Tuition-free Newark Boys Chorus School at risk of shutting down due to lack of funds
NEWARK, New Jersey (WABC) -- Another private school is at risk of shutting down because of the pandemic.
The Newark Boys Chorus School (NBCS) has been instructing boys in third through eighth grade for over 50 years.
According to their GoFundMe page, NBCS's mission is to develop students through academic and musical training.
"It's a full private independent day school that focuses on black and brown boys in the United States," said Mary Bentley-LaMar of NBCS. "The only one of its kind there I see in the world."
The school is tuition free and relies on fundraisers. They usually raise about $400,000 each year, but the last three years the fundraisers were cancelled due to the pandemic.
NCBS is down more than half of their annual fundraising goal.
Alumni say that for them, their school was a launching pad.
"To create strong Black and brown men that leave this school, so I've got plenty of friends that are in this school that are now lawyers, officers, heads of corporations," said William Simpson, an NBCS alum.
Not only does the school teach its students to be proud of their city, but it also shows them the world.
"The trips and our classmates are the best part of this," said David Gunwa, a student at NBCS. "We go on a lot of trips."
The students have performed at the World Trade Center and Carnegie.
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