This week, we’re celebrating five incredible years at DreamRoot Leadership Institute! What a wild and fun journey it has been, and we couldn’t have done it without the support and collaboration of our dynamic network of investors, volunteers, advisors and local leaders.
DreamRoot plays a vital role in community development by focusing on leadership development. Healthy and equipped leadership is essential for creating lasting, positive change, especially in communities that are often overlooked and unheard. By providing training, coaching, resources, and networking, DreamRoot collaborates with local leaders who are already making a significant impact and equips emerging leaders to amplify community transformation and multiply the impact. Through leadership development, DreamRoot gives the permission to dream, unlocks potential, and fosters growth and resilience across nations.
The Backstory
After years of doing this work informally, we felt led to make it official and start DreamRoot in 2019. It wasn’t exactly the plan, but after seeing the amazing transformations through our own jiu jitsu academy and affiliation, and teaching seminars in underserved communities in Brazil, we saw a need. We saw local leaders creating real change through jiu jitsu and mentorship — helping people leave behind lives of drug trafficking, violence and addiction and experiencing healing and restoration. But these leaders were also facing burnout, PTSD, and the challenges of running operations without the resources or know-how they needed. And we knew, we not only need more local leaders like these present and active in their communities, but we desperately need the leaders that are there to remain healthy and equipped for the long haul.
There are many leaders showing up and standing in the gap and are making a powerful impact. To keep going and multiply more local leaders to expand the impact, they can’t do it alone. None of us can do it alone. We aren’t meant to.
That’s how DreamRoot began.
Where We Are Today
Today, we provide leadership and organizational development to local leaders and initiatives, have built three community-based training centers in Brazil, renovated a fourth, and constructed one resource center in Haiti. DreamRoot ensures weekly accessible programming goes beyond jiu jitsu to include education, entrepreneurship, vocational training, community capacity-building events, and more.
Our approach prioritizes localized development, with a strong commitment to inclusivity and working alongside community members to co-develop and implement these initiatives.
The Impact
Through leadership development, we’ve empowered over 160 local leaders across seven countries, impacting well over 1,700 students and their families in more than 24 communities. Our five-month intensive Leadership Accelerator Program (currently running in Portuguese with 20 local leaders through November) and our on-going Jiu Jitsu Leader Network (open to any English-speaking jiu jitsu academy owner/instructor) have expanded a global reach. DreamRoot’s leadership team also works to provide leadership and organizational development, many of whom are focused on missions like combating sex trafficking, cycles of poverty, and even shifting legal systems.
From training workshops, operational consulting, community capacity-building and vocational training events, to entrepreneurial incubator spaces and annual exchange trips in Brazil, we’ve built relationships and capacity that last.
So far, we’ve hosted 50 international participants in Recife, Brazil in our exchange trips, who didn’t just observe but actively participated in these capacity-building and networking events. Along the way, sharing meals, training jiu jitsu, and building life-changing connections
DreamRoot local leader initiatives have led to students graduating and going to college, starting businesses, volunteering as tutors and coaches, and giving back to the communities that poured into them. Abuse victims are getting psychological help and the supportive community they need to heal. We’ve also seen reductions in community violence, paving the way for small business opening and even government infrastructure development.
This is what holistic, integrated, and sustainable development looks like - locally-led, prioritizing inclusivity, education, and entrepreneurship. Walked out in partnerships across sectors, socio-economic groups, and cultures, that is creating a dynamic and beautiful tapestry that is stronger, more effective, and well rounded.
Where We're Headed
Our DreamRoot leadership team is growing. Through our Brazil Exchange Trips, Leadership Accelerator Program, Jiu Jitsu Leadership Network, and leadership development training, and organizational development consulting, we are building on our successes. We’re deepening our relationships with current DreamRoot local leaders while expanding access to even more leaders and communities around the world.
Our goal is to create a mutually supportive and equipped network across nations and languages, working together united by our common vision to see every person, regardless of their life’s circumstances, be given the opportunity to realize and achieve their dreams, where they are living out their fullest potential and all of society advances as a result.
If you would like to learn more about DreamRoot and get involved in this work, we invite you to reach out to us at hello@dreamrootinstitute.org. We’d love to hear from you!
Plus, keep up to date with the happenings and impact through our social media and newsletter.
Thank you for being a part of this journey with us. Here’s to the next five years and beyond!
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