Dreama Gentry

Dreama Gentry leads Berea Colleges educational outreach into rural Appalachian Kentucky. With an annual budget of $25 million dollars and a staff of 270, Gentry provides leadership to twelve federally or privately funded outreach programs that focus on improving educational outcomes of rural Appalachian youth. Since 1999, Gentry has designed and implemented GEAR UP Partnership grants that now connect Berea College with 33 rural school districts serving more than 35,000 rural Kentucky youth. Realizing that positive educational outcomes for youth relates to both what happens inside and outside the school, Gentry collaborates with communities to design programs that meet more than just educational needs. She is implementing an Office of Justice Mentoring grant focused on engaging parents, and an Office of Violence Against Women program focused on decreasing dating violence and stalking in our secondary schools. In addition, her teams design was chosen as the only U.S. Department of Education Promise Neighborhood Implementation Grant to serve a rural community. Gentry volunteers as the National Coordinator of Project Meet Me Halfway, an organization founded by country musician and songwriter Jimmy Wayne to bring awareness to the issues faced by youth aging out of foster care. A first generation college graduate from rural Appalachia, Gentry holds a B.A. in Political Science from Berea Collage and a Juris Doctor from the University of Kentucky College. She resides in Berea with her husband Hasan Davis, Commissioner of Juvenile Justice for Kentucky. Their sons, Malcolm and Christopher, attend a GEAR UP school in Berea.