The Dreamhouse was officially founded in February 2009. However the history of interaction with the street children community goes a long way back. It started in 2000 with a simple activity, playing sports games (mostly soccer) with the street children in Universitas Gadjah Mada every saturday afternoon. At that time some university students invited street children from intersections like Korem/Gramedia and Pingit to play together.
Following this early interaction, a learning facility was then established in Gondolayu in 2003. Here the street children, along with the people from the neighborhood, were provided free basic education courses. This activities continued until 2005.
After being vacant for a year, in November 2006, a transit house for the street children was established in Jetisharjo. This house was called the “Dreamhouse“. This is when the name “dreamhouse” was first introduced. The street children gathered in this house was quite numerous and they came from the intersections of Jetis, Mirota Kampus, Tugu, and Pingit. This house was then moved to Jetis Pasiraman before it was shut down in 2008.
After the shutting down, Dreamhouse activities did not cease. The activities since then are focused on activities in the streets (street based activities).
In the same year, The Dreamhouse began the scholarship and boarding house program for the children who want to return to school and leave the street life. The scholarship is for either formal or non-formal education. The children who need a place to live are facilititated in a boarding house called the Hope Shelter, in Kalasan. Since 2008 many children have made the most of this program until they completed high school. Some of them have continued to universities, and some have worked, according to their own dreams. This program still continues until today, and managed by the Hope Shelter Division. There are currently 14 children living in 2 houses (separate house for girls and for boys)
Since 2015, Dreamhouse develops prevention program through the education center program. This is done by setting up learning centers in the areas where there are many children at risk/ These centers have reached to every citites in the Yogyakarta Special Region, and also to Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara.
There is also a program for the empowerment of the parents, the Parents Empowering program. This is a program to equip the parents with proper parenting skills to raise their children.
In 2016, Dreamhouse launched Happy Dream Academy, an early childhood nursing and educational facility. This facility is planned to be developed as an education facilities that can apply the unique approach of the Dreamhouse.
In August 2019, The Dreamhouse opened its branch in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara. The target group of the work in Kupang is the children working in the public area and the community based development for the families of the children at risk.
In the future, the Dreamhouse planned to build a tranformation center for the children at risk, providing caring facilities as well as education and empowering. The Dreamhouse also dreams to build an integrated support facility, as well as strengthen the organization’s capacity and services, enhance the organization’s financial sustainability, and build a network of concerned communities for the children at risk.