Dream Factory Foundation

Dream Factory Foundation is a Cape Town based youth-led non-profit organization that empowers young people (13-22 years) to actively participate in the economy through their dreams and aspirations.
History
Dream Factory Foundation was established towards the end of 2011 by Laurian Nortje and Lusanda Gwayi. The co-founders were working in under-priviledged schools in the Western Cape and were confronted with the realities of lack of access to quality education, high levels of unemployment, lack of exposure to sustainable livelihoods and poverty faced by young people in these schools. The two felt a deep call to impact the lives of young people positively through an educational programme titled #BeTheDream, which they designed to develop and enhance participants’ self-development skills, such as self-confidence and inter-personal skills; as well as offer points of connection through academic, entrepreneurial and employability interventions at schools such as work experience placements (internships, job-shadow, career-guidance and mentorship), bursaries, free tutoring, coding and entrepreneurial training. The project also offers general assistance to beneficiaries to provide immediate relief such as donating school uniform, stationery and food.
Organization
The project has grown immensely since inception with a total reach of over 55 000 young people from underprivileged communities throughout the Western Cape and KwaZulu Natal. These young people have increased in confidence; improved in their academic results; become better informed of their career option; have a long term plan; have become work ready and are employable. These outcomes are supported by research which reveals that interventions that incorporate a sense-of-purpose in its school curriculum can improve the learning outcomes of learners. 85% of the beneficiaries who have joined their internship programme have gone on to either receive full-time employment or furthered their studies at a tertiary institution.
In January 2016 Dream factory foundation nominated for the 2016 . The awards celebrate the civil society activists and organisations for their excellence, innovation, and brave risk-taking.
Services
Dream Factory Foundation has identified an opportunity to make a difference. This project is unique and exceptional in that there is no other organization, that focuses specifically on the creation, development and actualization of dreams particularly for young people in South Africa. On Friday, 24 April 2015 from 10H00 to 13H00 the School of Nursing, supported by the Department of Institutional Advancement, received a visit from Grade 11 and Grade 12 Scholars of the Dream Factory Foundation. The purpose of the visit was for the scholars to experience a day in the life of a nurse as all of them have indicated in letters to The Dream Factory that they would love to study nursing at the University of the Western Cape on matriculation.
some of the recorded work of the foundation can be found on social media sites(YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, tumbler)
Partners and sponsors
This project is made possible through the generous donations of the Learning Trust, DG Murray Trust, Google and the Department of Economic Development and Tourism; as well as partnerships with the City of Cape Town, the University of Cape Town and University of Western Cape, Habitat for Humanity, Pricewaterhousecoopers, several schools and GirlHype to name but a few. Entrepreneurial and employability interventions in South African schools are very limited whilst the nation suffers from low levels of economic participation by youth

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