Our Program

A Better Chance is a national program that refers academically talented inner-city students to some of the nation's finest independent and public schools. For more than 45 years A Better Chance has been the preeminent resource for identifying, recruiting and developing leaders from within the nation’s most economically-disadvantaged neighborhoods.  A Better Chance serves as a national clearinghouse for deserving students, and places them in one of 279 boarding and day schools across the country, or in one of 25 public school programs including Wilton, Connecticut.

Founded in 1994, A Better Chance of Wilton has been transforming lives through educational opportunity. ABC Wilton provides deserving students with ‘a better chance' by placing them in an environment that encourages academic excellence, improves their college acceptance chances, and lays the foundation for an improved future – for our scholars, our  community and our country.  Since 1996 we have graduated 20 scholars who have gone on to study at the following colleges and universities:

Our History

A Better Chance of Wilton has been an important part of the Wilton community since it was first conceptualized in 1994 by a group of community, business and spiritual leaders.  That group, led by Wilton High School Principal John Sullivan, Wilton Youth Council President Maureen Graham and Wilton Presbyterian Church Pastor David Graybill, envisioned a program in which teenagers from economically-disadvantaged neighborhoods could benefit from Wilton’s commitment to education, and the Wilton community could benefit from the diversity and enthusiasm that the students would bring.   Two years later, with support from all of Wilton’s houses of worship and generous financial support from its residents, ABC of Wilton opened its doors on Godfrey Place to an initial class of two high school boys.

In 2003 it became apparent that the successful program was outgrowing its Godfrey Place location.  Board member Lynn Vanderslice chaired a capital campaign that raised more than $700,000 and facilitated the purchase and renovation of a larger home on Cannon Road, with more suitable accommodations for the resident directors and academic coordinator.  The boys moved to Cannon Road in 2007.  The question then became what to do with the suddenly vacantGodfrey Place property.  After much discussion and considerable research, the Board voted in 2008 to put the Godfrey Place home to use as a residence for girl scholars.

Wilton is one of just three programs in the country that operate both a residence for boys and one for girls. We own and operate two houses, complete with paid resident directors, academic coordinators, tutors and cooks. Support service volunteers are assigned to each scholar including an academic liaison, social workers, and a college coach. The resident directors act as surrogate parents for our scholars while they are away from home.  In their junior year, each scholar is assigned a college coach, who helps the scholar through the college application process – from taking the SAT, completing applications and financial aid forms, and taking college trips for on-site tours of desired colleges. In addition, each scholar is matched to a host family, with whom they spend each Sunday and one full weekend a month.  This broadens the scholars’ horizons further and often builds lasting relationships that often continue long after the scholar has completed his or her studies in Wilton.

A Better Chance of Wilton’s goal is to provide participating scholars with a “typical” Wilton High School experience. ABC scholars participate in sports, go to the prom, belong to the National Honor Society, or act in plays just like their classmates.  This full immersion into the Wilton High School experience allows ABC scholars to achieve the well-rounded experiences necessary for consideration by selective colleges.  Participation in extracurricular activities is, however, conditioned upon high academic effort and performance. Furthermore, we attempt to place our scholars in summer programs that promote personal, social or academic development and can often arrange enrollment at no cost to the scholar.