Founded in 2021, the Washington Bridge Education Foundation prides itself on helping students bridge the gap between secondary education and the trade workforce.
“The word 'bridge' is actually an acronym for build, recognize, inform, develop, grow and educate,” executive director Meg Sutherland said. “And that’s…kind of our mission. We wanted to help bridge these students by doing those things.”
Their help comes from different grants that can provide students with a starting point for their career that does not come with debt.
“And so these grants can help them get started to buy their tools, materials, kits, subscriptions and uniforms as they go into a career and technical education based career path,” Sutherland said.
The nonprofit has also set up a student job directory system for students to use when searching for a job in the trades.
During the development of the system, the foundation worked closely with school counselors to figure out what exactly students needed out of the directory. Eventually they landed on a system that would show students careers, companies in that career, who to talk to and more.
At the Washington Bridge Education Foundation, the directors work with businesses to set up different life skills classes that students can take to help better prepare them for the future.
“We are beginning to work with other businesses in our community to give a financial literacy workshop [that is] offered to any student in our community that would like to come and learn more about…how to fill out their tax forms, really [any] kind of life skills,” Sutherland said.
Not only do they help students, but educators as well. There have been grants made available to educators who help run programs that set up students with life skills once they are finished with secondary education. The grant is called the opportunity grant.
“As an opportunity comes about, if they meet the qualifications that it’s leading students to bridge beyond secondary education, give them some life skills, they’ll be able to be granted that money to be put towards those projects,” Sutherland said.
Currently, the nonprofit is working towards becoming more known in the Washington community. They want to make themselves more available to those who do not go to traditional schools and females who are interested in trades, as well.
The foundation hold an annual Paint the Path fundraiser where members of the community are able to paint parts of the sidewalk between Five Points Washington and the Washington Fire Department.