The Glover Report: Dreams Do Come True!
U.S. Dream Academy’s 2009 Gala was a Star-studded Event Celebrating At-Risk Youth
(WASHINGTON – May 22, 2009) – Last night’s U.S. Dream Academy 2009 Gala was something spectacular for all and certainly one for the record book. Academy Award-winning Lou Gossett, Essence Magazine Editor-in-Chief Emeritus, MTV Award-winning comedian and actor Chris Tucker, Grammy Award-winning vocalist-producer BeBe Winans, and DC’s own Academy Award-nominated actress (Curious Case of Benjamin Button) Taraji P. Henson were all in the house to show love for Wintley Phipps’ dream of helping children – particularly those of incarcerated parents.
To say the least, I had a wonderful time. Why? Well, it wasn’t the star power. Actually, it was the love in the stars present.
Susan Taylor, who gave a masterful keynote address, touched on just how blessed the people in this country really are. At the same time, she asked just how homelessness and hunger still taint the American skyline.
Phipps, known throughout for his powerful singing (He’s sung for 5 U.S. Presidents), founded the U.S. Dream Academy 10 years ago. Located in 10 U.S. cities, including Baltimore, these academies help at-risk youth realize their potential.
According to their website (www.usdreamacademy.org): “The U.S. Dream Academy currently operates 11 Learning Centers in 10 communities nationwide with high incarceration and poverty rates. In 2008, our afterschool and mentoring program helped 1,060 young people move closer to realizing their dreams. These Dream Academy Learning Centers know that young people growing up with a parent or relative in prison often forget how to dream. They are very likely to end up in prison, too, at a terrible cost to themselves, their families, and their communities. Breaking this cycle is important to the very fabric of America.”
Taraji Henson, the youngest of the stars and a relative of Mathew Alexander Henson, the first man to reach the North Pole, really put it out there. She talked about how she toiled arduously as a substitute teacher to help children who had been categorized as Special Education students – when, in fact, she found them to be anything but handicapped. She inferred that all at-risk youth need is love.
So, in short, this country spends a lot of money incarcerating people. And, given that this is the most incarcerating nation on the planet, I think – and so do many of the people in the room last night – that it is so much easier and cost-effective to simply educate them from “jump street”.
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