Children's health, social servies and education.

Sidewall & attic insulation, lower energy bills.

After school and summer programs for children K-12.

Winter fuel oil and utility heating bills assistance.

Eviction & foreclosure help, rent, other services.

Employment services, asset development, computer training, community service.

Total Learning Expands

"Same, same, same, different."

In 14 kindergarten classrooms this fall,
students are chanting the phrase as they
clap and snap their fingers to a beat.

"There is a high correlation between
keepinga steady beat and being able to read,"
whispered Mary Beth Stickley, the district's
director of earlychildhood education, while
watching a Cesar A. Batallla school classroom.

In a nearby 1st grade --- one of two 1st grades
this year using the "Total Learning" approach - an echo
is heard, driving home the "th"sound to 1st graders.

"Beth, Beth, Beth, Beth. Thin, thin, thin, thin," the class shouts
as they rhythmically pat their knees and tap the floor, a pattern suggested by the 6-year olds who suggested the "th" words they would repeat. Read more...

By Linda Conner Lambeck, Printed with permission from The Connecticut Post.


Visit the Bridgeport Total Learning Initiative website.

ABCD, Inc. 1070 Park Avenue, Bridgeport, CT 06604 Phone: (203) 366-8241 Fax: (203) 394-6175
Charles Tisdale, Executive Director

Action for Bridgeport Community Development Inc. (ABCD), a 501 (c) (3) non-profit agency was designed as the anti-poverty agency for the Greater Bridgeport Area in September of 1964 by the Office of Economic Opportunity. The agency aims to work with people toward the eradication of the "paradox of poverty in the midst of plenty in this nation." ABCD presently servers over 35,000 individuals annually through its broad range of services in a six-town area, covering Bridgeport, Easton, Fairfield, Monroe, Stratford, and Trumbull, Connecticut.

ABCD is distinguished from other corporations in two important ways. First, ABCD's sole mandate is to assist the poor. Second, ABCD concentrates its efforts and resources on identifying and eliminating the causes of poverty rather than only dealing with its effects. ABCD's efforts are directed towards promoting appropriate institutional change and enabling the poor to become self-sufficient.