Our Mission

Brighter Horizon’s mission is to support high school students in becoming the first in their family to pursue a four-year college education or an associate’s degree and a career in the trades. 

With a focus on academic achievement, mentoring, and financial need, the Organization seeks to open opportunities for underserved youth to whom a four-year degree or an associate’s degree and a career in the trades would otherwise be inaccessible.

Our Focus

Our organization fulfills this mission through a hand-on approach to all college entrance processes including academic tutoring, entrance testing, completing financial aid forms, and personal essay writing. We then provide financial assistance to close the total cost gap, including tuition, housing, meals, books, transportation and healthcare. Further, we provide mentorship for each Scholar, which is key to their success and ensures they graduate with a community of support.

Most of our families are unfamiliar with the requirements and expectations of the college admission process, so in today’s institutional rhetoric and procedure-based system, these students are at a significant disadvantage—often compounded by racial and socioeconomic challenges. Brighter Horizon is breaking the cycle of exclusion that these barriers create by supporting and empowering students throughout the college application process.

Through a pragmatic approach, Brighter Horizon constructively counters the anxieties and stresses often experienced by first-generation students to make a college or trade school education possible.

What We Do:

• Introduce students to the college search and transition process.
• Provide training for college admissions criteria and planning for deadlines and required fees.
• Offer guidance with college applications, testing and personal essay writing, including completing the Common Application.
• Assist with financial documentation and completing the FAFSA forms.
• Connect students with a larger network of successful first-generation individuals in four-year or associate degree program, helping foster mentorships and new relationships.
• Financial assistance to close the total cost gap including housing, meals and tuition, for qualified students.
• Cover costs for books, tutoring, tools, healthcare services and transportation and more.
• Offer mentorship throughout their college career and assistance with internships and full-time job searches.

Brighter Horizon is redefining today’s empowerment services for underserved, first-generation youth in the Greater Philadelphia area and beyond. Our Organization is making a four-year degree or an associate degree attainable throughout every step of the process; from the school selection, application, and acceptance to funding and mentoring throughout their college career.