History

The "I Have a Dream"® Foundation of Boulder County was founded in 1990 and became the 133rd chapter of the national network founded by Eugene Lang in 1981. While delivering a graduation speech to a sixth-grade class at his alma mater in East Harlem, Lang made an impromptu promise to provide college scholarships for the entire class provided they graduated from high school. Lang’s inspiration for this promise was the harsh statistic that 75% of those very same sixth-graders were not expected to finish high school. The private sector initiative that evolved from Lang’s original promise relies on a combination of personal and academic support, role modeling and a scholarship commitment .to motivate Dreamers to establish and achieve their goals. Of Lang’s original Dreamer class, 90% earned their high school diplomas or GED certificates.

More information about the national history of the organization is available on the IHAD national website.