Lifelines Along a Timeline
Judith Ravin, Fellow (2023-2025)
My segue into grassroots development at DREAM Project followed on the heels of a long-term career in public service as a U.S. diplomat. In my former role and context, impact measurement was based on goals that were SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timebound), a uniform mantra for grants monitoring, program evaluation, and reports.
Now in my second year as a volunteer Fellow at DREAM, I continue to be deeply moved by the intangibles of day-to-day sustainable impact, what I call the immensity of the immeasurable. How to calculate the long-term transformational effect of increased youth self-esteem, discovery of an inner voice to channel and (re)frame personal narratives, analytical ability and ethics gained through exposure to the tradecraft of journalism, and a new-found drive to write about positive role models in one’s own community?
Working alongside specialists in youth development and leadership, literacy and reading, psychology, and more recently human rights and documentation, I have experienced multiple moments filled with awe. These occurrences are not every day nor even predictable, but when they materialize the feeling is visceral. Collectively at DREAM, we extend lifelines along a timeline that can affect behavior and decision making.
It is rare that a pre-teen, adolescent, or young adult might ruminate on competencies gained through DREAM or outwardly extend a thank you. Yet witnessing the transformation itself, such as the glow of pride and accomplishment on the face of a young person who has just overcome a deep-seated challenge (shyness, how to build friendships, speaking in public, discrimination or marginalization, fear of the blank page) is gift enough. In due time, program participants may recognize where DREAM fit in, perhaps where I fit in, on their path to incremental personal growth.
During my tenure with DREAM, emotional intelligence, intercultural communication, and adaptability have been among critical skills I utilize. I am grateful for the opportunity to give back globally, regifting to young people the power of their own realities and, to all ages, the fundamental human right to a name and identity. From inspiring youth to take on peer-to-peer mentorship in Deportes Para la Vida, giving voice to the voiceless during the Mi Mundo youth journalism camp as well as designing workshops and presentations of advocacy for human rights and documentation through Luceros, each collaboration has been what one Mi Mundo participant called an exploration and discovery of “my world, your world, our world.”
Finally, and inescapably close to my heart as a writer, I hope to have contributed to a foundation of sustainable youth creativity in furtherance of the fundamental human right to freedom of opinion and expression (Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights). Creativity plants the seeds of possibility that enable others to imagine and dream.
About the author: Judith Ravin, Fellow 2023–2025 – Deportes para la Vida (Youth Development) & Luceros (Human Rights and Documentation Program)
Judith Ravin is second-year volunteer Fellow with DREAM serving as case manager with Luceros. She is a former career diplomat (2003-2023) with the U.S. Department of State. Previously, she worked in the private sector as editor, translator, and journalist in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. She is author of Peru After Chamba, Beyond Our Degrees of Separation, and Ballet in the Cane Fields. She did her undergraduate work at universities in France and Spain in addition to the United States, and holds a Master’s Degree in Romance Languages and Literatures from Harvard University.