A Better Chance TV...with Mz Mo!

Big goals need real-world plans and today I’m bringing a whole list of updates you can actually use. From a 50-50 raffle that supports our scholarship fund to college prep classes that keep students moving toward their final destination, I’m laying out what’s happening at A Better Chance and how you can plug in if you care about historically Black colleges and universities. We also talk about ways...

Twenty-one years ago, this work started with a few students and one big problem: kids were being told college was out of reach. Now A Better Chance for You Futures Incorporated hits its 21st anniversary, and we’re celebrating the only way we know how by honoring Takisha’s birthday, telling the real origin story, and putting scholarships and HBCU opportunity front and center. If you care about coll...

Watching a student walk onto an HBCU campus is powerful. Watching her hit the ground running in week three is something else. We sit down with Corinne Keck, a first-year student at Howard University, and talk about the real transition from high school to college life in Washington, DC, from finding your people to learning how to manage your time when everything moves fast. Corinne shares what it’s...

Somebody always says they know A Different World by heart until the Hillman questions hit the screen and the timer starts ticking. We go live with a rotating crew for a fast, funny Kahoot trivia battle that pulls from A Different World, Hillman College lore, and Cosby Show crossovers, with a little HBCU culture talk woven through everything. We kick things off with pure community energy: Grambling...

We reconnect with HBCU family and trace how pandemic “screen friends” turned into real-world partnerships that keep serving students. We celebrate second acts, then dig into a new grassroots film project that protects Black stories, funds production the right way, and aims for real social impact.  • HBCU advocacy as year round work and community responsibility  • The Dayton HBCU send-off event gro...

College changes fast when you actually arrive, and it changes home even faster. We’re on day two of our parent interviews with students who are just weeks into their first semester, already juggling big goals, campus culture, and the pressure to make the right moves early. From Morgan State University to St. Philip’s College and Tuskegee University, we hear what the college transition feels like i...

A student lands on campus and immediately starts building momentum and the rest of us have to ask: is that talent, training, or pure persistence? We’re in the “final countdown” for the Takisha A. Davis Scholarship, and the spotlight turns to a finalist who just arrived at Morgan State University and is already moving like she has a plan she refuses to abandon. We talk through what she’s studying a...

We hit the “go live” button and immediately learned why we don’t do it often: tech issues, surprise guests, and a chat that turns into a full-on talent show. The challenge is simple and chaotic on purpose. Join us on camera to sing the “A Different World” theme, or jump into Kahoot for a rapid trivia run that mixes Hillman College facts with real HBCU history.  Between laughs, we keep the mission...

Change is usually loud, inconvenient, and badly timed and it still might be the best thing that ever happens to your work. We talk with Dr. Monique Robinson about embracing change with courage and learning to treat disruption as fertile ground for growth, especially for Black women entrepreneurs and educators carrying big visions and real responsibilities. Along the way, we pause for a simple grou...

Fifty thousand people, a full day at the Texas State Fair, and two marching bands ready to take halftime personally. We sit down with Leon Fry to map out a culture-packed HBCU weekend built around the State Fair Classic in Dallas, Texas, featuring Prairie View A&M vs Grambling State University, plus a bus trip option that makes it easier to roll out from San Antonio and nearby cities. If you’v...

School ends, but life doesn’t and for many young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, that moment can feel like the supports vanish overnight. We’re back with big September updates, and then we get personal with Kiva Nalls and Tommy Nalls, the husband-and-wife team behind David’s Way, a new nonprofit focused on empowering young adults with intellectual and developmental delays...

A surprise package hits the mailbox and suddenly the show turns into something you can’t script: real gratitude, real emotion, and a reminder that the people from your past can show up right on time. I’m Monique Robinson, and I’m sharing important updates for A Better Chance for Youth, including the wins, the growing pains, and the community partnerships that keep our scholars moving forward.    W...

A deposit deadline gets missed, plans fall apart, and the “perfect” timeline disappears. That moment could have ended Nasir Mohammed’s Morehouse dream, but it becomes the start of something better: a gap year built on accountability, discipline, and a clear decision to keep moving when the finish line shifts. We talk with Nasir, a Chicago-area student heading to Morehouse College, about why choosi...

Belonging can change everything, and Corynn Keck has been chasing that feeling since she was eight years old, when she was new to Charlotte and was swept into a sense of community by the Carolina Panthers' Super Bowl excitement. Now, she's headed to Howard University to pursue  a career in sports management. She's not just dreaming about game day—she wants to be part of the team beh...

Missing a goal by 0.1 can mess with your confidence or it can change your life. We sit down with scholarship contestant Nicholas Boone from Bowie, Maryland, who’s headed to Morgan State University to major in civil engineering, and he brings a story that hits hard for students, parents, and educators alike. His essay starts with a simple truth: progress doesn’t move in a straight line, and the fin...

A teenager goes from years of homelessness to working hands-on in STEM labs and aircraft hangars, and she can explain every step that got her there. We sit down with Donna Lee Dawes from Point and Beach, Florida, a standout in the Takisha A. Davis Scholarship Stipend contest, as she shares the story behind her decision to attend Morgan State University and major in coastal science and policy with...

We welcome two powerful student voices for day two of the Takisha A. Davis Scholarship Stipend essay reading and hear how they turn family, faith, and discipline into real college plans. We also share ways to support HBCU-bound scholars through voting, donations, and the upcoming South Texas HBCU Summer Send-Off.  • day two format for the scholarship essay reading and why the competition feels tou...

Scholarship season is here, and we’re kicking off the Takeisha A. Davis Annual Competition with three unforgettable voices and three very different reasons for choosing an HBCU. What starts with quick announcements about our HBCU summer send-off celebration and ways to support college-bound students turns into something deeper: a front-row seat to how young scholars think about belonging, purpose,...

You can feel it when a city decides to stop “talking about” Black excellence and actually programs it. We’re counting down to HBCU weekend in San Antonio, and we’re doing things differently this year with a real run-of-show that centers culture, family, and students not just a room full of tables. If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to make an HBCU celebration feel meaningful, organized, and ali...

Graduation season brings a lot of applause, but I want to talk about what happens after the caps come off. I share a message I originally delivered as a school speech, built around one idea that changed how I see education, success, and purpose: graduation is only a concept, and in real life we graduate every single day. If you’ve ever questioned whether you’re enough, worried your dreams are too...

A birthday show can be more than candles and dinner plans. I’m celebrating the whole month, but I’m also turning that celebration into support for A Better Chance for Youth Incorporated because it’s crunch time and our students need us. If you’ve ever wanted a practical way to invest in youth mentoring, college access, and real outcomes for college-bound seniors, this conversation lays out exactly...

You can feel HBCU pride when it’s real and Alfonso Scott brings the real. After a quick run of community updates and award-season reminders, we sit down with Alfonso to trace his path from Dayton, Ohio to Miles College in Birmingham, Alabama, including the culture shock that nearly sent him back home. What changed was the thing HBCUs do better than almost anywhere: community. He talks candidly abo...

We map the moments when the road gets heavy and the answer is not more toughness, but more brotherhood. We break down a simple way to build real support through mentors, peers, and the people we pour into, then challenge ourselves to connect on purpose.  • redefining brotherhood as accountability and vulnerability  • why healing happens in community not isolation  • the Paul Barnabas Timothy model...

You can feel when something is built for the long haul, not for a headline. That’s the energy behind my conversation with Quincy and Mario, two former HBCU athletes who turn a years-long friendship into a community mission: bringing the Urban League’s work to San Antonio and creating the HBCU Live Experience to open doors for students, families, and student-athletes. We get personal about the HBCU...

The sports dream is loud, but the life plan is usually quiet, until the last buzzer makes it impossible to ignore. We sit down with Chelsea McKee, founder of the nonprofit Life Beyond The Game and a proud Savannah State University graduate, to talk about what student athletes really need to thrive in school, in sports, and long after the season ends.  Chelsea breaks down the gaps she saw firsthand...