, Rugby, Hockey and Table Tennis as sports for learning in partnership with SPT Sports Academy, Sportz Village, Karnataka Rugby & Football Union, Ashish Ballal Hockey Academy and Winners Choice respectively. Through weekly sessions, children not only learn the sport in a fun and engaging environment albeit also develop critical life skills such as team-work, creativity, problem solving, self-awareness, etc.

Dream Creative Arts - Long-term, focused curriculum based programs aimed at developing life-skills in the children using a variety of arts and crafts based mediums. Through art, children learn to value their own uniqueness, to appreciate their individuality and express themselves. Working in teams also helps build their team-skills, sense of worth, responsibility and discipline. Run with support from artists, facilitators and volunteers, the program is highly popular with children and develops critical life skills in a fun-filled, unobtrusive environment. The program has been in existence since early 2000.

Dream Mentoring - As the name suggests, the program is aimed at pairing a senior, experienced volunteer with a young adult from a vulnerable background to help them make the transition from an Institutional Support care system to an Independent Living environment. A volunteer makes a commitment anything from 12 weeks to upto 52 weeks after undergoing a vigorous 7-session training module designed and executed by professional clinical psychologists. Through weekly meetings and phone conversations, a mentor helps a young adult wade through some of life's most difficult challenges by finding solutions within themselves. Run since 2007, the program has been pioneering in helping many young adults become empowered to make their own decisions in life.

LearnIT Program - A computer literacy program designed using games, activities and innovative methodologies aimed at teaching the basics of computer hardware, applications, usage and internet to children from vulnerable backgrounds. The program gives the children basic skills to make them familiar and comfortable with technology so that they can comfortably self-learn from there on. It's a highly popular program amongst children and volunteers since its inception in 2006.

Dream Adventure Programs - In partnership with The Adventurers - A wilderness school in Bangalore, Dream A Dream runs a unique outdoor program for children from vulnerable backgrounds. Drawing upon the immense treasure trove of our environment, the program is aimed at taking children on 2-4 day professionally guided adventure camps to develop self-esteem and important life skills. Through activities such as trekking, camping, swimming, water-sports and outbound activities, the children develop life skills such as problem solving, decision making, choice-making, team-skills and leadership.

Dream Fundays - Fun and creativity blend together to expose our children to diverse environments outside their homes. Fundays are half-day to one-day long fun, creative learning opportunities for children aimed at giving them new exposures. These are great platforms to engage new volunteers and children through simple activities like taking children to visit the planetarium, museum, musical or theatre performances, or conducting art workshops, walking tours, treks, etc. These have been the backbone of helping Dream A Dream break the ice between new children and volunteers.

Dream Connect - Dream A Dream, through its latest initiative, Dream Connect, hopes to empower youth aged 15+ with life skills for career development. With the help of a computer lab, classroom, library and career guidance center in Koramangala, Dream Connect hopes to hone young adult's skills in English, public speaking, money management /personal finance, workplace readiness, practical mathematics, computing, entrepreneurship, music and dance. These will equip them with the tools necessary to make their own decisions, choose their career path and thus, enrich their lives.