Our Mission
Our mission is to provide academically talented and highly motivated young women of color the opportunity to study at Ridgefield’s public high school. We provide educational, social, and cultural enrichment as we strive to prepare our Scholars to assume positions of responsibility and leadership in American society.
These eight young women, grades 9-12, reside in the Ridgefield A Better Chance (RABC) house under the care of the Resident Director and Assistant Director, with the guidance of RABC Board of Directors, and with support from their host families and countless other volunteers. Since 1987, sixty-two RABC Scholars have graduated from Ridgefield High School and have gone on to major universities and colleges.
RABC, affiliated with the national nonprofit, A Better Chance, operates as one of their 20 public Community School Programs and is a 501(c)(3) .
From Our Scholars
“I can say with complete confidence that my experiences and success were a result of the education I received and the challenges I overcame while a part of the Ridgefield ABC program.”
— Safiya, RHS '07 // Bentley '11
HISTORY
Since 1963, A Better Chance has been the preeminent resource for identifying, recruiting and developing leaders among underrepresented young people of color throughout the United States. The oldest and only national organization of its kind, A Better Chance selects, prepares, places and supports high-performing high school students of color in some of the most rigorous and prestigious independent day schools, boarding schools and public schools in the country. For more than 60 years it has maintained its mission to increase substantially the number of well-educated young people of color who are capable of assuming positions of responsibility and leadership in American society.