CityDance Partners with California's The Wooden Floor to Expand Services for D.C. Youth

WASHINGTON, May 23, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- CityDance, a recognized non-profit leader of dance education in Washington, D.C., announced their national partnership with The Wooden Floor, one of the nation's most cutting edge arts-for-youth organizations in California. The partnership will enable CityDance's DREAM program to significantly expand their services to students in Washington, D.C.'s underserved communities by adopting The Wooden Floor's model, which integrates intensive dance training with comprehensive academic, college and career readiness, and family services.

CityDance DREAM is an after-school program providing dance classes, performance opportunities, mentoring, tutoring and college counseling to students from low-income D.C. neighborhoods. DREAM has been serving youth in grades three through twelve at public schools and community sites across the nation's capital since 2005. The program uses dance as a pathway for youth to graduate from high school, discover their potential, and pursue their dreams.

CityDance is the first national partner to license The Wooden Floor's model and will receive consulting, training and curriculum guidance to expand services for DREAM. By 2021, DREAM will triple the number of children (grades 3-12) served and have a fully integrated model tailored to the unique needs of D.C.'s students.

The Wooden Floor's California-based model has achieved dramatic results. Since 2005, 100 percent of The Wooden Floor graduates have completed  high school on time and have immediately gone on to pursue higher education – more than double the national average compared to these students' socio-economic peers.

"With this partnership and The Wooden Floor's innovative and proven model, CityDance moves closer to achieving the vision of a thriving D.C. arts community, where every child, regardless of socio-economic status, has access to the benefits of a robust arts education and where world-class dance is available to all," said Alexe Nowakowski, Executive Director of CityDance.

In order to support the growth and expansion of services, CityDance DREAM is scheduled to open The DREAM Center for Dance at the intersection of Vermont and U Street in 2018. The DREAM Center for Dance will include state-of-the-art dance studios, a black box theater, classrooms, office suites for family services and counseling, and CityDance administrative offices.

"CityDance shares our belief that our approach to contemporary dance can change the lives of economically disadvantaged youth. Through this partnership CityDance DREAM will have the tools to significantly deepen and broaden their services to students by adopting our proven model for helping families break free from the cycle of poverty through dance and access to higher education. This is what The Wooden Floor has provided to students in Southern California for over three decades," said Dawn S. Reese, The Wooden Floor's Executive Director and Co­CEO.

CONTACT:
Megan Piluk
443-223-3361
[email protected]

SOURCE CityDance