Watch The Yard Announces Official Partnership with HBCU Access NYC to Connect New York City Students to HBCUs

Watch The Yard just announced a partnership with HBCU Access NYC, a Brooklyn-based organization that connects New York City students and their families to Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

The partnership brings together Watch The Yard’s audience across HBCU and Divine Nine culture and HBCU Access NYC’s advising work inside New York City, with one shared goal: moving young people from hearing about HBCUs to enrolling in them.

HBCU Access NYC, founded by Christian Hill, works to increase awareness, access, and opportunities for New York City students to attend HBCUs. The organization runs four core services: direct advising and application support that includes scholarship assistance, college tours that bring NYC students onto HBCU campuses, a resource guide distributed to hundreds of counselors and schools, and seminars and workshops featuring HBCU alumni, current students, and admissions representatives.

The gap the organization works to close is geographic as much as it is financial. Most HBCUs sit in the South and the Mid-Atlantic, which means a student in Brooklyn, the Bronx, or Queens can finish four years of high school without ever setting foot on one of these campuses or sitting across from someone who graduated from one. HBCUs make up roughly 3 percent of colleges and universities in the United States and produce 20 percent of all Black graduates.

Jonathan Rabb, Founder of Watch The Yard, said of the partnership:

“At Watch The Yard, our mission has always been to celebrate and preserve HBCU and Divine Nine culture, but celebration means little if young people can’t find their way to these institutions in the first place. Too many talented students, especially those growing up in the North, don’t have a single HBCU nearby or anyone showing them that door exists. Partnering with HBCU Access NYC allows us to turn our platform into a bridge, connecting the next generation directly to the schools that can change the trajectory of their lives.”

Christian Hill, Founder of HBCU Access NYC, said:

“For too long, the barrier between a New York City student and an HBCU hasn’t been talent, it’s been access and awareness. Watch The Yard has built one of the largest digital homes for HBCU and Black Greek culture anywhere, and in a moment when our young people and their parents live online, that kind of reach is exactly what helps them picture themselves on these campuses. This partnership lets us meet the next generation where they already are and turn that inspiration into real enrollment.”

Under the partnership, Watch The Yard will amplify HBCU Access NYC’s tours, workshops, and application resources to its audience of students, parents, counselors, and HBCU alumni.

Students, families, school counselors, and funders who want to work with HBCU Access NYC can find tour dates, advising information, and the organization’s resource guide at hbcuaccessnyc.org.

Watch The Yard has spent more than a decade documenting what happens on the yard. This partnership is about making sure the students who belong there can find their way to it.

Share this article with your network and with any young person who needs to know these schools are within reach.