Dallas dream achievers keep the dream alive

Wednesday morning I had the privilege to attend the Dream Achievers Breakfast, sponsored by Alon USA, in Dallas at the Prestonwood Country Club (yes, they had valet). This wasn’t done on a whim. I had written an article earlier in the year on Nancy Lieberman and as a result, was invited to cover the Dream Achievers Breakfast as an Examiner.com representative.

What, you might ask, does this have to do with Dallas women’s sports?

Simple. As Nancy Lieberman says, “Sports is the great equalizer”. We can be young or old, male or female, black or white, yet when we play, we are none of those, we are an athlete. We are there for the game, for the love of the game, for the passion and drive, and for the fun.

Playing professional sports is a dream of many kids. They want to be the next LeBron, the next Modano, the next Nancy, the next Serena. And many go on to play in school, college, and pro or semi-pro. But they all started at one point, and that was with a dream, and that’s where the Dream Achievers Breakfast comes in. Underprivileged children nationwide need a hand to just be able to hope for a dream, whether it’s in sports, engineering, politics, medicine, acting, entrepeneurship, etc.

This was second in a series of three Dream Achievers Breakfasts sponsored by Communities In Schools Dallas Region, Inc., (CISDR) which was founded in 1985 to address the growing number of high school dropouts in Dallas and surrounding areas. CISDR’s professional staff brings community resources into schools to work in the interest of at-risk children in a coordinated, caring and cost-effective way. Nearly 80% of the students served by CISDR are economically disadvantaged and at-risk of academic failure according to the Texas Education Agency.

Students are referred to the program by teachers, counselors, administrators, parents, friends or are self-referred. CISDR case managers work with each child to develop a holistic plan to prepare students for successful lives. This means that CISDR not only works with students to address academic concerns, but also with parents, teachers and administrators who are involved with these students each day. By using this holistic wrap-around approach, distractions and disruptions in the student’s life outside of the school environment are addressed, allowing the student to focus on his/her schoolwork.

Karl Schmalz is the Asst. General Tax Counsel, Exxon Mobil Corporation Chair and CISDR Board of Directors. He gave the opening remarks and offered an example of how one CISDR counselor realized one of his students didn’t show for school one day, so he went to his home and discovered that the child was too embarrassed to attend school because he had no clean clothes. This is an example of how something that most of us take for granted can damage and impair an at-risk child’s growth and learning.

The Dream Achievers Breakfast featured both Marie Diaz, President & CEO of Pursuit of Excellence, Inc., and the great Nancy Lieberman, Head Coach of the Texas Legends NBA Development League team in Frisco. These dynamic women shared their stories about “achieving their dreams”.

Both women spoke of their humble beginnings, Ms. Diaz from a poor Catholic family with an alcoholic step-father, and Ms. Lieberman of her poor Jewish family life, counting pennies at age nine with her mother to get the heat turned back on.

Both talked about what encouraged them to fight the good fight and better themselves at something, something they were passionate about. Ms. Diaz had a discussion with her mother, wondering how she would support her young son as a single parent, and decided sales would work for her. Starting as a mall kiosk sales person, she developed into an HR entrepreneur. Ms. Lieberman spoke about seeing Muhammed Ali on TV saying “I am the greatest!” and she decided that she was the greatest woman basketball player in the world. (Lieberman says she later met Ali and now they are best of friends.)

This breakfast and the speakers were a blessing in disguise for myself, even at 55, firing my passion for writing, reigniting the flames to do more, and to give back more to my community, and to pay it forward more. I resembled Diaz and Lieberman in many ways, their humble beginnings, their lifelong struggles to overcome inequality in the workplace, and so on, as most women do. Even today, the news reported about the lawsuit hundreds of women filed against Walmart for discrimination, unequal pay, unequal promotions.

The gender struggle isn’t dead, though for many of us, we have benefited from those who’ve gone before, like Lieberman, like Diaz, who have paved paths for the rest of us both in business and sports. And, to quote a much-admired and loved man, we “had a dream.”

Consider volunteering, helping, mentoring a young person. See the CIS website for information on how to donate online or volunteer to this worthwhile opportunity.

What would America be without the dream?