Hello World,

I love sharing positive news so here’s something positive for parents and soon-to-be high school graduates!

Facebook and The Alfred Street Baptist Church (ASBC) and its Foundation are partners for the third consecutive year; supporting the 18^th Annual Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) College Festival (Festival). The 2020 Festival will take place on Saturday, January 25, 2020, at the National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland. Once again, this event will enable African- American youth to connect with over 70 representatives of the nation’s historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), while providing information on college admission, financial aid, academic disciplines and other areas of college life. Most schools in attendance will offer instant admission, conduct on-site interviews and may even waive application fees.  New this year, there will be a $5.00 per person fee to attend. However, everyone must register online at alfredstreet.org to enter the event.

Alfred Street Baptist Church and its Foundation are committed to higher education for African American youths and, since 2003, have connected more than 40,000 students – many of whom are first generation college students – and their parents to academic institutions through the Festival. Since inception of the Festival, participating HBCUs have awarded more than $30 million collectively to Festival attendees in the form of academic scholarships and/or waived fees.  During the 2019 Festival, over 10,000 were in attendance; [e1] more than [CW2] $11.6 million in scholarships were awarded; and 1,886 offers of admission were made to high school seniors.

“We are more than pleased that for the third year in a row that Facebook, which has a commitment to education and diversity, has partnered with us to support this worthwhile event,” said Rev. Dr. Howard-John Wesley, Alfred Street’s senior pastor.

“We are grateful that Facebook has signed on as our title partner for the third year in a row, as we host the HBCU College Festival,” said Pat Wallace, Alfred Street Baptist Church Foundation President. “Facebook as a partner allows us to expand our reach to impact the lives of our future African American leaders.”

“We are thrilled to partner with the ASBC Foundation again to invest in the education of African American students,” said Erica Woods, Community Engagement Lead, and Facebook DC. “Facebook has always invested in the physical infrastructure across the country, but we are also investing in the social infrastructure of our communities. We are proud to have facilities in so many states that are home to HBCUs, and hope that students look for opportunities with Facebook when the time comes to pursue their career paths.”

In addition to Facebook being the title sponsor, Alfred Street Baptist Church and its Foundation are delighted to announce that McDonald’s has joined as a first time partner as well as the U.S. Intelligence Community. ASBC and its Foundation are enthusiastic that the following companies and organizations as sponsors: Google/WAYMO, Ernst and Young, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Our Daily Bread, Deloitte, Converse, Footwear Distributers and Retailers of America (FDRA), Thompson Hospitality, Christopher Consultants, PNC Bank, Burke and Herbert Bank, PepsiCo, all for this rewarding and worthwhile event.

The Alfred Street Baptist Church and its Foundation are also thankful for Radio/Urban One; who continues to serve as our media sponsors.  Google/WAYMO, will be providing information about their CSSI-HBCU initiative at the Festival. Designed specifically for high school seniors; this program promotes equitable representation in tech by hosting high school seniors at a three-week summer residential program connecting them to incoming HBCU students with like-minded peers, Google engineers, CS professors, HBCU alum in CS, and Black technologists in the local tech ecosystem.

Visit alfredstreet.org for more information.

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