Dreamroot Leadership Institute

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Dreamroot Leadership Institute Partnering with local leaders in underserved communities to build a brighter, sustainable future. Join us in making a difference!
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DreamRoot is a non-profit organization dedicated to partnering with local leaders in underserved communities to drive transformation and growth. Our impactful programs empower purpose-driven changemakers to spark vision, break cycles of poverty, violence, and corruption, and create lasting impact. Join us in making a difference!

10/02/2026

When leaders are equipped, communities thrive.

Bringing together local Jiu-Jitsu leaders from underserved communities and challenging environments to train, learn, connect, and grow together.

These leaders are already investing in their communities. We’re creating space for them to strengthen their leadership, share what they’re learning, encourage one another, and build relationships across borders and communities.

Through Jiu-Jitsu, mentorship, leadership development, and community-building, we’re working to create opportunities that go far beyond the mats.

Because when local leaders are equipped, they can develop people, strengthen families, build healthier communities, and create impact that can last for generations.

Jiu-Jitsu is the vehicle. People are the mission. Communities are the impact.

To the people sitting on that restaurant patio in Northern Virginia, it was just a knee-high stone planter with flowers....
10/02/2026

To the people sitting on that restaurant patio in Northern Virginia, it was just a knee-high stone planter with flowers. But to me, a 20-something immigrant working 12-hour shifts in a Chuck E. Cheese mascot suit, secretly eating leftover pizza in bathroom stalls just to get by, it felt like the tallest wall in the world.

“The rat will still be there.”

That was the advice a mentor gave me when I was terrified to leave my steady mascot job to teach Jiu-Jitsu full-time. He meant that if I failed, the suit would always be waiting. So I took the leap.

In a new story on the blog, DreamRoot co-founder Tony Passos shares a deeply personal look at his journey.

It turns out the barriers holding us back often look massive, but the wall is rarely as high as it seems. What actually gets us over comes down to mindset, community, and refusing to stop short of what is possible.

Whether in leadership, enterprise, or community work, we all encounter invisible walls. The real question is: who is standing beside you to help you see the way over?

👉 Read the full blog post at the link in our bio!

10/01/2026

Celebrating the birthday of Professor Ismael, one of the instructors at the Arte Suave DreamRoot Training Center! A special moment to celebrate the people who invest their time, energy, and passion into our communities.

And that’s what makes Arte Suave special. It’s more than a place to train jiu jitsu. It’s a third space where people come together to share a meal, play games, laugh, build friendships, and do life together.

This birthday celebration is one small picture of the community that exists here: people from different backgrounds showing up for one another, sharing life, and creating something together.

Happy birthday, Professor Ismael! We’re grateful for you and for the community you help make possible.

Growth happens best when we don’t have to walk the path alone.As we head into Q4 and look toward 2027, Tony & Amy are op...
09/30/2026

Growth happens best when we don’t have to walk the path alone.

As we head into Q4 and look toward 2027, Tony & Amy are opening space to work with individuals, teams, and organizations through customized leadership and organizational development.

From navigating transitions and sharpening personal strategy to building stronger teams, cultures, and systems we tailor the work to your goals, context, and people.

Through strategy, creativity, play, and a deeply relational approach, we help leaders and teams move forward with greater clarity, alignment, and purpose.

And every fee-for-service engagement helps support DreamRoot’s work alongside emerging leaders, entrepreneurs, and communities in Brazil and beyond.

If you or your team are looking for a thoughtful partner in this season, send us a DM or visit the link in our bio.

“Do blueberries taste like grapes?”How a young cashier’s simple question opened up a much bigger conversation about acce...
09/22/2026

“Do blueberries taste like grapes?”

How a young cashier’s simple question opened up a much bigger conversation about access, vision, and growth.

Our latest blog post explores why exposure is a key mechanism of transformation, what happened when we brought blueberries back for the whole store staff to taste, and why new experiences often “read as wrong” when measured against old standards.

Read the full post in the link in our bio.

Such a great time reconnecting with old friends and building new relationships with business leaders from across Brazil ...
09/15/2026

Such a great time reconnecting with old friends and building new relationships with business leaders from across Brazil who are pursuing redemptive entrepreneurship.

It was a true joy to share meals and stories as we asked bigger questions about the role of business in our communities and our world.

I especially appreciated the rich panel conversations exploring how we can expand our impact through a vision of people, planet, and flourishing, while pursuing multiple bottom-line results.

Because business exists to do more than just generate profit for shareholders.

It can create dignified work, strengthen communities, steward creation, develop people, and contribute to the flourishing of society.

We’re grateful for the leaders who are pioneering new ways of doing business in Brazil and for the opportunity to learn, connect, and imagine what’s possible together.

More flourishing. More impact. More businesses that serve the common good.

BusinessForGood DreamRoot

Different cultures, different languages, one mat. A joy to welcome international visitors from the US and connect throug...
09/09/2026

Different cultures, different languages, one mat. A joy to welcome international visitors from the US and connect through Jiu-Jitsu, community, and camaraderie.

09/03/2026

We’re grateful for local leader Jhon and the crew at the Arte Suave Training Center. Together we’ve had the privilege of co-developing together to strengthen and equip women in the community.

Over 60 women have participated in English classes, leadership accelerator training, entrepreneurship development, and workshops, alongside Arte Suave’s women’s Jiu-Jitsu program.

Programs like these matter deeply. In a region where violence against women remains a significant reality and access to opportunities can be challenging, creating spaces for women’s voices to be heard, relationship build, skills developed and economic agency is incredibly important.

Investing in women is an investment in families, communities, and economies that returns dividends.

It’s been a joy and an honor to work alongside such an admirable, wise, and disciplined group of people Projeto Arte Suave . Their consistency, integrity, resilience, and genuine love for people inspire us daily. And they continue to teach us so much about what it means to live and lead well.

We’re grateful for what has already been built together, and even more excited about what is still ahead.

Looking forward to continuing to dream, learn, and co-develop together. 🤝🌱

🎥 cred: duocria.

09/02/2026

Throughout each week at the Sertão DreamRoot Training Center is an opportunity to learn, grow, create, and build community.

Alongside literacy classes and jiu-jitsu , a special highlight this week was handicrafts and coloring.

Special shout out to the local leaders who show up consistently to create a space and enriching space for creativity, self-expression and connection. They give children and families the opportunity to discover new skills and experience community in ways that will shape the rest of their lives, their families and the region.

JiuJitsu Creativity Education HumanDevelopment

08/26/2026

Entrepreneurial Accelerator & Consulting

We love helping leaders build high-performing organizations and teams through practical mentorship, training and organizational development.

We believe business and entrepreneruship can be powerful tools for fostering the type of meaningful relationships and mutual value creation that strengthens communities and stewards our shared world.

Address

22446 Davis Drive, Suite 153
Sterling, VA
20165

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+12026702408

Website

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