Dreamers

In 1988, amid increasing violence and instability in southeast Washington, D.C., fueled by a devastating crack cocaine epidemic, businessman Stewart Bainum made a commitment to 67 rising seventh-graders at Kramer Junior High School. Following the model of the national I Have a Dream Foundation, he pledged to help the students prepare for college and then provide post-secondary scholarships to those who graduated from high school. Mr. Bainum and his dedicated program team spent the next decade following through on this commitment, ultimately helping the “Dreamers” beat the odds in a poverty-stricken corner of the nation’s capital.

The experiences of the Foundation, the program leaders and the students are captured in the following book, video and research report.