Simsbury ABC Program to Host 40th Anniversary Annual Dinner

Article submitted by the ABC Program

In celebration of the 40th Anniversary of the Simsbury A Better Chance (ABC) Program, the Board of Directors is planning a gala 40th Anniversary Dinner!

Since 1973, the Simsbury ABC Program -- a local, non-profit organization -- has provided housing, educational supports, enrichment programming and nurturing to academically talented minority male students from disadvantaged school districts in order to help them succeed scholastically, socially and personally, and ultimately to attend colleges of their choice.

For forty years, the Simsbury ABC Program has played an integral role in helping students achieve their dreams and assume positions of leadership in society.

Up to nine students, a couple serving as Resident Directors and a Resident Tutor all live at the ABC residence, which is a 200 year-old building located in the center of Simsbury.  

The academic curriculum at Simsbury High School is more demanding than the school systems from which the students have come.  The Simsbury ABC Program provides one-on-one tutoring and helps the students develop the study habits they need to succeed. 

As one alumnus said, “if you can get through Simsbury High School, then you will have the skills you need to get through college.” In addition, each student is “adopted” by a local host family, who spends occasional weekends and evenings with the guys, to provide them a sense of a family away from home. 

The students are truly given "a better chance" to compete for and complete their education at the college of their choice.  Seventy-seven young men have graduated from the Simsbury ABC Program and gone on to some of the finest colleges and universities in the country, including Yale, Duke, London School of Economics, Williams College, Wesleyan and the University of Connecticut. 

Nationally, the graduation rate of minority college students is low, with only 49% of Latino and 40% of African American college students graduating within 6 years.  Even worse, African American males in college graduate only 36% of the time.  However, in spite of these odds, over 95% of the graduates of the Simsbury ABC Program complete college. 

We count among our alumni school teachers, a university professor, an Army Colonel, business owners and executives, a venture capitalist, a clergyman, a school administrator, a financial advisor, artists, lawyers, social workers, and more.

To commemorate this special anniversary, the 40th Anniversary Annual Dinner will be held on May 4, 2013, from 6-9:30 p.m. at Palmer Hall in the First Church of Christ, 689 Hopmeadow Street, Simsbury, with a Meet & Greet Reception at 5 p.m.

This will be a true “Celebration of Simsbury,” featuring food donated by Simsbury’s best restaurants! Current students, alumni, the Board of Directors, friends and supporters will be in attendance.

The Simsbury ABC program is supported entirely through donations from local residents and businesses.  We receive no government funding.  The board volunteers their time to do everything needed to keep the program going, from house maintenance to negotiating insurance to caring for the health of the students to organizing recreational and enrichment activities for the guys. 

We need more board members and volunteers to keep the program going and invite you to consider becoming a part of our wonderful program or supporting the program as a contributor. 

If you have a history with the ABC program and would like to attend the 40th Anniversary dinner, please contact Dennice Schenk at 860-217-1399.  If you are interested in getting involved with or donating to the Simsbury ABC Program, please contact Linda Schofield at 860-651-8739.

For more information about the Simsbury ABC Program visit www.simsburyabetterchance.org.