Resources for Families and Students of Color

December 21, 2006

• A Better Chance, Inc., (www.abetterchance.org) is a nonprofit organization whose College Preparatory Schools Program identifies highly motivated students of color who are at or above grade level with demonstrated leadership potential and refers them to some of the nation’s top private and public schools. The website notes, “A Better Chance does not give scholarships. We match students with schools.”
  
  
• American Indian Science and Engineering Society (http://www.aises.org) sponsors a variety of educational programs that offer financial, academic, and cultural support to American Indians and Alaska Natives from middle school through graduate school.
  
  
• ASPIRA of America, Inc., (http://www.aspira.org/) is a nonprofit organization that offers educational and leadership programs to reduce the Hispanic dropout rate. See the website’s Resources tab for information for parents and students.
  
  
• Baltimore Education Scholarship Trust (BEST) (www.besttrust.org) recruits, interviews, and counsels qualified African-American children interested in attending 22 local independent schools. Especially see the Student Support section of the website.
• Early Steps is a New York City-based organization whose mission is to promote racial diversity within the members of the Independent Schools Admissions Association of Greater New York. The program is specifically for kindergarteners and first graders. For information, call (212) 288-9684 or e-mail earlysteps@earlysteps.org.
• Independent School Alliance for Minority Affairs (www.thealliance-la.org) helps under-represented students of color with the application process to its 44 member schools, all of which are in Southern California and want to increase their diversity. Its services include counseling families on appropriate school choice, entrance testing, and financial aid applications. Once students are placed, the alliance continues to offer a variety of support services for its students and its member schools.
• Summerbridge San Francisco is an academic-enrichment program that prepares talented public and parochial school sixth graders with limited educational opportunities to succeed at academically challenging high schools in the Bay Area. See admission details and information about summer and school-year programs at the website. http://www.sfuhs.org/summerbridge/