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In 2008, the American luxury design house founded the Coach Foundation, a philanthropic arm that’s granted more than $60 million to non-profit partners around the world since. The Foundation is dedicated to helping young people achieve an equal opportunity for education, particularly those from under-served communities.
Now, the Coach Foundation aims to aid 5,000 students with scholarships via its partners by the year 2025 as part of the organization’s Dream It Real Initiative.
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The Dream It Real Initiative believes that higher education is a key component of our society, allowing people to achieve their dream and pave paths to a better future. Not only will the project work with non-profits in the United States, The Coach Foundation will also work with programs in China, Japan, and the United Kingdom. The scholarships are open to students of all disciplines.
The first step towards this scholarship goal is marked by Dream Week, celebrated from Aug. 9 to 16. During this week, Coach will donate 5 percent of its sales in North America to the Dream It Real Fund, as well as 5 percent of its UK sales to the UK Youth Charity. On top of it all, customers who visit the Coach store will be able to personalize bags based on stories from the students participating in the Dream It Real program, with artists coming in-store in select markets (listed below) to hand paint bags all Dream Week.
“Realizing dreams is incredibly important to us at Coach, going back to our earliest days as a small, family-run workshop in New York City,” Coach CEO Todd Kahn is quoted in a press release. “Today, we believe in the power of dreams to not only enable each of us to become our best selves—but to help make the world a better place, dream by dream.”
Coach’s upcoming Fall 2021 campaign will also include pieces from this initiative, with interviews from students in the program. The stories will contain more information on how the project has helped them thus far. Moreover, there will be photographs and films taken by various artists from all over the world.
Learn more about the Dream It Real Initiative online and shop to support Dream Week today.
Dream Week In-Store Artist Bag Painting Schedule
Coach House, NY – Rachel Motley
Lenox Square, GA – Neka King
Palo Alto, CA – Celia Jacob
Northpark, TX – David Maldonado
Houston, TX - Joshua Caleb
*All artists will be in store Aug. 13 to Aug. 15, from 2 to 5 p.m. local time.
Photography by: Courtesy Coach
