30 years of Bridge Builders shows it works
I grew up in the segregated South, but it was not until I was practicing law that I fully realized the impacts of that divide.
In doing so, I also began to understand what I’d personally lost out on by allowing those barriers to prevent me from establishing deep and meaningful relationships with my neighbors of other races and cultures.
My dream was to remedy that situation for my own children. I wanted them to realize as young people that the black half our city in most ways are very much like the white half. Bridge Builders arose from this dream.
It is difficult for me to believe that 30 years have passed since that first camp at the Millington naval base with 20 rising high school juniors from Northside High School, a public and predominantly African-American school, and 20 from Briarcrest Christian School, a private, mostly white institution.
After five days, I think we all had drunk the Kool-Aid: Bridge Builders worked.
Those first few years, we hired school teachers to lead in the summer conference as counselors and facilitators. The unexpected consequences of drinking the Kool-Aid led many of our Bridge Builder graduates to return during and after college to work at the conference.
In the past 25 years, most of our staff have been former Bridge Builders. That has been one of the greatest affirmations: that the inclusive culture created by Bridge Builders is imbued in the staff.
It works because it touches a young person’s deep desire to be recognized as someone of worth. It allows youth the opportunity to try on different ideas and personas without judgment.
It helps channel all that energy and enthusiasm into something positive, constructive, and fun. And it gives young people a platform to affect positive change in their lives, their schools, and their community. They find their voice as a Bridge Builder.
My dream today, 30 years along the Bridge Builder journey, is that Bridge Builders will go national. I believe this is a program that could transform lives across the country. We have empirical data supporting the effectiveness of the program. We have a satellite Bridge Builders thriving in Montgomery, Ala.
Only by creating opportunities for young people of all races to come together in a safe environment and be challenged to grow together, appreciating and respecting their differences, will we see anything resembling peace in our time. My hope and belief is that these youth will change our future for better for all citizens.
Becky Webb Wilson founded the Bridge Builders program at Youth Service, the precursor of the modern-day nonprofit BRIDGES.