In 1981, businessman Eugene M. Lang returned to P.S. 121, the elementary school he attended in East Harlem 50 years earlier, to address a class of graduating sixth graders.

He planned to tell the students, “Work hard and you’ll succeed,” but on the way to the podium, the principal told Lang that three-quarters of the school’s students would not finish high school. Lang tore up his speech and told the class about witnessing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech at the 1963 March on Washington. He urged the students to dream their own dreams and promised to do all he could to help them achieve their goals. Then, he made an impromptu promise to pay the college tuition of every sixth grader who stayed in high school and graduated, inspiring the work we do today.

We believe that when given equal access to the resources they need to succeed, all children can ignite their innate potential and achieve their dreams. Since the "I Have A Dream" Foundation was founded, we have served nearly 20,000 Dream Scholars in over 200 programs nationally.

Dream Forward is next week!

Meet the new Executive Director of "I Have A Dream" Washington DC!