Impact and Programs
Accomplishments
2020 Impact
In 2020, Bridging furnished our 100,000th home!
In 2020, we furnished 3,059 households. Of these 1,544 had children 17 and under and 66% had been homeless in the past 12 months.
We served 7,817 total family members, of which 3,710 were children 17 and under.
Each family received a basic home essential package of donated goods at Bridging. This package has a thrift-store value of $1,800 and includes; beds and linens, upholstered furniture, dressers, kitchen and dining essentials, lamps, small appliances – all critical items that make a “house a home”.
In May 2020, after a brief 6-week closure due to the pandemic, we re-opened and had to re-think the way we serve clients. We knew that safety and dignity had to be paramount, and the solution that came out of that was virtual shopping! Clients can now safely pick out all their furniture and household goods over the iPad, through a video call. Virtual shopping not only addresses the safety of our services during the pandemic, but has also allowed clients to access our services, who may have had barriers to shopping in person. This is a silver lining that will continue!
In a typical year, Bridging saves nearly 11 million pounds of good-quality, reusable furniture and housewares from the landfill. If we cannot accept an item, we have many partners in the community who we will refer potential donors to.
Current Goals
2021 Goals:
Furnish more than 4,000 households; empowering them to thrive and experience housing stability.
Save at least 10 million pounds of good quality, reusable furniture and housewares from the landfill.
Community or Constituency Served
Bridging clients are referred by more than 200 social service agencies, the majority in the Twin Citied 7 county metro. The top five reasons that clients are referred to Bridging are:
• Persistent Low income
• Domestic Violence
• Mental health
• Foreclosure/Loss of Home
• Disability
More than 60% of the families that benefit from Bridging are transitioning out of homelessness. Between 80-90% of households served have total annual incomes under $20,000, approximately 80% are BIPOC community members, and more than half have children.
The majority of families served are from the Twin Cities 7 County metro, but there are some partnerships with agencies in Greater MN.
Geographic Area Served
The majority of families served are from the Twin Cities 7 County metro, but there are some partnerships with agencies in Greater MN.
