The Bridge Scholarship Program is Here For Good
The Bridge is Formed
The Bridge started a couple years ago, and it was kind of an accident. A good friend of ours teaches ESL classes in Fort Collins, Colorado and she had shared with us about the challenges that her first-generation students faced coming to America. And she and her co-teachers gave the students a writing assignment. And it was what if a sponsor or donor was going to give you money to help you meet your goals. We ended up giving out 10 scholarships, this was before The Bridge existed, ranging from about a few hundred to about 1500 dollars. After that initial experience, we were just so excited about it and how well it worked that we formed The Bridge as a nonprofit. We want to partner with organizations. So, I had the opportunity to visit with Jeff Jones and tell him the story about how we formed The Bridge and he suggested that I connect with Julissa at the Family Center. And so right away it was clear to me that there was opportunity for a partnership there. It started with that initial essay contest and we’ve molded that into asking each applicant to give us an essay not just describing what their request is but just telling their story, how they came to the U.S., and what their goals are. We want The Bridge to be a value-added, not meeting temporary needs, but we are helping people with permanent life goals.
Jay volk is part of a nonprofit called The Bridge. He invited
Chase Oaks Family Center students to write an essay on how they would use a scholarship to improve their lives. Four students have received scholarships, ranging from $1,000 to $1,500. The Bridge also granted the Family Center a $5,000 gift.
A Direct Impact
“The scholarship impacted my life to motivate myself to work on my dreams.” – Laura Todrique
“I am studying for a CPA and the challenge to get the license CPA costs so much. I have never imagined that I’d have a scholarship so helpful.” -- Soari Tanoue
“When my teacher told me that I was like oh my gosh, really? So, I was very happy because that’s for my daughter. This scholarship impacted my daughter’s life in a special way because now she’s learning that people care about people. It doesn’t matter what you’re doing, there’s people working for you and there are people helping you. Every day we say thank you God, thank you for your help.” – Henry Carces
Looking Forward
We would love to see the partnership continue with Chase Oaks every year and we would love to see it grow numerically in terms of the number of people we’re able to support and connect with.