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WHAT IS BRIDGE?
Mission
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Bridge Over Troubled Waters’ mission is to enable high-risk, runaway and homeless youth to achieve a healthy and productive adulthood through prevention, intervention, and education services. Serving 5,000 youth ages 14 – 24 each year, Bridge offers a comprehensive range of health, educational, career and housing services. Bridge is the only agency in the Boston area to provide a continuum of age-appropriate services.
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History
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 Nearly 40 years ago, Sister Barbara Whelan led a concerned group of community leaders, social workers, and medical volunteers to create a bridge between depressed and abused youth and services that could help them. It soon became apparent that truly making an impact on the lives of these vulnerable youth required intervention on multiple levels that could be sustained over time.
To respond to this need, the newly created “Bridge Over Troubled Waters” developed a multi-service approach, which has expanded over the years to fill in service gaps and create a continuum of care for homeless, runaway and high-risk youth.
During the 1970’s, Bridge’s core programs – Street Outreach, Free Medical Van, Runaway Services, and Substance Abuse Counseling – expanded to include a Free Dental Clinic and a GED program. In 1982, Bridge opened one of the first federally-funded |
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Transitional Living Programs (TLP), offering stability and life-skills training to youth who could not return home. The Single Parent House (SPH) opened in 1989 as a separate residence for young women and their children. At the same time, Bridge added Cooperative Apartments for graduates of TLP and SPH, who are offered an additional two years of affordable housing as they complete school, begin their careers, and achieve independence.
During the 1990s, Bridge responded to a far more complex population by improving staff training to identify and respond to youth with severe emotional and developmental disabilities. An in-house Medical Clinic opened which offers HIV education and health counseling. The GED program evolved into a comprehensive Education and Career Development Program.
Much has changed since the days when Bridge was founded. We continue to grow and adapt our programming to reflect the changing needs of the youth we serve. |
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