Houston, TX - Blackshear Elementary School

Fortune McDonald

Learning Center Director

Email: fmcdonald@usdreamacademy.org

As the new Center Director at Foster Elementary, Fortune McDonald is excited to continue his journey in youth development. He has been privileged to serve as Youth Minister at his home church, volunteer with several nonprofit organizations as a musician and mentor, and develop and implement an SEL Program, Empowerment Through Poetry.

Fortune was drawn to U.S. Dream Academy during an in-person visit to the Learning Center in Houston. Being able to see firsthand the impact the Houston team had on the students and the freedom and joy the students showed, Fortune just knew he could have an excellent opportunity to contribute to the overall vision of the U.S. Dream Academy.

In his current role as Center Director for the Foster Elementary Learning Center, Fortune has learned to balance relationships with school administration, staff, families, and community partners while also being engaging and present in day-to-day programming with DreamKids and the Houston U.S. Dream Academy Team. The work has been very rewarding, and Fortune looks forward to continued growth with U.S. Dream Academy.

Dipen Bhakta

Co-Area Leader

Email: dbhakta@usdreamacademy.org

In 1999 Dipen and his family moved to Houston, TX, to the Third Ward neighborhood. Little did he know that the Houston Learning Center opened in his community in 2002 when he was in the 7th grade.  While a student at the University of Houston Dipen desired to become closer to the community he grew up in.  In 2008, he became a mentor for the U.S. Dream Academy that was located not far from his university. 

This started him on his journey from a volunteer mentor to leading the expansion of Dream Academy in Houston.    In 2013, after successfully mentoring for five years, Dipen was given the opportunity to be the Program Coordinator at the Learning Center at Foster Elementary School. A role he says would eventually shape his understanding of Youth Development.  With much support from his colleague and mentor, Walter Hull, Dipen took the position of Center Director in 2015. 

Leading the expansion, Dipen and his co-leader Walter have expanded from one learning center to three along with the development of a new youth-led violence reduction project called the Scott Street Youth Initiative.  Dipen focuses on high quality collaborations with various community based programs and universities across the City of Houston and implements and oversees research-based quality programming methods to support the Learning Center Directors and staff at the various sites in Houston.

Walter Hull

Co-Area Leader

Email: whull@usdreamacademy.org

Over the past 13 years, Walter Hull has become a rising Social Artist, Thought Leader, and Youth Development Strategist in Houston, TX. Through his work with the U.S. Dream Academy, a national mentoring organization dedicated to improving neighborhoods that have been harmed by mass incarceration, Walter has helped shape the organization's approach to community asset building through mentoring.

As an artist, his choreography has deep roots in social justice stories in the black community that he refers to as his Village Responsibility. As Executive Director of Urban Souls Dance Company, Walter has founded the URBAN Kids and URBAN Girls Initiative that mentors youth through the art of dance. He has also created artist development workshops in Kigali, Rwanda, geared towards providing space for youth artists to develop as leaders in their communities.

Today, Walter continues his work with the U.S. Dream Academy Houston and enjoys collaborating with organizations to tell their story, support their youth voice, and facilitate mentoring training.