CHA has partnered with The DREAM Program, Inc. to launch a youth mentoring program in CHA’s Putnam Gardens Apartments in the City’s Riverside neighborhood. CHA and DREAM hope the program will create positive, sustainable change for children living in the 119-unit development.

The DREAM program- Directing through Recreation, Education, Adventure, and Mentoring- is a long-term mentoring program, that matches dedicated mentors from local colleges and universities with children living in low-income housing developments.  Unlike typical mentoring programs where mentors are matched with individual children, DREAM’s “Village Mentoring” model blends both one-to-one and group mentoring. This helps create positive peer groups within the community to help children withstand negative peer pressures and make healthy decisions. Additionally, by interacting with a large group of local college students, the children have access to a continuously growing network of individuals working to support their future success. DREAM mentors commit to stay with their mentees for the duration of their time in college. This means that each mentor is pledging to provide each child with a stable, consistent relationship, lasting three to four years.

DREAM provides college students with an opportunity to make a positive and lasting impact in children’s lives, and provides children with an opportunity to learn and explore a college campus with a positive college age role model. According to DREAM’s Boston Programs Director Chad Butt, "The relationships that form between mentors and children are the key not only to the success of our children, but to the success of our model. Kids love hanging out with college students and college students love hanging out with kids. It's that simple."

The program operates on a school calendar.  Children meet with their mentors once a week during the school year, and are encouraged to remain in DREAM until they graduate from high school. One of the intrinsic challenges of DREAM’s college-based mentoring program is bridging gaps in the summer, when many mentors have commitments away from school and children have much more free time.  To bridge this gap the program includes on-site summer programming facilitated by Summer Community Interns, and other special projects including adventure programming, leadership development, and large group trips. 

So far DREAM has matched eight children from Putnam Gardens with student mentors from Harvard College.  Mentors have already begun recruiting additional Harvard students to allow DREAM to bring more children into the Putnam Gardens program. "It is so exciting to bring DREAM to the children and families of Putnam Gardens and to partner with two amazing institutions, the Cambridge Housing Authority and Harvard College.  For DREAM this is the realization of a lot of planning, hard work, and dreaming, and I am so thankful that CHA and the families at Putnam Gardens have chosen to invite us into their community," said DREAM’s Executive Director, Michael C. Loner. 

The Cambridge Housing Authority is just as excited that DREAM is bringing its successful mentoring program to Putnam Gardens. “DREAM’s innovative mentoring program matches perfectly with our approach to building inclusive communities and fostering resident advancement.  We are especially glad that DREAM is in Putnam Gardens, a site that we haven’t been able to offer services to kids in the past,” said CHA Executive Director Gregory P. Russ.  “DREAM’s mentor model allows the kids to meet and interact and build strong relationships with each other and their mentors.  We are delighted to have DREAM in Putnam Gardens.”