Dear Friends,
Mission: Bridges connects
the housed and homeless
to establish relationships that
lead to greater acceptance
and understanding, social
and economic growth,
and wellbeing.
Vision: The elimination of
the social and economic
divides between the housed
and the homeless.
This has been a banner year for Bridges!
We expanded our reach to 226 Runs (street outreach visits), a
record high in our 28-year history. We experienced growth in
all of our initiatives, with the ultimate goal of uniting the housed
and homeless in community in New York City, Newark, Irvington
and Summit.
Each week Bridges’ volunteers and staff bring food, necessities,
and friendship to the homeless people we meet. This year,
those necessities amounted to more than 19,000 new seasonal
items, including gloves, thermal underwear, boots, coats, jeans,
hooded sweatshirts, and hand, foot and body warmers. We also
handed out more than 62,000 brown bag meals.
We continue to improve our Runs to ensure that our volunteers
and street friends benefit from their time together. We have
studied logistics and feedback so that everyone involved
gets what they need during the Runs, while deepening our
connections across the socio-economic divide. And we are
happy to share that for the past 28 years, we have never missed
a Friday night with our street friends in New York City.
In its second year, Bridges’ Project Connect continued to be a
beacon of hope and support in Newark. Our case managers
work with individuals and families toward ending chronic
homelessness. We help people in need receive benefits,
medical and social services and work with them to find housing
and employment. In 2015-2016 Bridges’ dedicated support and
guidance enabled 1,292 people to secure government I.D.s. We
helped 20 people find jobs, and 45 people, including through
our partner, Soldier On, attain permanent housing.
With our Runs and Project Connect reaching new heights, our
board seeks to grow our operations and implement strategies
that will enable Bridges to have even greater impact. This year’s
strategic plan refocused our vision on three elements of our
organization: optimize Runs, extend the continuum of support
at Project Connect to include jobs and housing, and secure
Bridges’ future with dynamic planning and development.
We could not have made it this far without you. We cherish your
support as we continue to grow.
Thank you for supporting Bridges.
Best Regards,,
Amanda Parrish Block
Board Chair