An Overview of Bridging Bridges
In 1993 the GBMCAA, partnering with the Concerned Black Men of Massachusetts (CBMM), created an initiative to improve the condition of over 400 African American young men (ages 7 to 17) in Greater Boston. The initiative called "Bridging Bridges" establishes a collaborative network of existing outreach efforts in an attempt to reduce the isolation and duplication characteristics of such programs.
The core member organizations have included the Paul Robeson Institute, Boys To Men, First Academy, Judge John J. Connelly Detention (DYS), Gang Peace, Boston Street Workers Program, Big Brothers Association and Christian Soldiers. Each of these agencies is regarded as bridges in and to the most troubled and promising of the communities comprising and surrounding Boston. By bringing them together, we are "bridging the bridges".
Bridging Bridges aim to stimulate membership growth, program innovation, unprecedented collaboration and a heightened effectiveness among outreach organizations in Boston and Cambridge, particularly those addressing the needs of African American males. The programmatic objective is two-fold: 1) to create a new learning environment for member organizations and 2) to arrange learning opportunities that emphasize both the necessity of legitimate means to economic development and the satisfaction of belief in oneself.
Our objectives are pursued in the following format:
Monthly Leadership Forums: One Saturday each month, members of the different outreach organizations convene and Roxbury Community College to focus on topics that are relevant to their collective task of enhancing the life chances of over 400 young African American men. The forum represents a new learning environment and a cooperative approach to education.
Leadership Fellows: At each Forum, learning activities feature a leadership fellow who shares their experience in the profession of business and industry, civic and community service, education, medicine, music, sports and theology. Past fellows have included Dr. Hubie Jones, Dr. Spencer Holland, Top Gun Pilot Drew Brown, Dr. Tony Browder, Dr. Ivan Van Sertima and rappers KRS-ONE and Chuck D. All have helped to foster visions of a brighter future by rebuilding the community and inspiring hope.
Learning Tracks: A group from an outreach organization collaborates with at least one other group from another outreach organization on field trips and retreats at colleges, corporations, museums, prisons, sporting events and other sites offering a learning experience.
Our focus on Boston's most promising and troubled communities, organizations and youth in crisis represents what we feel is s a strong strategic link within and beyond Boston's philanthropic community. In fact, we are looking forward to their landmark "initiative in collaboration" becoming a model for other urban environments across the nations. That is what the W.K. Kellogg Foundation had in mind in providing our initial funding and that is what we have in mind in our attempts to make a meaningful and measurable difference that is commensurate with the scale of the issues. We trust that interested and capable parties will partner with us.