October 21, 2023 • 18 mins
November is National Homeless Youth Awareness Month, and here in Massachusetts, for many different reasons, thousands of young people are struggling to find shelter each and every night. Bridge Over Troubled Waters is working hard to connect with these young people and lend them a helping hand in hopes of helping them process, recover, and go on to thrive. President and CEO Elisabeth Jackson talks with Nichole about their efforts and their upcoming fundraising gala.
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(00:07):
From WBZ News Radio in Boston.This is New England Weekend. Each week
we come together and talk about allthe topics important to you and the place
where you live. So good tobe back with you again this week.
As always, I'm Nicole Davis.As we make our way toward the colder
months, it can be hard tothink about young people not having proper shelter,
but here in Massachusetts, each year, thousands of young people under twenty
(00:29):
five, for all kinds of differentreasons find themselves having to leave home.
Instead, they take their chances CouchSurfing, on the road, or even worse,
on the streets. Now in BostonBridge over troubled waters, it is
working hard to lend a helping handand try to get these kids back on
track and in a healthier space.November is National Homeless Youth Awareness Months,
(00:49):
so what better time to talk abouttheir work. CEO Elizabeth Jackson on the
show with us now, thank youso much for taking the time to come
on the show. Firstly, let'sget an overview of what you do for
young people who happen to find themselveshomeless. Bridge Overtova Water is a multi
service youth agency that works with homelessrunaway youth ages fourteen to twenty four.
(01:11):
I always say with a University ofLife Skills for Kids, we're constantly doing.
Bridge offers a continuum of different servicesfor young people, anything from behavioral
health therapy, education and career development, transitional day program, street overach,
and a mobile medical van. Wehave temporary housing which includes emergency residents,
(01:36):
transitional living program, and a singleparent house as well. We always say,
like I said, the University ofLife Skills for Kids, we're constantly
providing young people. About eighty percentof the young people we serve our ages
sixteen to twenty one, that providesservices and trying to get them to the
path of stability. How many kidsin the Boston area are homeless at this
(01:57):
point, because I'm sure the numberis the numbers should be zero. But
what are we looking at here?Well, Bridge is about two thousand young
people a year. That's how wesee here. Now the number ranges for
in Boston or in Massachusetts. TheNational Homeless Ye Awareness Month is in November,
and it's important to bring awareness tothis problem because there's an estimated of
(02:22):
over eleven thousand youth and young adultsin the Boston area ages fourteen to twenty
five experience and homelessness each year.Oh my god, God, wow,
what are the factors that lead toyoung people being homeless? What is forcing
these children out on the street?Hey man, it's different factors that young
(02:43):
people find the streets safer for theunfortunately, but at Bridge we see young
people there. Eighty two percent ofour young people bypower, twenty percent identify
LGBTQ. Between seventy or eighty percentof the Bridge each year have some type
of trauma. So forty nine percentof our youth that we serve have been
(03:06):
in a physical fight, seventy onepercent experienced child abuse. So it's different
family economics, conversations at home thatare not working out poverty. There's every
child comes in with a different story, walks in the door with a lot
of pain, and our goal isto make sure we work with that pain
(03:27):
and that trauma to provide stability forthem. And so many of these young
people too, I mean many ofthem are still going to school, going
to college or high school. They'reworking jobs. I mean, they're trying
their best to lift themselves out ofthis, but there's always those factors that
keep them pushed down and keep themon the streets. Unfortunately. Yeah,
the society has this view or inMassachusetts is a right to shelter state.
(03:53):
As you aware, So young peopletry to provoget as many services that they
can assumption that when they turn eighteenthat they know everything. It's really old
school thinking about or the age thesociety is different nowadays that are eighteen,
you still need support and young peopleat Bridge thirteen percent of the young people
(04:16):
are still in high school that cometo Bridge, and so they're still young.
And we have young people in collegethat still are in school trying to
get themselves to school and learning thelife skills that are very important that you
know, if the parents or thefamily members are not around to teach them,
then who's going to teach them?Who's going to teach them? How
(04:36):
to dance the checkbook, how toself address the stain of how to you
know, wash clothes, how toclean, all those basic skills that a
young person needs. But then theyalso are dealing with housing and security and
food and security. So it's adouble whemy when they when their brain is
still developing. Well, I wasgoing to say, and that would be
(04:56):
traumatic for even an adult, butthen you have this happening to a you
young person who, as you mentioned, the brain is still developing, but
their bodies are still developing, andtheir sense of self is still developing as
well. So it's really just thatmuch more impactful when they're forced into these
positions. And you're correct, andthis is why this age range is very
(05:16):
important to us, and this iswhy we want to bring awareness to this
population now out there so people canunderstand that, well, you know,
one in ten youth is homeless.So think about a basketball team, think
about your child's soccer team, thinkabout your you know, a classroom setting
that there is a child or thereis a young adult really struggling to get
(05:39):
somewhere to eat the football team,you know, And how do we make
sure that these young people have accessand that we provide the services because it's
scary. It's scary there, it'sscary for an adult like you mentioned,
but also for young persons development toask that question, I need help,
and they're really still developed and notknowing what type of help they need.
So let's talk about the services thenthat you have, because you mentioned a
(06:00):
few of them in the beginning ofthe interview, but let's talk about first
and foremost the transitional program. You'vegot the day program. What sort of
what services during the program during theday do you offer these kids who come
in for the help. So duringthe day, the transitional day program I
kind of like your living room athome. Right when you come in,
you put your shoes away, takea shower, get something to eat,
(06:21):
hang now, get on the computerand figure out what you're going to do
next. That's literally our day programwhere young people come in and out at
different times. They have breakfast,they have lunch, they have snacks,
they can take a shower, goback to work, take a shower,
go back to school, do theirhomework, look for jobs, look for
an apartment, just hang out,charge their phone. So it's the day
(06:45):
program that I call it like yourliving room. We also have a transitional
living program which our young people canlive with us in all of our housing
stock. We can have a youngperson live with us for over four years.
So if they come with us,I start with us sicking. By
the time they're twenty, we've beenable to they hours, they have babies,
We've been able to teach them alllife skills or information to get them
(07:08):
back into school or trade school orso forth. We have an emergency residence
that we are able to first come, first serve, and welcome the center
as welfare at nighttime, where ifpeople find themselves that they have nowhere to
go and they don't want to goto an adult shelter, they're welcome to
come here, and we provide againa stable situation, a warm place,
(07:30):
a blanket, some food. Foodis very important when you're dealing with teenagers,
and they're like good food. Sowe always have food in places,
some warm clothes, in a nicewarm shower that then we can start working
on any trauma that they might experienceor how to get to the path of
security, because we have a behavioralhealth team and we understand for any one
of us, we don't want tosit out there in the cold. I
(07:50):
know if I was sitting out therein the cold, I will be definitely
very drunk or very high because Idon't hate the cold. Right, So
for us to be talking about seventeenor eighteen or nineteen year old saying,
oh, they're just drug users orsubstance abuse users, and they're young enough
and they're numbing themselves, and that'sa problem. We need to see that
and provide a safety net for them, a safe environment for them so they
(08:13):
can deal with that. For anyyoung person, they need a safe place
for them to deal with whatever substancethey're taking. And behavioral health specialists in
our licensed social workers and counselors suchas abuse counselors work with our young people
with that and talk about harm reduction. If you're drinking ten beers a day,
can we get down to five beers? Can we get down to three?
What is triggering you? Between seventyor eighty percent of the Bridge youth
(08:37):
each year our sess with trauma andexperiencing PTSD, so we have to you
know, forty percent of them havebeen robbed in the streets, sixty eight
percent of them have been threatened,forty nine almost fifty percent witness domestic violence,
so they have things to deal withand trying to get an apartment at
the same time, and all thoseservices are under one real Feir Bridge.
(09:00):
Yeah, that's a lot to offer, and you know, I'm really glad
that you're focusing on that mental healthside of it, because if your trauma
is not addressed, and the traumais just impacted being on the streets night
after night after night. I mean, the cycle is never going to stop.
So it's great that not only doyou have the physical facilities to help
these kids and also you know thesingle parent house and this and that,
(09:20):
but you're also working with them holistically, through and through. Yes, the
whole child is very important to us. Again, they're young, right,
and that's why it's very important forus to let people know. For November's
National Homeless Awareness buff But this year, Bridge is launching a city wide ad
campaign called What I Say and WhatI Mean, where ads will be shown
(09:43):
in real statements from our Bridge youthabout the ways that they try to hide
their homelessness. So for example,they may say I think I need to
go to the ear, but whatthey really mean is it's a safe place
to them to spend the night.The statement shows that it hit in the
side of youth homelessness that we're hopingit inspires people to log on to our
(10:05):
website and learn more that there areyoung people right in front of us and
we're not even sure and their statementssay a lot and just following up on
those are very important. And allthese services they cost money like everything else,
and Unfortunately these days it probably costsa lot more than it used to
because of inflation and everything else goingon. So you have a big fundraiser
(10:26):
coming up, your annual gala andauctions, So tell us more about what's
happening there. Yes, annual galaand actually will take place on November third,
where we will be honoring me HowChamberlain, President of Bank of America
Massachusetts. Bank of America has beena strong supporting partner of Bridge and Mihow
has really championed the young people weserve here and how we serve them.
(10:46):
We're so grateful to have such adistinguished honoree and to have our wonderful Guilline
Culture and Finukan Josh kraft I andBob Reynolds. We're hoping to raise one
point five million dollars to this isreally important event for Bridge. So to
learn more about our gala, includingsponsorship information, you can visit us our
(11:07):
website at Bridge ootw dot org slashGala and it really is a fundraising for
our young people the foundation to givethem oving and keep the programs going,
especially during the holidays where everybody elseis trying to celebrate goes back home,
coming back home from college and havingThanksgiving dinner and so forth, those very
traumatizing times. Here Bridge, wework twice as much during the holidays to
(11:31):
make sure that we're having Thanksgiving dinnertwo or three days, that we're having
gifts for our young people that they'reable to unwrap, that we're really having
that experience is here for them sothey don't feel alone, yeah, and
reminding them what it's like to bea kid at the holidays, you know,
because you meet those little reminders thatyes, even though you're in this
position, you still deserve to havejoy in your life and to have some
(11:54):
sort of normalcy, even if it'sjust for a short time, and correct
the a short time of homelessness.We can make it short. It doesn't
have to be for the rest oftheir lives. There's a situation they're going
through now, but we have soBridge has been around almost fifty three years
and the success prey keeps us going. We see a lot of pain walking
through that door, but we alsosee a lot of smiles when they leave.
(12:16):
We see young people, you know, graduating bu and you know,
third year at Northeastern. We havedoctors in our roster. We have nurses,
we have firefighters in our roster.We have licensed social workers that have
come through us teachers and so thisis a time in their life that's not
the rest of their life, andwe can support them to here to get
(12:37):
them through. We have really youngpeople and amazing young adults and amazing adults
having their own families. That's whatwe want to create. And it is
expensive during this time because young peopleeat a lot, and it takes a
lot to be able to focus andmaintain with them, and they're not easy
to work with, and they don'ttrust many adults. But they deserve prom
they deserve to pick a college thatthey want to go to, they deserve
(12:58):
a trade school, they deserve allthose opportunities that everyone else deserves has and
they also meet the trust and theybreak that ceiling every time. I've been
here ten years and I pictures rightin front of me, and my heart
popitates because it's like, oh,they can do it. I've seen it
done. It's not easy, butyou put your love and hope for them
(13:20):
and we see amazing results and it'sawesome. There's a lot of people we've
been around fifty three years, andhopefully there's callers that look at our Facebook
page of people and be like,oh yeah, remember Bridge helped me back
in the eighties and so and it'simportant for us to be there with them,
and it's important for us to helpthem and provide these services they need,
and we don't give up on akid. And it's very important.
(13:41):
And that's why we hear no punintended the bridge to get you from one
side to another of like the supportyou need over those trouble waters that are
under you. And we all goto that right and some of us have
our parents and support networks that cansupport us, and our young people don't
have that, and that's what Bridgebecomes to them. Now, you've been
a Bridge for a while, andtell me what it's been like for you
watching the organization grow and impact allof these kids, These doctors, these
(14:05):
lawyers, all these people you talkabout, And what is it like for
you personally to see these kids succeedand thrive and get healthy again. It's
actually very rewarding. It's long.I think being here for ten years as
a CEO has opened my eyes differently. But I began my time at Bridge
(14:26):
as the medical van coordinator and Iwas here as a social worker. Then
years later I served on the Bridgeboard and then in twenty thirteen I became
the interim executive director, and thensince then if I've been named the CEO
and president. So when I startedwith thirty employees with about three million dollar
budget, we're about one hundred employeeswith about ten million dollar budget. And
(14:48):
being here is a long time.You can see, you see the pain
to come in the door, andthen you see the output. You see
them, you know, graduating.I keep mentioning this young man, but
graduating be you. And in thirdyear in the Northeastern you see that.
So it gives me fire to keepgoing and seeing their smiles and them being
teenagers and them being young adults andmaking young adult mistakes that's okay to make,
(15:11):
and they have Bridge to support them. So the fundraising can be daunting,
the policies and the pain in thisworld can be daunting and take a
toll, but you look at themand you don't give up, and they
make you smile. And at leastI smile to see them going to their
prom or showing me what they wantto buy with their new check or their
(15:33):
savings, or what are they doingit's really rewarding to see that path and
see the pain and where they canchange to if somebody puts their love and
attention, and I say, alwaysplant that seed and water and see it
growing. I get to see thatbeing here for such a long period of
time. So I tell that toall our team members. As I stay
(15:54):
here for a while, I knowyou see a lot of pain coming through
the door, but give it sometime, you'll see some love going out.
And that's amazing. So I'm alwaysexcited. I don't blame you.
I would be too, honestly ifI have my own, having my own
little army of teenagers. That Ihave my own. So every time I
talk, it's like, oh,I have two thousand kids. It's like,
oh, they're all doing amazing things. They are in different spectrums of
(16:15):
their lives. Some need a littlebit more support than others, others are
doing well. And it's a reallyit's rewarding two thousand kids. Your food
bill, oh, my gosh,if that was really all yours, my
gosh. Look, I mean justI mean, it's overwhelming the great work
you're doing over there at Bridge.So tell me where people can find out
more about the gala where they canfind out more about all these programs,
(16:37):
how they can help. People canget involved, so go to Bridge oltw
dot org slash gala or you canjust go to Bridge oltw dot org.
And the best way that people canget involved is to check in out our
holiday page at our Bridge oltw dotorg slash holiday as the holidays of fast
(16:59):
coming for us coming up and wewill need to get ready to give our
youth a very special holiday season,so any support and help we can do
there There you can also learn aboutways to donate, how to purchase gifts
gift cards, or how to supportour youth, how to volunteer and so
forth. There's everything's on our website, so please go there and always,
(17:19):
you know, ask the question whatare we doing different for you know,
eighteen year olds, How are wetreating them different? And what is the
path that we're providing for them forthe future. And go look at us,
like us on Facebook, Instagram,conversate with us and get to know
and talk about that there are homelessyoung people here outside and November is Homeless
Youth months. So really one inthirteen it's what the stat says, or
(17:44):
one in thirteen so look at yourclassrooms, look at your football teams,
and there's somebody struggling there, sobe aware. Yeah, it's a lot
to think about them. Thank youfor keeping that conversation going. Elizabeth Jackson,
CEO at Bridge Over Troubled Waters,thank you so much for the time
and all you're doing to health thesekids. Thank you so much, and
thank you for bringing awareness to ouryoung people. Have a safe and healthy
(18:06):
and dry weekend. Yes it's rainingagain, and join me again next week
for another edition of the show.I'm Nicole Davis from WBZ News Radio on iHeartRadio.
From WBZ News Radio in Boston.This is New England Weekend. Each week
we come together and talk about allthe topics important to you and the place
where you live. So good tobe back with you again this week.
As always, I'm Nicole Davis.As we make our way toward the colder
months, it can be hard tothink about young people not having proper shelter,
but here in Massachusetts, each year, thousands of young people under twenty
(00:29):
five, for all kinds of differentreasons find themselves having to leave home.
Instead, they take their chances CouchSurfing, on the road, or even worse,
on the streets. Now in BostonBridge over troubled waters, it is
working hard to lend a helping handand try to get these kids back on
track and in a healthier space.November is National Homeless Youth Awareness Months,
(00:49):
so what better time to talk abouttheir work. CEO Elizabeth Jackson on the
show with us now, thank youso much for taking the time to come
on the show. Firstly, let'sget an overview of what you do for
young people who happen to find themselveshomeless. Bridge Overtova Water is a multi
service youth agency that works with homelessrunaway youth ages fourteen to twenty four.
(01:11):
I always say with a University ofLife Skills for Kids, we're constantly doing.
Bridge offers a continuum of different servicesfor young people, anything from behavioral
health therapy, education and career development, transitional day program, street overach,
and a mobile medical van. Wehave temporary housing which includes emergency residents,
(01:36):
transitional living program, and a singleparent house as well. We always say,
like I said, the University ofLife Skills for Kids, we're constantly
providing young people. About eighty percentof the young people we serve our ages
sixteen to twenty one, that providesservices and trying to get them to the
path of stability. How many kidsin the Boston area are homeless at this
(01:57):
point, because I'm sure the numberis the numbers should be zero. But
what are we looking at here?Well, Bridge is about two thousand young
people a year. That's how wesee here. Now the number ranges for
in Boston or in Massachusetts. TheNational Homeless Ye Awareness Month is in November,
and it's important to bring awareness tothis problem because there's an estimated of
(02:22):
over eleven thousand youth and young adultsin the Boston area ages fourteen to twenty
five experience and homelessness each year.Oh my god, God, wow,
what are the factors that lead toyoung people being homeless? What is forcing
these children out on the street?Hey man, it's different factors that young
(02:43):
people find the streets safer for theunfortunately, but at Bridge we see young
people there. Eighty two percent ofour young people bypower, twenty percent identify
LGBTQ. Between seventy or eighty percentof the Bridge each year have some type
of trauma. So forty nine percentof our youth that we serve have been
(03:06):
in a physical fight, seventy onepercent experienced child abuse. So it's different
family economics, conversations at home thatare not working out poverty. There's every
child comes in with a different story, walks in the door with a lot
of pain, and our goal isto make sure we work with that pain
(03:27):
and that trauma to provide stability forthem. And so many of these young
people too, I mean many ofthem are still going to school, going
to college or high school. They'reworking jobs. I mean, they're trying
their best to lift themselves out ofthis, but there's always those factors that
keep them pushed down and keep themon the streets. Unfortunately. Yeah,
the society has this view or inMassachusetts is a right to shelter state.
(03:53):
As you aware, So young peopletry to provoget as many services that they
can assumption that when they turn eighteenthat they know everything. It's really old
school thinking about or the age thesociety is different nowadays that are eighteen,
you still need support and young peopleat Bridge thirteen percent of the young people
(04:16):
are still in high school that cometo Bridge, and so they're still young.
And we have young people in collegethat still are in school trying to
get themselves to school and learning thelife skills that are very important that you
know, if the parents or thefamily members are not around to teach them,
then who's going to teach them?Who's going to teach them? How
(04:36):
to dance the checkbook, how toself address the stain of how to you
know, wash clothes, how toclean, all those basic skills that a
young person needs. But then theyalso are dealing with housing and security and
food and security. So it's adouble whemy when they when their brain is
still developing. Well, I wasgoing to say, and that would be
(04:56):
traumatic for even an adult, butthen you have this happening to a you
young person who, as you mentioned, the brain is still developing, but
their bodies are still developing, andtheir sense of self is still developing as
well. So it's really just thatmuch more impactful when they're forced into these
positions. And you're correct, andthis is why this age range is very
(05:16):
important to us, and this iswhy we want to bring awareness to this
population now out there so people canunderstand that, well, you know,
one in ten youth is homeless.So think about a basketball team, think
about your child's soccer team, thinkabout your you know, a classroom setting
that there is a child or thereis a young adult really struggling to get
(05:39):
somewhere to eat the football team,you know, And how do we make
sure that these young people have accessand that we provide the services because it's
scary. It's scary there, it'sscary for an adult like you mentioned,
but also for young persons development toask that question, I need help,
and they're really still developed and notknowing what type of help they need.
So let's talk about the services thenthat you have, because you mentioned a
(06:00):
few of them in the beginning ofthe interview, but let's talk about first
and foremost the transitional program. You'vegot the day program. What sort of
what services during the program during theday do you offer these kids who come
in for the help. So duringthe day, the transitional day program I
kind of like your living room athome. Right when you come in,
you put your shoes away, takea shower, get something to eat,
(06:21):
hang now, get on the computerand figure out what you're going to do
next. That's literally our day programwhere young people come in and out at
different times. They have breakfast,they have lunch, they have snacks,
they can take a shower, goback to work, take a shower,
go back to school, do theirhomework, look for jobs, look for
an apartment, just hang out,charge their phone. So it's the day
(06:45):
program that I call it like yourliving room. We also have a transitional
living program which our young people canlive with us in all of our housing
stock. We can have a youngperson live with us for over four years.
So if they come with us,I start with us sicking. By
the time they're twenty, we've beenable to they hours, they have babies,
We've been able to teach them alllife skills or information to get them
(07:08):
back into school or trade school orso forth. We have an emergency residence
that we are able to first come, first serve, and welcome the center
as welfare at nighttime, where ifpeople find themselves that they have nowhere to
go and they don't want to goto an adult shelter, they're welcome to
come here, and we provide againa stable situation, a warm place,
(07:30):
a blanket, some food. Foodis very important when you're dealing with teenagers,
and they're like good food. Sowe always have food in places,
some warm clothes, in a nicewarm shower that then we can start working
on any trauma that they might experienceor how to get to the path of
security, because we have a behavioralhealth team and we understand for any one
of us, we don't want tosit out there in the cold. I
(07:50):
know if I was sitting out therein the cold, I will be definitely
very drunk or very high because Idon't hate the cold. Right, So
for us to be talking about seventeenor eighteen or nineteen year old saying,
oh, they're just drug users orsubstance abuse users, and they're young enough
and they're numbing themselves, and that'sa problem. We need to see that
and provide a safety net for them, a safe environment for them so they
(08:13):
can deal with that. For anyyoung person, they need a safe place
for them to deal with whatever substancethey're taking. And behavioral health specialists in
our licensed social workers and counselors suchas abuse counselors work with our young people
with that and talk about harm reduction. If you're drinking ten beers a day,
can we get down to five beers? Can we get down to three?
What is triggering you? Between seventyor eighty percent of the Bridge youth
(08:37):
each year our sess with trauma andexperiencing PTSD, so we have to you
know, forty percent of them havebeen robbed in the streets, sixty eight
percent of them have been threatened,forty nine almost fifty percent witness domestic violence,
so they have things to deal withand trying to get an apartment at
the same time, and all thoseservices are under one real Feir Bridge.
(09:00):
Yeah, that's a lot to offer, and you know, I'm really glad
that you're focusing on that mental healthside of it, because if your trauma
is not addressed, and the traumais just impacted being on the streets night
after night after night. I mean, the cycle is never going to stop.
So it's great that not only doyou have the physical facilities to help
these kids and also you know thesingle parent house and this and that,
(09:20):
but you're also working with them holistically, through and through. Yes, the
whole child is very important to us. Again, they're young, right,
and that's why it's very important forus to let people know. For November's
National Homeless Awareness buff But this year, Bridge is launching a city wide ad
campaign called What I Say and WhatI Mean, where ads will be shown
(09:43):
in real statements from our Bridge youthabout the ways that they try to hide
their homelessness. So for example,they may say I think I need to
go to the ear, but whatthey really mean is it's a safe place
to them to spend the night.The statement shows that it hit in the
side of youth homelessness that we're hopingit inspires people to log on to our
(10:05):
website and learn more that there areyoung people right in front of us and
we're not even sure and their statementssay a lot and just following up on
those are very important. And allthese services they cost money like everything else,
and Unfortunately these days it probably costsa lot more than it used to
because of inflation and everything else goingon. So you have a big fundraiser
(10:26):
coming up, your annual gala andauctions, So tell us more about what's
happening there. Yes, annual galaand actually will take place on November third,
where we will be honoring me HowChamberlain, President of Bank of America
Massachusetts. Bank of America has beena strong supporting partner of Bridge and Mihow
has really championed the young people weserve here and how we serve them.
(10:46):
We're so grateful to have such adistinguished honoree and to have our wonderful Guilline
Culture and Finukan Josh kraft I andBob Reynolds. We're hoping to raise one
point five million dollars to this isreally important event for Bridge. So to
learn more about our gala, includingsponsorship information, you can visit us our
(11:07):
website at Bridge ootw dot org slashGala and it really is a fundraising for
our young people the foundation to givethem oving and keep the programs going,
especially during the holidays where everybody elseis trying to celebrate goes back home,
coming back home from college and havingThanksgiving dinner and so forth, those very
traumatizing times. Here Bridge, wework twice as much during the holidays to
(11:31):
make sure that we're having Thanksgiving dinnertwo or three days, that we're having
gifts for our young people that they'reable to unwrap, that we're really having
that experience is here for them sothey don't feel alone, yeah, and
reminding them what it's like to bea kid at the holidays, you know,
because you meet those little reminders thatyes, even though you're in this
position, you still deserve to havejoy in your life and to have some
(11:54):
sort of normalcy, even if it'sjust for a short time, and correct
the a short time of homelessness.We can make it short. It doesn't
have to be for the rest oftheir lives. There's a situation they're going
through now, but we have soBridge has been around almost fifty three years
and the success prey keeps us going. We see a lot of pain walking
through that door, but we alsosee a lot of smiles when they leave.
(12:16):
We see young people, you know, graduating bu and you know,
third year at Northeastern. We havedoctors in our roster. We have nurses,
we have firefighters in our roster.We have licensed social workers that have
come through us teachers and so thisis a time in their life that's not
the rest of their life, andwe can support them to here to get
(12:37):
them through. We have really youngpeople and amazing young adults and amazing adults
having their own families. That's whatwe want to create. And it is
expensive during this time because young peopleeat a lot, and it takes a
lot to be able to focus andmaintain with them, and they're not easy
to work with, and they don'ttrust many adults. But they deserve prom
they deserve to pick a college thatthey want to go to, they deserve
(12:58):
a trade school, they deserve allthose opportunities that everyone else deserves has and
they also meet the trust and theybreak that ceiling every time. I've been
here ten years and I pictures rightin front of me, and my heart
popitates because it's like, oh,they can do it. I've seen it
done. It's not easy, butyou put your love and hope for them
(13:20):
and we see amazing results and it'sawesome. There's a lot of people we've
been around fifty three years, andhopefully there's callers that look at our Facebook
page of people and be like,oh yeah, remember Bridge helped me back
in the eighties and so and it'simportant for us to be there with them,
and it's important for us to helpthem and provide these services they need,
and we don't give up on akid. And it's very important.
(13:41):
And that's why we hear no punintended the bridge to get you from one
side to another of like the supportyou need over those trouble waters that are
under you. And we all goto that right and some of us have
our parents and support networks that cansupport us, and our young people don't
have that, and that's what Bridgebecomes to them. Now, you've been
a Bridge for a while, andtell me what it's been like for you
watching the organization grow and impact allof these kids, These doctors, these
(14:05):
lawyers, all these people you talkabout, And what is it like for
you personally to see these kids succeedand thrive and get healthy again. It's
actually very rewarding. It's long.I think being here for ten years as
a CEO has opened my eyes differently. But I began my time at Bridge
(14:26):
as the medical van coordinator and Iwas here as a social worker. Then
years later I served on the Bridgeboard and then in twenty thirteen I became
the interim executive director, and thensince then if I've been named the CEO
and president. So when I startedwith thirty employees with about three million dollar
budget, we're about one hundred employeeswith about ten million dollar budget. And
(14:48):
being here is a long time.You can see, you see the pain
to come in the door, andthen you see the output. You see
them, you know, graduating.I keep mentioning this young man, but
graduating be you. And in thirdyear in the Northeastern you see that.
So it gives me fire to keepgoing and seeing their smiles and them being
teenagers and them being young adults andmaking young adult mistakes that's okay to make,
(15:11):
and they have Bridge to support them. So the fundraising can be daunting,
the policies and the pain in thisworld can be daunting and take a
toll, but you look at themand you don't give up, and they
make you smile. And at leastI smile to see them going to their
prom or showing me what they wantto buy with their new check or their
(15:33):
savings, or what are they doingit's really rewarding to see that path and
see the pain and where they canchange to if somebody puts their love and
attention, and I say, alwaysplant that seed and water and see it
growing. I get to see thatbeing here for such a long period of
time. So I tell that toall our team members. As I stay
(15:54):
here for a while, I knowyou see a lot of pain coming through
the door, but give it sometime, you'll see some love going out.
And that's amazing. So I'm alwaysexcited. I don't blame you.
I would be too, honestly ifI have my own, having my own
little army of teenagers. That Ihave my own. So every time I
talk, it's like, oh,I have two thousand kids. It's like,
oh, they're all doing amazing things. They are in different spectrums of
(16:15):
their lives. Some need a littlebit more support than others, others are
doing well. And it's a reallyit's rewarding two thousand kids. Your food
bill, oh, my gosh,if that was really all yours, my
gosh. Look, I mean justI mean, it's overwhelming the great work
you're doing over there at Bridge.So tell me where people can find out
more about the gala where they canfind out more about all these programs,
(16:37):
how they can help. People canget involved, so go to Bridge oltw
dot org slash gala or you canjust go to Bridge oltw dot org.
And the best way that people canget involved is to check in out our
holiday page at our Bridge oltw dotorg slash holiday as the holidays of fast
(16:59):
coming for us coming up and wewill need to get ready to give our
youth a very special holiday season,so any support and help we can do
there There you can also learn aboutways to donate, how to purchase gifts
gift cards, or how to supportour youth, how to volunteer and so
forth. There's everything's on our website, so please go there and always,
(17:19):
you know, ask the question whatare we doing different for you know,
eighteen year olds, How are wetreating them different? And what is the
path that we're providing for them forthe future. And go look at us,
like us on Facebook, Instagram,conversate with us and get to know
and talk about that there are homelessyoung people here outside and November is Homeless
Youth months. So really one inthirteen it's what the stat says, or
(17:44):
one in thirteen so look at yourclassrooms, look at your football teams,
and there's somebody struggling there, sobe aware. Yeah, it's a lot
to think about them. Thank youfor keeping that conversation going. Elizabeth Jackson,
CEO at Bridge Over Troubled Waters,thank you so much for the time
and all you're doing to health thesekids. Thank you so much, and
thank you for bringing awareness to ouryoung people. Have a safe and healthy
(18:06):
and dry weekend. Yes it's rainingagain, and join me again next week
for another edition of the show.I'm Nicole Davis from WBZ News Radio on iHeartRadio.
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