2013 BHSI Fellow Andrew Mangino’s Future Project Looks Toward the Future of Education

Since founding The Future Project in 2011, co-founder and CEO and 2013 Bluhm/Helfand Social Innovation Fellow Andrew Mangino has grown the educational initiative by leaps and bounds.

Not that the organization did not begin ambitiously, with the mission to help urban youth nationwide “find their passion, find their purpose and be inspired,” according to National Dream Director John-Michael Parker.  In 2011, The Future Project rolled out programming in three east-coast cities, New Haven, New York City and Newark, empowering area students to lead school and community change.  Today, the organization has added a fourth to its list—Washington, D.C.—and looks forward to a day when it has impacted high school students across the U.S., including Chicago youth.  Central to this mission is the Dream Director, a Future Project employee who leads a “Dream Team” of approximately 20 students to inspire their peers to take control of their education and careers. 

The Future Project co-founder Andrew Mangino took the CIW 2013 stage to discuss how his organization helps students put their dreams into action.

Dream Directors form the backbone of the movement, allowing the program to expand to new schools each year.  “We try to enter [schools] with humility.  We take a lot of care that Dream Directors fit the culture of the school,” Parker explained of the organization’s approach, noting that Dream Directors serve as a resource to student and teachers alike.

In fact, The Future Project leaders and directors are very intentional about harnessing the dreams and goals of faculties and students, and develop co-curricular activities and programming that happens during the school day alongside other activities.

In schools where teachers and students alike often must focus on testing and state goals before pursuing their own, “a Dream Director is an entrepreneur…who comes in and does whatever they can to make the best of all of the people who are already there,” Parker said. 

The organization has also been making the most of the connections its members have made to leaders and thinkers outside of the east-coast educational system.  As a 2013 BHSI Fellow and CIW speaker, Mangino reached out to members of the Chicago community and picked the brains of fellow speakers, like director M. Night Shyamalan, author of I Got Schooled. 

“[We] started thinking about Chicago at the local level and who can we start building an alliance with and who we can learn from on the ground,” Parker said of the opportunities that grew out of Mangino’s experiences with CIW.

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