About One Dream

Our Mission

One Dream aims to ensure that students, particularly those from low-income backgrounds, receive the support and guidance necessary to complete high school and become civically engaged, lifelong learners with the 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, whether it be college, skilled trade apprenticeships, certificate programs, military service, or other pathways yet to be discovered. Transitioning to thriving careers, achieving financial self-sufficiency, and building a strong foundation for generational wealth and prosperity.

Why We Do What We Do

A young person’s zip code should never dictate their future. Yet students from low-income or first-generation families too often cross high school stages without a clear path to college, careers, or other postsecondary options.

One Dream steps in with justice‑centered, resilience‑informed guidance. Our Transition Specialists walk beside each student, turning complex forms, deadlines, and gatekeepers into stepping‑stones.

We see racial identity, culture, and orientation as sources of power, not hurdles to clear. When that strength meets opportunity, young leaders emerge, lifting their families, sparking innovation, and building generational wealth.

Equity and justice aren’t slogans for us; they are the blueprint we follow to move whole communities forward.

How We Do What We Do

One Dream pairs a high-school–based crossover support model with our GPS-style “To-and-Through” advising. Each trained Transition Specialist partners with a student from the moment we begin working together—whether that’s during high school, the summer after graduation, or later—guiding them through the pivotal transition to post-secondary life.

Although colleges, skilled-trade programs, and other pathways offer advisors and mentors, first-generation and low-income students often don’t connect with these supports in their earliest, most stressful months. By staying the same caring adult before and after graduation, our Specialists bridge that trust gap, turning confusing forms, deadlines, and gatekeepers into stepping-stones.

We are continuously beside students as they pursue college, skilled trades, tech, military service, or other pathways they envision—and remain with them until they secure thriving, livable-wage careers. This continuous relationship empowers young people to achieve financial self-sufficiency and lay the groundwork for generational prosperity.

What Makes Us Different

Most programs step in for a semester, a summer, or a scholarship year. One Dream stays for the entire journey, high school, the summer melt, post‑secondary training, and into their thriving, livable‑wage career.

Same Specialist, Start to Finish
The Transition Specialist students meet early on is the same trusted professional who checks freshman‑year grades through to their senior-year grades, and later coaches a salary negotiation. It's the same person who sees them off to MEPS and shows up at their Boot Camp graduation. No hand‑offs, no getting lost in the shuffle.

Relationship Before Requirements
We build rapport first, then tackle forms, deadlines, and crises. That bond turns a menu of campus services into a human safety net.

To‑and‑Through—and Beyond
Our metric isn’t simply enrollment; it’s sustained, self‑sufficient employment that seeds generational wealth.

Because the relationship lasts, the impact lasts, moving young people from uncertainty to opportunity, and on to prosperity.

About the Founder and Executive Director

Craig Peña, MSSW, is a Denver native who has spent over four decades clearing pathways for young people and marginalized communities. His north‑star belief, that every student holds inherent beauty, capacity, and individuality, guides One Dream’s justice‑centered work today.

After earning a B.S.S.W. from Colorado State University and an M.S.S.W. from Columbia University, Craig served the nation’s most underserved populations: supporting New Yorkers living with HIV/AIDS during the height of the epidemic, then overseeing mental health services for homeless and formerly homeless individuals across NYC as Deputy Director for the NYC Department of Mental Health.

Returning home, he directed Denver’s first School‑to‑Work program (a forerunner of modern CTE), served as Vice President of Social Services at Servicios de La Raza, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting Colorado’s Latino community, and later founded several successful Latino‑centric apparel companies. Craig re‑entered public service with Colorado GEAR UP, where he helped more than 1,500 low‑income, first‑generation students pursue post‑secondary degrees or apprenticeships. At Denver Public Schools, he negotiated groundbreaking agreements with two‑ and four‑year colleges and spearheaded an initiative that increased low‑income student college commitments by 117 % at a leading Colorado university. He also pioneered a first‑of‑its‑kind partnership with the City of Denver, securing more than $500 000 to support low‑income DPS students in thriving career tracks; established skilled‑trade partnerships with 14 union apprenticeship programs to guarantee fully benefited, thriving livable‑wage careers; and organized skilled trades conferences across multiple high schools, introducing students and staff to careers in the trades and public safety.

Craig’s commitment to educational equity runs deep—he was a named plaintiff in the landmark Keyes v. District One desegregation case that integrated Denver Public Schools, as well as a named plaintiff in the DPS English Language Learner Consent Decree, which secured equitable services for multilingual students. He also co‑authored Resegregation in Denver Public Schools, highlighting the district’s ongoing equity challenges. Today, he continues to advise students throughout Denver and Colorado, as well as young people nationwide, and volunteers with veterans as they transition to civilian life.