We had the opportunity in the Fall of 2021 to join forces with ABSS and area pediatricians to provide a free back-to-school clinic to ensure all our kids had the required health screenings, dental screenings and vaccinations to be school ready. Backpacks with school supplies and a meal was also provided.

We hosted another back to school event with area partners that supported 800 community members and hosted National Night Out in partnership with The Burlington police Department that served 650 community members with a great meal, live entertainment and family fun.

In 2021 we expanded our Hispanic Heritage events to host a festival that featured local artisans, vendors, dance and arts groups, live music, kids events and more. We finished the night with a 12 piece Salsa orchestra. Our other events were a movie night on our indoor turf field in partnership with LatinxEd, Salsa night with dancing and great food. And providing support at a county wide event in Graham. Throughout our events over 1000 community members celebrated with us.

In 2022 a group of students and staff members planned and hosted 5 events for Black History Month that included a Soul Food Sunday and BHM trivia event. Ultimate Game night for High School and Middle School students, a Jazz night with live jazz band for the whole family, a BHM festival with vendors, live performances and speakers featuring the Cummings High School Band and the Drum Corp and Dance team from NC A&T, and much more. The festival supported the Cummings High School band through vendor fees and donations. One more free event coming in March will feature live music and painting at the Rhythm and Paint night. Throughout these events the leadership of our High school intern, 2 young adult staff members and a group of Associates from Cummings High School (Our intern formed this group of 25 students and gives leadership to it providing opportunities to develop leadership and perform community service. )

Throughout this month over 650 community members participated. We partnered with a Grass Roots organization to hold a health and Justice fair in December and hosted a Holiday market for local artisans and vendors, marched with a float and performance group in the Burlington parade, delivered 500 new teddy bears door to door, sponsored 40 children for Christmas, and hosted a drive thru posada and Christmas movie night.

Last year, we became a United Way sponsored charity, and have the honor of being chosen as the Spirit of Alamance Community Partner recipient.

Our bilingual advocate and Care Coordinator continue to meet with community members to help provide assistance for rent, mortgage, and utilities totaling close to $80,000 when all applications are complete.

Since the beginning of the Dream Center, one of our primary initiatives has been to advocate for our Latinx community. It is one of our greatest joys that we have become a safe place and trusted partner to the Latinx community through years of service, advocacy, and work with likeminded organizations with the dream of seeing the Latinx community in Alamance Community thrive. We expanded our Bilingual staff to include a Bilingual advocate, Latinx coordinator and a Community Health Worker. Our staff of 13 includes 6 bilingual members.

The Dream Center also became a full time site for The Diaper Bank of North Carolina. At this time we are able to distribute at a one-time per month level with hopes to expand to weekly when funds are secured to do so. Over 250 families every month receive that assistance.

Our ESL classes continue three mornings per week through our partnership with Alamance Community College to provide free classes and childcare for the children of students. ACC leads a GED class 3 days per week. We also added a citizenship class two times per week.

Great headway has been made for our café at the Dream Center. Our vision is for the café to offer Free WIFI while serving Latte and Espresso drinks in a beautiful café with the ambiance of a Latin American City Center. Meant to be a warm and inviting space of belonging for our community inspired by the hubs of connection often found in “El Centro” or the plazas located in the heart of communities in Latin America. The final phases are scheduled for this Spring.

For 7 months (2020-2021) we ran the DC Free Learning Center.

One of our main commitments throughout the fall of 2020 was to answer the need many in our community had for access to Wi-Fi and support for working families. In September of that year we launched our Learning Pod for assistance and support for virtual learning students Monday-Friday 8am-3:30pm serving 35-40 students with free meals, access to WIFI, and technical and educational assistance. This was an all hands on deck commitment during this challenging time and concluded March 1st 2021 when students returned to in-person instruction.

In 2021, we added an after school educational enrichment program called BOOK NOOK in partnership with Alamance achieves to offer free educational support for up to 12 kids per session weekly. This number can expand as more laptops are purchased. We have a waiting list of students that would like to enroll.

For 6 weeks in 2021 the Dream Center hosted a FEMA vaccination site that provided 1200 vaccines each weekend. We were a part of almost 3600 community members receiving their vaccination in a safe, trusted environment with Bilingual support. 4 Days per week we dedicated our staff, rallied volunteers, served lunch for the clinic staff and volunteers and provided bilingual assistance to our community. This has given us opportunities to offer free resources to our community and partner with organizations to focus on health equity. Through our vaccine clinic connections a Bilingual nurse through Cone began having office hours weekly at the Dream Center and The Elon Physical Therapy Masters program began a rehabilitation program for our community, both will be free to our community. The HOPE clinic officially began seeing patients in February of 2022.

Other programs offered include:

• Fiesta Fit, Our dance fitness class 2 times per week.
• A weekly guitar class that has 30 students receives guitar instruction in Spanish.
• Before last year’s covid closures we held 3 free camps for our community each summer. Last summer we got to jump back in and host 3 kids camps for over 250 kids and gave leadership opportunities for 60 high school students. 30 or our young adult leaders travelled from out of state to participate and 30 were from area High Schools.
• A new Women’s empowerment initiative began in January 2022. Monthly evenings focused on health and support for Latinx women led by our community health worker, our onsite nurse and a Fellow from Elon.
• We are an after-school site for The Salvation Army Boys and Girls club and will partner with them for 12 weeks of summer camp.

The DC will be hosting 4 free day camps this summer.

• SHINE CAMP
• SCIENCE CAMP
• SPORTS CAMP
• ARTS CAMP

Plaza Communitaria is back weekly offering a GED type education opportunity in partnership with Mexico’s Department of Education offering instruction in Spanish to any interested individual helping them test in and progress to complete their education from Elementary to High School. In 2021, our first 2 students received their high school diplomas.

• Monthly Family events are kicking back off in the Spring of 2022.
• Our on-site food bank is expanding and we have begun a clothing bank as well.
• We plan to host entrepreneur workshops and partner to help area businesses gain support.
• We purchased Silk Screen Equipment and began printing our own merchandise with plans to began a business for our student entrepreneurs.
• We have expanded our Student employment group and continue to work to raise the funds to add more students. For $5000 per year we can employ and support a high school student 10 hours a week and provide mentorship and resources. Currently we have 5 students and hope to increase to 10.
• Our indoor Soccer field was completed in 2020
• Our basketball and Sport Court completed in 2021
• Our Café and Kitchen will be completed in Spring-Summer 2022
• Plans to develop an English café in partnership with Elon are being developed. An informal conversational experience building support for community members.

Grants from CDBG funds through the City Of Burlington have invested $180,000 in the complete reimagining of our warehouse into a sport and community hub. Truist invested $15,000 for the café. Impact Alamance provided $20,000 for the Community Kitchen equipment, Glen Raven invested $5000 toward the kitchen and J Silva Inc has provided one year of rent support. Impact Alamance invested $23,000 in 2020 for our conference room and computer lab that daily provide a well-equipped space for classes and community meetings.

Thank you for your support last year. We have experienced incredible growth even with the challenges
represented we had the opportunity to serve over 5000 individuals.

A few New projects we are hoping to Gain funding for this year are:

• Score Board for our Soccer Arena
• Outdoor seating and deck near our new glass garage doors
• Creative Suite for video and digital media to help tell the stories of our community
• An outdoor turf field near the Community kitchen to provide access to all members of our community a place for soccer and football.
• Computers to outfit a cyber lounge to offer accessibility and resources to our community by providing access to WIFI and laptops in a comfortable and welcoming environment. (they would also be used for BOOK NOOK)
• Expanding the Community Kitchen area to offer space for indoor food distributions and community events.
• Outdoor family Movie Nights throughout the summer.
• Mobile food truck/trailer to expand meal distributions to area neighborhoods and a box truck to help distribute donations to the community.