ABOUT | My Blog

HISTORY

In 2016, the founders of Omaha / Council Bluffs Bridges Out of Poverty, began studying theissues surrounding poverty and discovered 100,000 individuals in metro Omaha live in poverty.
“With the resources available in our community, we decided 100,000 people living in poverty in our community is completely unacceptable!”

Despite trillions of dollars of government funding we have been ineffective as a country in

reducing poverty. Our founders decided to look at the whole problem and approached the
problem from the top down, assessing what it would take for Omaha to essentially defeat
poverty.

We know the size of the issue-100,000 under-resourced individuals
We needed a proven solution – Bridges Out of Poverty and the Getting Ahead curriculum are used in 300 U.S. communities and are 75% successful in helping individuals lift themselves out of poverty.
We studied what others are doing to address poverty in our community and approached the issue from a collaborative perspective. We now have more than 100 Community Partner organizations and agencies working together to defeat poverty in our community.

In the next decade, our goal is to help 25,000 working age adults lift themselves out fo poverty.

WHY IS BRIDGES THE MOST EFFECTIVE POVERTY REDUCING PROGRAM?

It is holistic
It empowers the individual

IS IT WORKING?

1. 93% graduation rate
2. 400 graduates by end of 2019
3. 400 to 600 more graduates in 2020
4. The average graduate has increased net income by nearly $1,500 per month (Average decrease in debt to income ratio of 58%)
5. Positive movement in all areas of 15 factor Stability Scale