Lori Canova has been the President and Chief Executive Officer of the "I Have a Dream" Foundation of Boulder County since 1997. Under her leadership, the organization has grown from two Dreamer cohorts to 17, serving over 1,000 students and their families in four communities (Boulder, Lafayette, Longmont and Carbon Valley) within two of the largest school districts in Colorado (Boulder Valley and St. Vrain Valley.)
Lori helped start the local Mentors Matter group which focuses on recruitment of mentors, especially mentors of color. She also helped launch a county-wide collaborative school supply drive, Crayons to Calculators and is a co-founder and co-chair of a collective impact initiative called Dream Big focusing on closing the achievement and opportunity gap in Boulder County. Prior to joining "I Have A Dream, Lori was the Program Director for Big Brothers of Metro Denver; a Program Director for the Mental Health Association of Colorado; the Director of SB94 Juvenile Diversion Program for Jefferson Center for Mental Health; and an Adolescent Counselor for Human Services, Inc.
Lori has a Master of Social Work from the University of Denver and completed her undergraduate work in Social Work at Colorado State University. Lori served on the board of directors for Foothills United Way from 2005-2007 and was chair of the board for Volunteers in Prevention from 1993-1995. In 2010, Lori received the Woman of the Year award from the Boulder Professional Women Group. In 2015, Lori received the Partnership Award from Boulder Housing Partners and was awarded the Women Who Light the Community Award from the Boulder Chamber of Commerce.