Welcome to One Dream educational nonprofit

One Dream seeks to ensure that low-income students have the support and guidance needed to successfully complete high school and become civically engaged life-long learners with the necessary knowledge and skills to adapt to changing local, regional, and global demands. One Dream supports K-12 graduates as they progress through their post

One Dream seeks to ensure that low-income students have the support and guidance needed to successfully complete high school and become civically engaged life-long learners with the necessary knowledge and skills to adapt to changing local, regional, and global demands. One Dream supports K-12 graduates as they progress through their postsecondary experience, be it college, skilled trade apprenticeships, certificate programs, military, or other pathways unknown. Transitioning to thriving careers achieving financial self-sufficiency and building a strong foundation for generational wealth and prosperity.

For students, particularly low-income first-generation students, to successfully transition from high school to the workforce or college, it is often due to support from knowledgeable and supportive adults who provide extensive guidance and support during this transition. One Dream seeks to accomplish just that. Through trauma-informed 

For students, particularly low-income first-generation students, to successfully transition from high school to the workforce or college, it is often due to support from knowledgeable and supportive adults who provide extensive guidance and support during this transition. One Dream seeks to accomplish just that. Through trauma-informed interventions and support, One Dream understands that a person’s zip code should not dictate their life trajectory. It is a foundational understanding that the color of one’s skin, culture, and/or sexual orientation should never create a direct entry into the school-to-prison pipeline but should be celebrated as the strength supporting their movement into the pipeline of generational wealth and prosperity. That creation of generational wealth and establishment of financial equity not only leads to violence reduction and prevention for the individual but positively impacts the families of these young people and some of our most disenfranchised communities.

One Dream is a high school-based crossover student support model that utilizes Transition Specialists who work with and support students in high school, the summer after graduation, to and through their postsecondary pathways into a thriving, livable career track. Even though most institutes of higher education and other postsecondary c

One Dream is a high school-based crossover student support model that utilizes Transition Specialists who work with and support students in high school, the summer after graduation, to and through their postsecondary pathways into a thriving, livable career track. Even though most institutes of higher education and other postsecondary career pathways have a plethora of support ranging from academic advisors, mentors, tutors, mental health professionals, student success navigators, etc., it is overwhelmingly common for first-year first-generation low-income high school graduates to not bond with any these supports early in their postsecondary career. Because of this, they do not take advantage of these support systems during the most critical and stressful period of their postsecondary lives – immediately after high school graduation and the first few months of their postsecondary education. Instead, these young people will often reach back to their comfort zone of high school and their prior supports - an interested adult, a favorite teacher, an involved counselor, etc. One Dream effectively formalizes and professionalizes these transitional supports into one position - the Transition Specialist. 

  While One Dream is similar to some existing programs, there are significant and critical differences. Though all these programs (including One Dream) support students at the high school level, with only some like One Dream supporting the same students after graduation, only One Dream continues following these same students with the sa

  While One Dream is similar to some existing programs, there are significant and critical differences. Though all these programs (including One Dream) support students at the high school level, with only some like One Dream supporting the same students after graduation, only One Dream continues following these same students with the same staff that supported them while in high school and continues to stay with the students to and through their respective postsecondary education pathways. One Dream Transition Specialists follow each of their students from high school to their respective postsecondary education pathway and stay with them through to its successful completion and on into their careers. Ultimately, it is the longstanding relationship with a caring adult that allows for the positive impact of the One Dream intervention to take hold. This is how our youth can achieve financial self-sufficiency and establish the foundation for generational wealth and prosperity.

CRAIG PEÑA is a Denver native, and he believes in kids. He believes in the inherent beauty, capacity, and individuality of every one of our young people. Everyone does something in their spare time. Some people join book clubs, others golf, many go the movies with friends. In Craig’s spare time he works with kids. 

He is Denver Public Scho

CRAIG PEÑA is a Denver native, and he believes in kids. He believes in the inherent beauty, capacity, and individuality of every one of our young people. Everyone does something in their spare time. Some people join book clubs, others golf, many go the movies with friends. In Craig’s spare time he works with kids. 

He is Denver Public Schools (DPS) graduate and received his bachelor's in social work from Colorado State University and his master's degree, also in social work, from Columbia University in New York City. Craig has extensive experience working with homeless and formerly homeless chronically mentally ill people, veterans, as well as children and adolescents in psychiatric inpatient settings. While in New York, he served as one of only two Master’s level social workers in the Bronx working with people and families living with AIDS at the height of the AIDS epidemic. Later he served as the Deputy Director of the Residential Development Unit of the NYC Department of Mental Health overseeing all mental health services for homeless and formerly mentally ill people in the City. Upon returning to Denver, Craig served as the Program Director of the first School-To-Work program in Denver (a precursor to Career and Technical Education) and then took a position as the Manager of Social Services at Servicios de La Raza, a community-based organization serving the Latino community of Denver and the State of Colorado. 

Craig took a brief hiatus from serving the community to become an entrepreneur and proceeded to create and operate several successful Latino-focused apparel companies. Returning to the educational service community Craig spent eight years with the Colorado Department of Higher Education GEAR UP program assisting over 1,500 low-income, primarily first-generation students and overwhelmingly students of color, into meaningful post-secondary pathways. 

Following GEAR UP, Craig moved into the Higher Education Initiatives office of Denver Public Schools where he successfully negotiated the creation, development, and implementation of MOUs with 2- and 4-year state and colleges, universities, and HSIs (Hispanic Serving Institutions) to benefit DPS students. He also led an initiative within DPS to dramatically increase (117%) low-income DPS student commitments to higher education. Additionally, Craig negotiated a first-of-its-kind partnership with the City of Denver to support low-income DPS students of color to access meaningful career tracks bringing in over half a million dollars to launch the initiative. Craig also led the creation of a partnership between DPS and 14 skilled trade union apprenticeship programs ensuring fully benefited thriving livable career tracks for DPS graduates. Tied in with this, Craig established skilled trades conferences in multiple high schools around the district that exposed students to the skilled trades and public safety career tracks.

As a student in DPS, Craig was named plaintiff in the landmark Keyes v. District One desegregation case that briefly integrated DPS. Craig was also a named plaintiff in the Consent Decree requiring DPS to take specific steps to make sure that ELLs can learn English and grade-level content so all DPS students have an equal opportunity to participate in school. Recently, Craig also co-authored a report titled “Resegregation in Denver Public Schools: Overlapping Systems of Student Segregation, Disparate Contexts, and Reduced Outcome.”

Craig volunteers as both a postsecondary advisor for students and graduates pursuing their postsecondary aspirations as well as a case manager for military veterans addressing socio-emotional-economic needs. In addition to his professional and volunteer pursuits, Craig enjoys various activities in his free time. He is an accomplished cook and also enjoys big game hunting, snowboarding, white water rafting, and backcountry white water expeditions. Craig and his lovely wife have two sons, the oldest - a staff sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps and the other - a bartender in Denver.

• One Dream provides policy and program-specific consultation services to colleges and universities, skilled trades, the military, and other postsecondary entities regarding recruitment, retention, and the successful graduation of low-income, first-generation, and students of color from their programs.

• One Dream Transition Specialists provid

• One Dream provides policy and program-specific consultation services to colleges and universities, skilled trades, the military, and other postsecondary entities regarding recruitment, retention, and the successful graduation of low-income, first-generation, and students of color from their programs.

• One Dream Transition Specialists provide direct services to young people progressing from K-12 education to and through their postsecondary education into thriving career tracks.