Program Spotlight

"I Have a Dream" Provides Support While the Dreams of Overtown Kids Grow Wings

Published Monday, May 18, 2009

“You’re not listening,” says Program Coordinator Eric Lewis, resting a firm hand on the shoulder of one of the Dreamers. Lewis walks to another student in the “I Have a Dream” after-school Art Club class at Phillis Wheatley Elementary and repeats the reminder.

The class quiets – at least for a few moments – and the kids again turn their attention to art teachers Sheila Steiglitz and Shelly Jacoby, two of the many volunteers who support this unique program.

Program Coordinator Eric Lewis watches Dreamers
creating projects in Art Club.

What child doesn’t dream that they might grow up to reach some goal, develop some special talent or help the world in some small way? Yet having a dream is a far cry from fulfilling a dream. To fulfill a dream, kids – especially kids who grow up in neighborhoods like Overtown – require some help. They need some constancy, something or someone to hold onto while their dreams grow wings. For kids in the “I Have a Dream” program, constancy and support have a name: Eric Lewis.

“Eric is here 24/8 for the kids in the program. He keeps all the data, charts their progress and stays in contact with the Dreamers and their families,” explains Mark Buchbinder, sponsor for the Overtown program along with his wife Margie.

Eugene M. Lang launched “I Have a Dream” in East Harlem in the early 1980s. It has since expanded to become an international program. The Buchbinders launched the Overtown program on Jan. 16, 2003 – Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday. Every student in the first grade that year at Phillis Wheatley – 51 boys and girls – entered the “I Have a Dream” program to form the “Class of 2015.”

Buchbinder emphasized the neighborhood’s 45-percent mobility rate, meaning that each year one in every two children will change schools. “We hoped to stem that tide,” he said.

Incentive to participate was powerful: a paid college education. Parents sensed a real chance to help their child fulfill a dream. A three-way contract was signed between children, parents and the sponsors: Stick with us, stay in school, graduate and we’ll pay your way through college.

In 2007, the program was awarded an initial $50,000 Starter Grant (with a follow-up $25,000 in 2008) from The Children’s Trust. Geared for grassroots programs with innovative ideas, these grants provided a boost – both in money and in administrative support. The money – a relatively small amount of funding – helped “I Have a Dream” prosper and mature to the point that in 2008 it was awarded a full Out-of-School contract.

“We’re a small group of people encouraged to become an agency. Though we’re not the YMCA, The Trust expects us – and I expect us – to be of the same quality,” Mark Buchbinder said. “Now I’ve got some benchmarks I can show that we’re not just a group of do-gooders, but we’re a viable program that has accountability.”

His wife Margie agreed that Trust support has strengthened the program.

“The Trust has helped to nurture and mold us toward professionalism,” she said, adding “we have really sound markers in place now that we didn’t have before. It’s been a little cumbersome and The Trust asks a lot, but justifiably so – they’re using the public’s tax dollars.”

Dreamers work diligently on an art project as part
of after-school program.

Mark and Margie say their contract manager, Sabine Edmond, has been key to their progress. “She held our hands, encouraged us and was our connection to the knowledge and programs and needs of the Trust,” Margie said.

When the program lost its in-kind support from the school system due to cutbacks, Trust funding provided for snacks for the Dreamers and transportation for enrichment trips to FIU, Barry and St. Thomas Universities, to theater shows like Les Miserables, outings to the Seaquarium or go bowling – new experiences for most of these children.

Of the original 51 students, 25 will soon graduate Phillis Wheatley to move – together – to the 6th grade at some area middle school. Twenty other students have joined the program, which means they benefit from the tutoring, special instruction, field trips and other enrichment activities, but will not receive the college scholarship. Lewis keeps those Dreamers who have gone to other schools connected – through phone communication or coordinating their attendance to field trips and activities.

Success of the program owes to three factors: sponsorship, time and trust.

The Buchbinders have supplied the sponsorship. In addition to their own support, the two long-time Miami advocates call on a wide cadre of friends in the community to support the program by donating resources. They’ve arranged for VISTA teaching volunteers and recruited teachers from Phillis Wheatley to tutor. A collaboration with Miami-Dade College, instructors Carlos Gonzalez and Alex Salinas bring their college literature classes twice a week to the school, has added academic value.

But it’s Lewis’ history and commitment that reassures parents that this program will keep its promise to their children.

“I have an open relationship with the parents. I lived in the community for years before beginning to work here (Lewis began at Phillis Wheatley in 1990 working with children with special needs, then was handpicked by the principal for the Dreamer program when it launched in 2003). The parents know me,” he said.

It’s Friday afternoon and the school day is over, but it’s the last after-school arts class of the year for the Dreamers group and, of course, Lewis is there.

“It’s a tremendous commitment that these kids make. When I was in the 5th grade, I wasn’t thinking about college,” he says. “There’s a handful, like Ricky Marshall, who have not missed a day, a tutoring session or any Dreamer activity over these five years.”

Adriane Floyd, a third-grade remedial teacher at Phillis Wheatley and mentor teacher with the Dreamer program, works closely with Lewis. She volunteers nearly every day to mentor 13 girls in the program and is there for this final arts class. Does she notice a difference between students in the program and other students at the school?

“Absolutely, you see the success all around – self-esteem, discipline, academics,” Floyd says. She adds that “Eric is like a father to the children, and they get everything they need in terms of resources from the program.”

Elizabeth Looney, another mentor teacher in the program, is in her first year at Phillis Wheatley. She earned her M.A. in Educational Policy at Ohio State and came to Miami as a teaching fellow. She is the first in her family to attend college and could never have attended if not for scholarships – much like the ones awaiting these students.

“I came here and met the principal, met Eric and taught summer school – I loved it. I knew what I was getting into, though still you can’t prepare yourself for what you see in these children’s lives,” she says.

For Looney, it’s an opportunity to teach where she’s needed. So she’s already fulfilled that dream. She has another one: “I want to be the Mr. Lewis of the future,” she says.

Written by Michael R. Malone