ourBRIDGE for KIDS

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.