Bridge to Success Program: Making a Difference

Bridge to Success (BTS) is approaching its 10-year mark assisting graduates of Women’s Empowerment’s (WE) nine-week program focused on job readiness, support, and health. Grants are made to cover one-time expenses that prevent an applicant from securing safe housing, job training, education, or employment. This year, BTS expanded to include grants made to women who are being served by an Oak Park–based program, Community Against Sexual Harm (CASH), that provides comprehensive services to survivors of commercial sexual exploitation.

BTS provided 11 grants to women who have completed the WE program and 2 grants to CASH program participants, totaling almost $12,000 in grants. Most of these grants were for past-due rent or utility bills, or car registration, repair, or oil changes. Grants were also made for employment certification fees, the purchase of a laptop, and clearing community college debt to continue with education. Four of the WE recipients were in WE’s Trellis Garden transitional housing program.

Grants for the 2024-25 fiscal year were provided through the generous donation of $5,000 from the NCJW Sacramento board and individual contributions, also totaling approximately $5,000, made to NCJW and targeted to the BTS program. BTS is a great example of pairing our section’s advocacy work around homelessness with concrete investments to help move homeless women into stable and self-sufficient environments.

Please consider making your tributes and year-end donations to BTS so we can continue and grow this effort over the next ten years! Click here to learn more about the BTS program and how you can make a donation today.