Mission & Impact | DylansWingsOfChange

MISSION & IMPACT

OUR MISSION

We use experiential education pedagogies to foster empathy and empower people with the belief that they matter.

OUR VISION

We believe a world headed up by empathetic leaders will act for the good of the planet and its citizens.

OUR GUIDING PRINCIPLES

Empathy must be nurtured
We believe that empathy is an emotion that should be fostered from an early age by connecting with others, sharing stories and allowing empathy to grow within someone. Learning empathy starts with kindness, respect and gratitude.

Change is hard
Meaningful change can be incredibly challenging, it’s natural to prefer in our comfort zones. We create safe spaces for people to be their authentic selves, then enter brave spaces for real conversations and actions reflecting on their shared experiences.

Failure is part of growth
Failing Forward is our favorite term to describe continuous improvement. Whether we meet our goals or not, learning from our mistakes is a critical element of growth. We apply this principle to our own programs and never stop striving to be better.

Integrity is essential
We live in a world where the truth is under constant attack. We take an active stance to help our leaders explore the importance of integrity and make conscious informed choices.

Anyone can be a leader
We all have superpowers that can make us a great leader, we just need the chance to showcase them. Great leaders have the moral choice to use their powers for good or evil; we help ours focus on the good.

Experiential learning is best
Humans learn best when our whole selves are engaged; physical, social, intellectual, and emotional with guided reflection to embed understanding. Through purposeful sequencing we build experiences that allow people to move through change at their own pace.

OUR IMPACT

2020 has been an incredibly challenging and emotional year. From the fear and anxiety caused by the COVID'19 Pandemic to the anger and outrage at the police killing of George Floyd and so many other victims, coupled with the most contentious presidential election in recent memory.

At Dylan's Wings of Change we have worked to tackle these headwinds, pivoting our programming to adapt to an enforced virtual world while achieving the same impactful outcomes that our in-person activities have delivered since 2015. Our partnership with The Friendship Journey in Florida that began in January 2020 unfolded into the most memorable and life-changing event we have been a part of, Camp Wings of Friendship.

2020 in Review

Wingman

After pausing in March, Youth Leader training resumed in the fall, leveraging virtual platforms where necessary and continuing in-person when safe distancing protocols were possible.

While some districts decided to leave the Movement, others joined or expanded their involvement and we finished 2020 with just 5 fewer schools enrolled than before the pandemic.

Virtual Experiences

Our first response to the pandemic was to bring diverse groups of people together to share their experiences and help each other navigate the world, leveraging Zoom and virtual breakout rooms.

These one-hour workshops showed us that the outcomes we sought from in-person programming could be replicated online, and greatly informed our next steps with Wings of Friendship.

Wings of Friendship

DWC had connected with The Friendship Journey from South Florida in January of 2020. We were planning joint programming in their community when COVID shut the country down in March.

Wings of Friendship was our next step together. This was a community that not only survived these pandemic times, but thrived. Watch their Showcase event to see how truly amazing this program was.

Wingman Educator

When Youth Leader training was impossible, we needed a way for schools and youth organizations to maintain programming. We created Wingman Educator to train the adults as facilitators.

Our 2 hour-long, self-paced online course covers the experiential learning techniques at Wingman's core and provides 20 activities ready to use both in-person and virtually.

FINANCIAL INFORMATION

2020 was an incredibly challenging year for the foundation; COVID-19 forced the cancellation of our major fundraising events at Ragnar Relays and the New York Marathon.

We had to let two of our three staff go to maintain viability, nevertheless we maintained our programming with the help of many volunteers and managed to foster new programs such as Wings of Friendship.

The foundation continues to use a fiscal sponsor charity to provide strong governance and oversight while keep costs to a minimum.