Dee Dee and Eric
Dee Dee and Eric spent years on streets struggling with addiction and their path to sobriety was rocky. At Bridge House Dee Dee and Eric were able to utilize services such as the client internship program,…
Continue readingAbout Bridge House
Bridge House, formerly known as The Carriage House Community Table, is a day shelter for the homeless operating in Boulder, Colorado.
Initially called START, the program moved to a historic brick carriage house on the grounds of the First Congregational Church in 2004. After several years of program expansion, the Carriage House merged with Community Table in 2008, providing efficiencies that allow the organization to serve more clients in more ways.
The need is great.
While Boulder County has a high standard of living, there continue to be a significant number of people in our community who are struggling. The number and percentage of unemployed residents in Boulder County have both reached 20+ year highs during the current recession. Poverty and homelessness are inextricably linked and are growing in Boulder County as well as nationwide. In a recent Point in Time survey, 1,550 people were counted as homeless within Boulder County’s borders on one single night in January 2011, up from previous years. Of those counted, 61% were families with children. We see this on a daily basis at Bridge House as the number of families and people in need climbs. The demand for our services has increased from 1,900 individuals in 2006 to 3,600 in 2010.
Our approach to change is simple.
Bridge House’s mission is to address immediate survival needs of homeless and working poor individuals and provide resources which lead to employment, housing, personal stability and healing.
We believe that it is crucial to provide basic services like food and shelter to the homeless and working poor of our community. But we use these services to bring people through our doors in hope of engaging them in discussion about what they need to get on their feet. We meet people “where they’re at” and use a variety of tools and resources to help them work toward a better quality of living. As an example, we use the “harm reduction” approach to drug use which is a set of practical strategies that reduce negative consequences of drug use, incorporating a spectrum of strategies from safer use, to managed use, to abstinence.
We are a very collaborative organization and work hard to find the right resources within the community to help our clients, partnering with dozens of organizations and government initiatives to do so. Bridge House is also in line with the Boulder County Human Services Strategic Plan and Boulder County’s Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness in its operations and values.