Dreamline-History

The concept for Dreamline was inspired by the dream poetry of Langston Hughes and the tradition of Nepalese prayer flags. It started in the classroom of Dreamline founder Jeffrey Harlan and quickly grew into a global movement, engaging students across a wide spectrum of demographics. 

In 2016, Dreamline was formed as a nonprofit, and in 2018 Jeffrey left full time teaching to direct it. 

The Hope Rising Banner Project, which requires a commitment of 3-5 class periods,  has engaged students in at least 500 school settings  — throughout the United States and in 46 countries around the world. Most teachers learn about Dreamline from another teacher. To date, at least 160,000 students have engaged in sharing their dreams through creating a Dream Banner in a classroom setting, though actual numbers may be significantly higher as participation in Dreamline is voluntarily self-reported by teachers. 

Before COVID, Dreamline was serving an average of 6,000 students per year with the Hope Rising Banner Project. That number dropped by 90% during the mid-COVID pandemic year of 2020-21 with a gradual rebound in recent years. Annual engagement has reached 50% of pre-COVID years, impacting close to 3,000 students annually.  In 2023 Dreamline held its first live year-end event since 2019. 

During the COVID years of 2020 and 2021, in order to broaden the depth and  breadth of program offerings, Dreamline developed Dream Path SEL, an in-depth semester-length curriculum for upper elementary and middle school students. Dreamline engaged  a team of educational experts, Social-Emotional Learning curriculum developers, and a leading assessment researcher at Penn State University.  With this team, Dreamline developed 

• online training video modules for each lesson, 
• more than 100 lesson presentation slides integrating video clips created by Dreamline Youth Mentors across the US and around the world,
• in-depth teacher lesson plans with specific alignments to more than 500 CASEL Framework Social-Emotional Skills, 
• before-and-after student assessment tools measuring student changes in empathy, belonging, agency and prosocial outlook, 
• student Activity Books, 
• a website for easy access.

In 2022-23 Dreamline piloted Dream Path SEL with a class of 40 inner-city 4th graders in Philadelphia, developing the Dream Path SEL Supported Program including intensive material and staff support to ensure optimal impact. Based on the successful pilot implementation, Dreamline delivered grant-funded Dream Path SEL Supported Programs to 270 students in 2023-24, at 3 school sites in the School District of Philadelphia.