| 10 | 16 | | |
|---|
| 11 | 17 | | |
|---|
| 12 | 18 | | |
|---|
| 13 | 19 | | WHEREAS, for 37 years, Bonnie B. Sutton has worked for the ACCESS College Foundation, an organization founded in 1987 to help eliminate barriers to postsecondary education for underrepresented and low- to moderate-income high school students; and |
|---|
| 14 | 20 | | |
|---|
| 15 | 21 | | WHEREAS, Bonnie Sutton has served the ACCESS College Foundation as executive assistant from 1988 to 1994, program coordinator from 1994 to 2000, and executive director and chief executive officer from 2000 to 2025; and |
|---|
| 16 | 22 | | |
|---|
| 17 | 23 | | WHEREAS, Bonnie Sutton expanded the ACCESS service footprint beyond Norfolk to include Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Virginia Beach, and Northampton County, growing the number of high schools served from 10 to 30 under her leadership; and |
|---|
| 18 | 24 | | |
|---|
| 19 | 25 | | WHEREAS, Bonnie Sutton established the ACCESS continuum of service by adding 28 middle schools and 14 college and career success programs to the high school program, and has successfully led many annual and endowment campaigns to provide annual operating revenues for a budget of $6.5 million and an endowment of more than $75 million; and |
|---|
| 20 | 26 | | |
|---|
| 21 | 27 | | WHEREAS, Bonnie Sutton has expanded the ACCESS program from serving 307 students in its first year to serving more than 23,000 students in 2025, resulting in the support of 85,000 public school students enrolling in college, the acquisition of $871 million in financial aid for these students, and total awards of $16 million in ACCESS Last-Dollar Scholarships; and |
|---|
| 22 | 28 | | |
|---|
| 23 | 29 | | WHEREAS, Bonnie Sutton has helped ACCESS change the landscape of educational access for the students and communities that the foundation serves by advocating for better laws, support, and programming at the state and federal levels; and |
|---|
| 24 | 30 | | |
|---|
| 25 | 31 | | WHEREAS, with Bonnie Sutton's guidance, the ACCESS College Foundation has remained a longtime member of the National College Attainment Network, a nonprofit organization that shares best practices and works to spread college access and success services nationwide; now, therefore, be it |
|---|
| 26 | 32 | | |
|---|
| 27 | 33 | | RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, That Bonnie B. Sutton hereby be commended for her dedication to the students of Coastal Virginia; and, be it |
|---|
| 28 | 34 | | |
|---|
| 29 | 35 | | RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to Bonnie B. Sutton as an expression of the House of Delegates' gratitude for her 37 years of dedication to the citizens of the Commonwealth. |
|---|