Bridges Out of Poverty
The Bridges Out of Poverty model first came to the South Bend/ Michiana area in 2004 through the Center for Women's InterCultural Leadership (CWIL) at Saint Mary’s College and its Women in Leadership in Community Organizations (WiLCO) program, which involved women leaders from six agencies. They were looking for innovative solutions to move women out of the cycle of poverty, and since then have offered the critical support to launch Bridges community-wide. CWIL has continued to provide coordination of the effort to date, and is working on connecting student learning and faculty research to the project. In his 2007 State of the City address, South Bend Mayor Stephen Luecke announced that Bridges Out of Poverty will be one of his five goals for the year, and in April he brought 50 key community leaders together to develop the resources to sustain this work in our community.
Now, the St. Joseph County Bridges Out of Poverty Initiative is a 501 (c) (3) that involves 30 members, including many organizations from social service, education, business and government, working to create a strategy for change. The mission statement reads:
Using Bridges Out of Poverty as a framework, transform St. Joseph County into a sustainable community in which individuals move from generational poverty to self-sufficiency, enhancing the quality of life for everyone and creating a model for other communities.
One of the important but less discernable outcomes of this effort is greater collaboration between agencies. The major partners are YWCA of St. Joseph County, Saint Margaret’s House, Hope Ministries, Saint Mary’s College, Ivy Tech Community College, Goodwill, Salvation Army, Memorial Hospital, St. Joseph Medical Center, South Bend School Corporation, Notre Dame, South Bend Heritage Foundation, Dismas House, Wells Fargo, New Energy Corporation, United Way of St. Joseph County, Home Management Resources, MFB, Center for the Homeless, Work Force Investment Board, Real Services, South Bend Housing Authority, and the City of South Bend.
Using the Bridges Out of Poverty model, become a catalyst to transform St. Joseph County into a sustainable community in which we move individuals from generational poverty to self-sufficiency. In so doing, we enhance the quality of life for everyone in our community and become a model for other communities facing similar pervasive issues.
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