Pastor Wintley Phipps and Chris Tucker with U.S. Dream Academy kids.

May 21, 2008 - For ten years, Pastor and gospel music icon, Wintley Phipps, has made sure children across the country have a chance at hope and achievement.  

His U.S. Dream Academy, with ten centers nationwide, provides mentoring and life skills to thousands of at-risk youth of incarcerated parents.

Statistics show that over half of the prison population consists of high-school drop outs.

The U.S. Dream Academy reaches out to children of this demographic by providing afterschool programs, education, and challenges them to dream.

The Academy celebrated their many years of accomplishments during its annual celebration gala held at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Washington, DC.

The gala featured R&B songstress Keyshia  Cole, an artist who made public her own battle with an incarcerated  parent through her reality TV show, Keyshia Cole: The Way It Is.

Cole was raised by a foster parent when her maternal mother, Frankie, was incarcerated for drug use. 

Cole, accompanied by both parents at the gala, told the audience she was proud to have both ladies in her life.  “I love them both so much, said Cole.”

Members of The U.S. Dream Academy choir were delighted to see their favorite actor, Chris Tucker, who served as honorary Master of Ceremony, alongside News Channel 8 anchor, Cynne Simpson.

Recipients of the academy told their story of personal triumph.   “The academy helped me become the person I am today”, said one graduate of the program.

Another graduate credited his mentor for helping him change a negative attitude into a positive one.

Both graduates have plans for secondary education, with one planning to become a doctor.

“I wish they had this when I was a kid”, joked actor comedian Chris Tucker, who told the crowd of 500, while sharing that he was the class clown.

“My teachers used to tell me all the time after I’d get in trouble, that they were going to call my momma”, said Tucker.  “I told them they would have to stop by the house ‘cause our phone was cut off.”

Another former graduate also came forward to give his testimony of how the Academy saved him.  Also a product of an incarcerated parent, he became involved in street gangs during his youth.  Through the program he was able to turn his life around, and has since become a pastor of a church he founded.  He thanked the Academy for saving his life and several years ago awarded the organization a substantial monetary gift from a family life insurance policy.

Perhaps the biggest news of the evening came in the form of a video announcement from media mogul, Oprah Winfrey, who pledged to match the $903k raised at this year’s anniversary gala.  Additionally, Ms. Winfrey plus plans to match any funds, up to $500k, received now through October 10, 2008.

The evening also boasted performances by the original Dream Girl, Grammy and Tony award-winning singer, Jennifer Holiday, as well as Grammy award-winner, Peabo Bryson, who serenaded the audience with his classic, If Ever You're in My Arms Again.

About Wintley Phipps.  Wintley Phipps, known affectionately as ‘Pastor Phipps’, is former pastor of the Capital Hill Seventh Day Adventist Church, Massachusetts Ave, Washington, DC.  He is author of Power of A Dream, and has recorded several CDs to include Just As I Am (Favorite Hymns of Billy Graham), and Have No Fear. 

He began the U.S. Dream Academy in 1998 after seeing his wife's niece, pregnant in jail.  Phipps began to wonder about the fate of children of incarcerated parents, and hence the Dream project began.   More.

About Dr. Benjamin Carson.  Dr. Carson is a world renowned professor of neurosurgery, plastic surgery, oncology, and pediatrics, and the Director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions.  Dr. Carson serves on the corporate boards of the Kellogg Company, Costco Wholesale Corporation, and American’s Promise.  He is a graduate of Yale, and is an Emeritus Fellow of the Yale Corporation. He and his wife Candy have three grown sons, and reside in Baltimore County, Maryland.

Visit www.usdreamacademy.org.

Gala photos.