“Dreams Academy” Project Has Been Giving Hope to Thousands of Disabled Youngsters for 10 Years.

“Dreams Academy”, launched with the participation of Vodafone Turkey Foundation, UNDP and Alternative Life Association, has been promoting projects for the social inclusion of socially disadvantaged and disabled people for 10 years. Playing an important role in the spread of volunteerism, especially among the young people in Turkey, “Dreams Academy”, has helped over 6,000 disabled young people to overcome obstacles with the contribution of approximately 20,000 volunteers to date. The amount of grants transferred by Vodafone Turkey Foundation to the “Dreams Academy” project has approached TL 5.5 million.

In the 10th year of “Dreams Academy”, a special program was implemented in Dreams Academy Kaş, which is Europe’s largest outdoor disability camp and Turkey’s most extensive habitat for the disabled and socially disadvantaged individuals. Within the scope of the program, “Dreams Academy” music group, the Social Inclusion Band, performed the song called “Düşlesen Yeter” (Just Dream) written and composed by Ogün Sanlısoy.

Vodafone Turkey Foundation, which operates with the goal of pioneering social change and development, has launched “Dreams Academy” 10 years ago with the participation of UNDP and Alternative Life Association. Since then, “Dreams Academy” has been promoting projects for the social inclusion of socially disadvantaged and disabled people. Playing an important role in the spread of volunteerism, especially among the young people in Turkey, “Dreams Academy”, has helped over 6,000 disabled young people overcome obstacles with the contribution of approximately 20,000 volunteers to date. The amount of grants transferred by Vodafone Turkey Foundation to the “Dreams Academy” project has approached 5.5 million TL.

Ogün Sanlısoy performed “Düşlesen Yeter” (Just Dream)

For the 10th anniversary of “Dreams Academy”, a special program was implemented in Dreams Academy Kaş, which is Europe’s largest outdoor disability camp and Turkey’s most extensive habitat for the disabled and socially disadvantaged individuals. Disabled and socially disadvantaged individuals did scuba diving, rode horses, and participated in the rhythm workshop with the supervision of volunteers all day long. They also listened to the song called “Düşlesen Yeter” (Just Dream), written and composed by Ogün Sanlısoy and performed by Dreams Academy’s music group the Social Inclusion Band.

Colman Deegan: “We touched the lives of thousands of people in 10 years”

Vodafone Turkey CEO Colman Deegan stated that they made important social investments for the disabled, women, and children under the roof of Vodafone Turkey Foundation, and he continued:

“The sum of the social investments we have made so far has reached to 37 million TL and we have reached approximately 4 million citizens with the projects we have realized. ‘Dreams Academy’ has a special place in our social investments. It is a social development and arts center that supports disabled and socially disadvantaged individuals. At this center, we help disabled people to become active and productive individuals to break the social exclusion through arts. As Vodafone Turkey Foundation, we want our projects to be sustainable, rather than one-off projects. This year is the 10th anniversary of Dreams Academy. Nowadays, it is a rare situation for the private sector and non-governmental organizations to be cooperating for 10 years without any interruptions. Long-lasting collaborations are crucial in ensuring that the created impact becomes sustainable and creating a lasting change in people’s lives. In this sense, as Vodafone Turkey Foundation, we believe that we have been continuing an important collaboration. “

Noting that Dreams Academy was an important example in the field of volunteering, Colman Deegan continued:

“As Turkey Vodafone Foundation, we are happy to lead the civil society and the social responsibility projects in order to widen the sense of volunteerism in Turkey. Generation Y, in particular, is eager to participate in volunteering activities. ‘Dreams Academy’ has been one of Turkey’s pioneering projects in this sense as well. In 10 years, approximately 20 thousand volunteers supported our project not only from Turkey, but from all corners of the world.”

Revenue models are offered

In “Dreams Academy”, instead of collecting donations, various revenue models are offered for disabled people to promote their participation in social life. In this context, professional art career paths are available to young people who graduate from workshops at the center located in Istanbul, Ataşehir.

One of the revenue models offered by the Dreams Academy is the Social Inclusion Band. The band gives concerts in different venues during the winter season and they perform with prominent artists. As another revenue model, the Dream Kitchen provides catering services for the events of many corporate companies. D-film provides video and photography services to companies.

Turkey’s most comprehensive sign language

Turkey’s most comprehensive educational sign language application, which has been realized by Vodafone Turkey Foundation in cooperation with Dreams Academy, continues to facilitate the lives of 3 million hearing impaired people and their families. The application has been prepared as a lecture within a certain curriculum, and is a first in its field in Turkey. This application, which consists of nearly 1,100 narrative videos and a dictionary containing more than 1,400 words, can be downloaded for free.