Inspiring Conversations with Edlyn Peña of Dream Community Center

Today we’d like to introduce you to Edlyn Peña.

Hi Edlyn, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
The origins of the Dream Community Center go back to 2010 when my son, Diego, was diagnosed with autism. Learning about Diego’s autism prompted me to pivot my research interests as a faculty member at California Lutheran University toward exploring how autistic college students access and navigate college environments. My professional and personal knowledge and experience with autistic individuals bloomed from there. I co-founded the Autism and Communication Center at CLU in 2016. The center offers social activities, conferences, and trainings to autistic individuals and the people who support them. In particular, we support minimally speaking individuals who use augmentative and alternative communication. Over the years, through my service and research, I realized there is a huge gap in services for adults on the spectrum. Diego is now 17 years old and is about to graduate from high school. He requires a lot of support to participate in activities. Once he graduates he will need to fill his days with meaningful activities. Yet, there aren’t a lot of options available for individuals who require high levels of support. As a result, my business partner, Henry Panah, and I decided to create the Dream Community Center. Our center provides daytime social and learning activities for neurodiverse teens and adults in Westlake Village, CA.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
One of the biggest obstacles for individuals with high support needs to access our programs is that they often need one-on-one aides or communication partners to attend Dream Community Center with them. Such supports are crucial to helping participants regulate sensory and behavioral difficulties, as well as access communication through tools like tablets, keyboards, and letter boards. This not only means that families need to find and train a support person for their adult child, but they also need to secure funding to pay for the support person. Oftentimes, families can secure funding from California regional centers, but the amount needed to pay someone well is not guaranteed. Parents often have to advocate for more funding to be able to pay an aide or communication partner to accompany their child to Dream Community Center.

As you know, we’re big fans of Dream Community Center. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Dream Community Center is an inclusive recreation and community center for neurodiverse teens and adults. There are two components to our program. The first is our daytime activity and learning program for adults called Dream Team. Half-day and full-day options are available. Dream Team participants learn about life skills, self-regulation strategies, social games, music, art, yoga, and fitness. We not only learn a lot, but we also have fun. The second component is our social recreation classes. These include individual classes that people can take in the area of creative arts, music jam sessions, adaptive yoga, and joyful movement in the gym. I’m proud of our high-quality instructors who are not only skilled in teaching but truly care about our participants. They presume competence in our Dreamers and tailor classes to their needs. We offer a boutique experience where class sizes are small and there is a lot of one-on-one support from our staff.

Any big plans?
We just opened our center in summer 2025, so we are in the beginning stages of offering programs and classes to our local community. More families from Los Angeles and Ventura county are starting to become aware of the services we offer. We plan to grow and expand over the next few years to make sure we serve more and more teens and adults who are looking for age-appropriate and engaging recreational activities.

Pricing:

• Social recreation classes are $60 each.
• Half-day Dream Team program is $175/day
• Full-day Dream Team program is $240/day

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.dreamcommunitycenter.org
• Instagram: @dreamcommunitycenter
• Facebook: @dreamcommunitycenter