About BRIDGES:
The mission of BRIDGES is to unite and inspire diverse youth to become confident and courageous leaders committed to community transformation. We work towards this mission by intentionally recruiting diverse middle and high school age youth from every school and zip code across the Greater Memphis Metropolitan area to participate in our program called Bridge Builders. The youth go through rigorous and adventurous leadership training, engage in courageous conversations on a range of topics, and get busy doing community action projects to strengthen communities, address systemic inequality, and serve their fellow humans. Though the Bridge Builders program began in 1988 with just 40 students from two schools, today more than 1100 youth participate in our year-round program, and Bridge Builders staff engage up to 5000 youth annually in youth leadership development.
BRIDGES core values include a commitment to youth and adult equity: the understanding that youth as well as adults have the power and insight to build a stronger community and devise and implement solutions to problems. We are committed to experiential learning: deep learning occurs through experience and reflection. BRIDGES is an inclusive environment where every youth, adult and staff member feels warmly welcomed, regardless of their identity, experience or circumstance. Finally, BRIDGES is committed to learning and evolving. Our work has evolved over time, just as the world evolves and each participant evolves throughout their own leadership journey.
The Jim Boyd BRIDGES Center, located in the Greenlaw/Uptown neighborhood just north of downtown Memphis, was completed in 2004. It was the first commercial green building completed in the Mid-South. Designed by legendary architect Coleman Coker, the facade of the building looks like a bridge while the interior features unusual material applications, strange angles and the use of green spaces to create a conversation between the harsh lines and gray of steel and concrete and the natural world. The building is also uniquely designed to stimulate and energize developing brains and features an indoor climbing wall and high ropes course.
