The organization provides industry-specific career focused education and hands on training to individuals. The organization provides industry-specific career focused education and hands on training to individuals preparing to enter the workforce or further pursue the career of their dreams. Our target clients are those within all demographics, with the majority of the individuals whom we serve falling between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five-years-old. The founders of D.R.E.A.M. started this organization based on the recognized need in our community to empower youth to obtain the career of their dreams. With Johnstown being a community with such limited variety of employment, our research has shown that most students elect a career path that will be most likely to land them a job within our community, rather than pursue what they will love doing as a life-long career they can be passionate about. Our focus is to remove the limitations placed on students concerned with finding a job, and give them the tools and education necessary to qualify them for the career of their dreams. We use creative techniques and strong networking to mentor students into obtaining job-shadowing, internships, portfolio building, resume writing, and interview preparation skills. With such limited resources in our area for pursuing careers in the humanities field and related industries, we develop a curriculum based on individualized needs and use our creative networking to create related training opportunities within that industry, which leaves the student prepared and qualified to seek employment opportunities in our own community or move on to another area where the opportunities for that field are more prominent. In addition to our career-focused mission, we also serve the mission of providing individuals with essential life skills that will allow them to lead a self-sufficient lifestyle. Many individuals whom we serve have already obtained the education and job of their dreams and are left with a need for learning how to utilize that position to the highest possible efficiency. College students are often still reliant upon their parents for preparation of adulthood by having them provide medical insurance, life insurance, tax preparation, grocery shopping, etc. Once they have obtained the good-paying job and are living on their own, a great deal of their earnings can be wasted on hiring services for these fields, or not knowing where to look in the first place. Our life-skills curriculum is developed specifically around identified needs expressed by individuals within this demographic. We use skilled trade professionals to teach our participants the basics of managing their own lives and household such as what are taxes, how to prepare and pay taxes, how to budget for expenses and save for unexpected expenses, how to grocery shop, offer couponing classes, and teach basic home and automobile maintenance and repairs.
