History of A Better World
A Better World Community Development Corporation (“ABWCDC”), a 501(c)3 nonprofit, was founded in 2017 in Brooklyn, NY by Emmanuel Baptist Church.
Several years ago, A Better World Community Development Corporation (ABW) was birthed in the head and heart of Rev. Anthony L. Trufant, who has been the Senior Pastor of the Emmanuel Baptist Church of Brooklyn (EBC) since November 1990. He has evidenced a passion for stabilizing, empowering, and transforming Black families. He inspired, motivated, and led EBC to develop intergenerational programming, catalyzing Black families to become more self-reliant and dynamic.
Examples of these programs have included, but have not been limited to: the formation of Prime Time, a full-scale older adult ministry; Exiting Egypt, an experience which exposes and equips families to resources enabling them to navigate matters of financial literacy, purchasing homes, and elder care; partnering with Women Grow on hosting the Business of Cannabis, the first church-based conversation designed to invite interested parties to learn about and get involved in exploring economic and employment opportunities in the emerging business of legalized cannabis; and establishing one of the first Church-Based HIV/AIDS ministries, which was created to normalize conversations about the crisis which yet adversely impacts sizable swaths of the Black community in Brooklyn. Moreover, EBC has always sought to do community development, locally and globally. Working towards this goal, one of international projects that EBC has initiated is in community development work in the Winterveld community in South Africa, one of the poorest and most overlooked areas in the country. EBC has partnered with the current SA residents to purchase twenty-five acres of land that houses a daycare program for over sixty children.
In 2015, Rev. Trufant resolved to place much of the above programming under the banner of ABW. He did so intending to build an even greater capacity to help Black families survive and thrive. He reasoned this could be achieved by establishing another legal entity eligible to receive funding from the private and public sectors. He was joined in this effort by an intergenerational, multi-gendered, committed, and skillful nucleus of board members who possessed the range of skills and crucial community connections. All of this, according to members of the board, are essential to the sustainability, innovation, and productivity of ABW. Ultimately, the above elements position EBC to help Black families at home and abroad for some time to come.