The VFIC’s New Horizons program is a strategic initiative with two objectives:
a) to help the 15 Member Colleges to further diversify their student bodies, and
b) to expand college access and opportunity for students from lower-income, rural or minority families, or for students who would be the first in their family to attend college.

Grant support from Altria and other leading corporations continue to make this program possible.

One of the core programs in the New Horizons initiative is a multi-year collaboration with Partnership for the Future (PFF), a remarkable college readiness program focused on helping inner city Richmond minority students prepare for, and get into, college. Surveys at the beginning of the collaboration showed that few of the PFF students were aware of Virginia’s private colleges, and that those who knew of them thought that these institutions were outside their range of college options. So the objective of the New Horizons program was to make the PFF students aware of the VFIC colleges, make the admissions staffs of the college aware of the talent pool represented by PFF, and thereby to help open the doors of these colleges for these students. In FY09, New Horizons had the best results in the four-year collaboration, with 85% of the PFF graduating senior class applying to a VFIC institution and 9 PFF graduates ultimately choosing to attend one of Member Colleges. This brings the total number of PFF grads attending VFIC colleges to 19, a clear indicator that this program has had the desired impact.

New Horizons has also continued its initiative aimed at the Member Colleges – providing expertise and financial resources to help the institutions further enhance their orientation, mentoring and retention programs for all under-represented students.  The VFIC hosts an annual “Making Connections” Workshop for the colleges’ minority student affairs officers focused on best practices of formal orientation and retention programs. In addition, the VFIC continues to provide grants to each college’s minority mentorship / retention program to help each institution take the next step forward in their strategic plan for this important area of campus life.

For more information on the program contact: Mary-Beth Johnson