Our Story

DREAMS of Wilmington, Inc. is a nationally award-winning nonprofit dedicated to building creative, committed citizens, one child at a time, through providing youth in need with high-quality, free-of-charge programming in the literary, visual, multimedia and performing arts. DREAMS was established in 1997 and serves over 600 youth and teens through New Hanover County (and beyond) each year. We do this through our after-school, home-school, and outreach programming. We are based in a 12,000 square foot in a renovated bus maintenance building owned by the City of Wilmington and located on Wilmington’s Northside. Our outreach programming includes public housing sites, community centers, schools, and community partner agencies. We are very proud of our collaborative approach to everything we do. DREAMS is focused on youth development, using the arts to empower our community’s youth and create a culture of confidence. We believe in the many benefits of the arts, academic, therapeutic, and otherwise. A number of our students face challenges including poverty, a history of emotional/sexual/physical abuse, hunger, learning differences, autism, and PTSD. With very low student to staff ratios, we provide an incredibly supportive and safe environment where our DREAMers can flourish.

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