Fifty-eight third-graders at Smedley Elementary School will start the school year with extra academic help and life-skills development. They have been selected as the ninth group of dreamers to be “adopted” into the Colorado chapter of the I Have A Dream Foundation. Their class will be known as the Helen M. McLoraine Class of 2014.

“The entire Smedley staff is humbled and honored to accept this award and opportunity for our students and families,” said principal Mark Hernandez. “Our first goal is to make sure that every dreamer leaves Smedley in fifth-grade realizing the honor and opportunity which took place for them during their elementary tenure. This program will change the lives not only for our Smedley students but for our staff and families, too.”

Dreamers are provided with academic assistance, life-skills development, positive role models and other forms of support from third-grade on until they complete high school or earn a GED. The I Have a Dream Foundation then provides an educational or vocational scholarship to help pay for post-secondary education.

The Colorado I Have A Dream (CIHAD) program adopts an entire grade level in an elementary school or an entire age group from a Denver housing project. The program is targeted toward at-risk children from areas with high crime rates or drug related arrests. In Denver, an average of 44 percent of a selected neighborhood’s children are living with a single parent. The CIHAD program’s mission is to achieve 100 percent graduation of potentially at-risk youth in Denver.

There are currently nine groups of dreamers in Colorado including the students at Smedley. The 400 students who have graduated from the program or currently are enrolled in it come from seven different schools and two different housing projects. The four classes that have finished the program completed high school at almost double the rates of their counterparts not in the program.

“We plan to double the number of students in Colorado within the next six to seven years,” said Mary Hanewall of CIHAD. “It’s a huge commitment for the foundation. Our goal is to adopt one class per year, or more depending on the amount of money available.”

For more information, contact CIHAD at www.cihad.org or at 303-861-5005.