Alfred Street Baptist Church HBCU Festival: Connecting Students to Historically Black Colleges and Universities
The Alfred Street Baptist Church (ASBC) HBCU Festival stands as a premier event dedicated to connecting high school students and their families with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and scholarship opportunities. Arguably the largest HBCU college fair in the country, the festival has a rich history of facilitating access to higher education for Black students.
A Legacy of Connection and Opportunity
Since 2003, this one-of-a-kind college fair has connected more than 60,000 attendees to academic institutions. Established in 1803, Alfred Street Baptist Church (ASBC) will celebrate its 220th anniversary in November and is home to one of the oldest African-American congregations in the nation. It has served as a prominent religious, educational, and cultural organization in the Northern Virginia community for over 220 years.
Impactful Numbers: A Testament to Success
The ASBC HBCU Festival has consistently demonstrated its impact through impressive statistics. At the Fall 2024 festival, ASBC hosted over 10,000 attendees, 1,714 onsite admission decisions were distributed and over $6.3 million in scholarships and waived fees were awarded to thousands of students. The 2020 ASBC Foundation HBCU Festival welcomed 10,000 prospective students and their families, produced 1,766 offers of admission to high school seniors, and awarded more than $5.4 million in scholarships - and 2021 was poised to be even bigger. To date the ASBC HBCU Festival has awarded over $20 million in scholarships, with $11 million offered in 2019.
The Virtual Expansion and Google Cloud Partnership
In recent years, the ASBC Foundation's HBCU Festival has embraced virtual platforms to broaden its reach. The Alfred Street Baptist Church Foundation partnered with Google Cloud in presenting the ASBC Foundation’s 19th annual Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Festival, taking place virtually for the first time on Saturday, Feb. Google Cloud's commitment to HBCUs, higher education for Black youth, and diversity made them a fitting title sponsor. Google Cloud provides organizations with infrastructure, platform capabilities and industry solutions, delivering cloud solutions that use Google’s cutting-edge technology to help organizations operate more efficiently and adapt to changing needs. “We are proud to sponsor the ASBC Foundation HBCU Festival which includes many of our HBCU customers of Google Workspace,” said Steven Butschi, head of Education for Google Cloud. This initiative builds on the company’s ongoing investments in HBCU students. Since 2013, the Google in Residence program has placed Goolge software engineers at HBCUs and Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) as faculty. The company also hosts Tech Exchange, a virtual student exchange program that teaches HBCU and HSU students applied computer science programs.
Hybrid Model: Combining In-Person and Virtual Experiences
The ASBC HBCU Festival has also adopted a hybrid model, combining the benefits of in-person interaction with the accessibility of virtual platforms. Alfred Street Baptist Church (ASBC), ASBC Foundation and Google (Title Sponsor) hosted the largest hybrid HBCU College Festival on Saturday, November 18 at the St. James Sports Complex located at 6805 Industrial Road in Springfield, Virginia. More than 7,500 expected to attend the largest hybrid festival of its kind in the country. Over 6,000 students expected to attend the in-person portion at the St.
Read also: Explore Lincoln University's legacy
Opportunities at the Festival
The majority of the 70-plus HBCUs in attendance for this fall’s 2023 festival will conduct on-site interviews and offer instant admission virtually and on-site, while some, if not all, participating institutions will be waiving application fees. The festival offers 11 seminars packed with impactful information to prepare students and parents for a successful college tenure - from securing financial aid to finding your ideal career path. Many schools in attendance offer on-site admissions, interviews, music auditions, waived application fees, and scholarships. Plus we bring the Homecoming flavor with an HBCU drum line.
Alfred Street Baptist Church and Foundation: Pillars of the Community
Established in 1803, Alfred Street Baptist Church (ASBC) will celebrate its 220th anniversary in November and is home to one of the oldest African-American congregations in the nation. It has served as a prominent religious, educational, and cultural organization in the Northern Virginia community for over 220 years. Currently under the esteemed leadership of the Rev. Dr. ET. ASBC is also home to the popular Come as You Are (CAYA) worship service. Under the current esteemed leadership of Rev. Dr. Howard-John Wesley, ASBC has grown from 2,500 members to more than 10,000 members, with services on Saturday at 6pm and Sunday at 8:00am, 10:00am and 2:00pm. The Alfred Street Baptist Church (ASBC) Foundation is a nonprofit organization that is recognized as such under Section 501(c) (3) of the federal Internal Revenue Service code.
Navigating the Festival with Technology
With over 11,000 attendees and 70 HBCUs, the Alfred Street Baptist Church HBCU Festival is the largest in the nation! Join us for this profound day and download the app to help you navigate the many offerings the day of! See what schools are in attendance, schedule interviews and auditions, as well as signup for seminars. The application requires iOS 11.0 or later for iPhone, iPadOS 11.0 or later for iPad, iOS 11.0 or later for iPod touch, and macOS 11.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later for Mac devices.
Read also: HBCU Swingman Classic: Tickets and Prices
Read also: Top HBCU Bands
tags: #ASBC #HBCU #festival #information
