Our Programs

For many, dreams start small with basic survival needs. It might be strange to associate food and medical care with dreams, but it can be the first step for many. Some that call the West side home, for example, live in substandard housing, while others are refugees or new immigrants. The social and economic obstacles to living a safe and healthy life are obvious.

Making a Difference

The first and most basic need the Dream Center meets is food. Generous benefactors such as Costco, Warehouse Demo Services and Utah Food Bank donate fresh and day-old food items. Monthly, a semitruck delivers enough food to supply over 200 families with two weeks worth of nourishment. This allows the Dream Center to dispense donated food free to those families in need. The Center also partners with the Food Co-op to orientate families on purchasing their own food at reduced prices.

In 2007 the Dream Center partnered with Utah Partners for Health in providing a Mobile Medical Unit. The 31-foot trailer was transformed by the Utah Extreme Makeover Team. The unit has received the approval of the Utah Deptartment of Health and is staffed by volunteer medical professionals. As the caretaker of the unit, the Dream Center provides basic medical needs to those with little money and no insurance.

Facing the greatest challenges of all are the children in the surrounding communities. They are caught in the cycles of poverty or abuse while growing up in neighborhoods permeated with gangs. Providing them with a promising future is one the Center’s key goals. Programs currently operating to attain these goals are after-school “Open Door” tutoring, “Education First”, lifecoaching for parents, and the Good News Club. Recurring events such as school supplies distribution, sports leagues, musical performances, major holiday programs, etc., are also provided to encourage the fulfillment of the key goals.

With refugees and immigrants arriving from disparate regions such as Sudan, Bosnia, Central America, etc., the need for clothing, furniture, and other household items is immense. Not only are the newly arrived often ill-prepared for their new surroundings, they are not financially equipped to purchase the basic clothing and furniture necessities. The Dream Center collects and distributes donated essentials to families in their community.

This program was created to establish relationships with communities that have been influenced by every form of crime, drugs, and violence. Through Adopt-A-Block, the Center literally “cleans up the neighborhood” by picking up trash, cleaning graffiti, and serving in similar ways. Working with their hands it becomes the eyes and ears for the Dream Center to know the hurts and needs of the community. The Dream Center currently works with six apartment complexes under this initiative.

Hurting children and lost teens are living in impoverished neighborhoods in Salt Lake City's Northwest side. Metro Kidzz teaches honest communication, morals and social skills, personal responsibility, the skills to make right decisions and helps to give and receive unconditional love. Through Metro Kidzz, the Dream Center meets with children to address these emotional needs while changing a generation one child at a time.

In addition, the Dream Center assisted in designing and implementing “Project 180”, a gang intervention program designed for “at-risk” youth. Utilized by the West Valley City Police Department, the program has a 90% success rate in helping gang members who have been addressed by the courts. Alfred Murillo, director of the Dream Center, has served on the board of Salt Lake City’s Metro Gang Project for ten years, three as chairman.