ourBRIDGE for KIDS

Year Founded
2013
EIN
46-3784901
Local Leader/Exec. Director
Sil Ganzó
Main Address

3925 Willard Farrow Drive
Charlotte, NC 28215
United States

ourBRIDGE South
5338 Nations Ford Road
Charlotte, NC 28217
United States

What We Do
ourBRIDGE for Kids is a nonprofit organization that supports the immigrant and refugee community in Charlotte, NC by providing an out of school program and through community-based initiatives. Our Mission: ourBRIDGE fosters the education, acculturation, and resilience of newly arrived and first generation children and their families. Our Vision: We envision a city where every newly arrived and first-generation American child has the same opportunities to live a happy and fulfilling childhood. We provide an out-of-school experiential-based learning curriculum to help our students achieve the fundamentals of English language acquisition (Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing) through activities that incorporate STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) elements and encourage cultural pride and inclusion, civic engagement, community involvement, problem solving and critical thinking. Moreover, at ourBRIDGE we believe in nurturing the whole child by providing a safe and inclusive environment where students can develop socio-emotional learning skills. We believe that in order for students to strive we must recognize our students' past experiences and traumas and become a center that is truly responsive to all their needs. For that reason, we implement trauma informed care practices in our classrooms, as well as making sure our students constantly feel loved, safe, seen, and heard. As a result of our innovative methods and their own hard work, ourBRIDGE kids outperform national growth expectations in both reading and math. In recent Measure of Academic Progress (MAP) testing administered by CMS, ourBRIDGE students surpassed these national growth expectations by an average of 54% in reading and 45% in math, with even stronger results amongst younger children. Moreover, every 5th grader who joined ourBRIDGE in 3rd grade or earlier will start middle school reading at grade level or higher. There is no doubt that students and their families at ourBRIDGE have a unique opportunity to acculturate to the US in a welcoming and celebratory manner! ourBRIDGE has become an multi-awarded organization, recognized in the local, state and national levels, end even though we are humbled and thankful for having the support of most of the foundations in the city that cover many aspects of our programming, we are in dire need of unrestricted funds to cover the gaps. Please consider making a contribution to ourBRIDGE or by mailing a check to 3925 Willard Farrow Drive, Charlotte, NC, 28215.
Interesting Info
  • In Fall 2022 ourBRIDGE is opening a second site off Nations Ford Rd. for 75 K-5 kids. We'll have a total of 225 K-8 kids enrolled in our afterschool programs!
  • ourBRIDGE students outperformed national growth expectations by 54% in reading and 45% in math in the 2016-17 school year.
  • We strive to foster a sense of diversity, integration, peace, respect, and love for all cultures and beliefs among the residents in our community.
Volunteer Opportunities

Classroom Support Volunteer
Repeats weekly at 3:30pm until Friday, June 9th, 2023
Duration of 3 hours 30 minutes

Photos and Videos