Bios Backup - Bridges

The Need & Our Approach

Bridges works to address two needs in the Baltimore metro-area – the first need pertains to investing in the full success of the Baltimore City youth who participate in Bridges and the second need pertains to building a more inclusive and equitable society.

Investing in the Success of Baltimore City Youth from Title I Elementary Schools

The Need: Children in Baltimore’s Title I Elementary Schools live in communities of limited access and opportunity, creating obstacles to long term academic achievement career pathways with financial security. The barriers make stepping stones to careers with financial security, like a college degree, incredibly rare. Historically, 90%+ of students in Baltimore’s public schools do not attain a degree by age 24.

Our Approach: Bridges partners with students age 9 to age 23 and their families. The effort is designed to help students find consistent academic success from elementary through high school, graduate from high school and college, and find fulfilling career paths that lead to financial security.

Building a More Inclusive and Equitable Society

The Need: The Baltimore metro-area remains geographically segregated along lines of race and socio-economics, creating a barrier to relationship building, and limiting understanding and progress on long standing issues of unequal access and opportunity in the City.

Our Approach: Bridges creates a space for independent school students of all backgrounds to build caring relationships with Baltimore City School students, learn about issues of unequal access and opportunity in Baltimore, and be part of building a more inclusive and equitable society.

Alex entered Bridges from Leith Walk Elementary and now is an engineer at Northrop Grumman. Read More

Jillian volunteered with Bridges in high school and college, sparking her career in community building. Read More

Expanding our Impact

Over the last 10 years, Bridges has

Expanded from 1 to 3 program locations: Bridges at The St. Paul’s Schools (est. 1993), Bridges at Gilman School (est. 2014), and Bridges at The Bryn Mawr School (est. 2022)
Grown into a 13-year long program serving 360 City youth
Tripled independent school volunteer participants to about 227 per year
Grown its budget to $2.1mm and staff capacity to focus on program quality, organizational sustainability, and impact expansion

Looking ahead, Bridges will

Grow to 8 program locations serving 1,400 Baltimore City youth ages 9-23 and 800 independent school volunteers per year
Continue to enhance and strengthen its 13-year program system for Baltimore City youth
Continue to enhance independent school volunteer training and education around issues of access and opportunity in Baltimore
Invest in its operations infrastructure to ensure that growth and quality go hand-in-hand

Strategic Partners & Supporters

Strategic Partners

Bridges has three types of strategic partners. Strategic partners both enhance programs and operations and provide in-kind resources that keep Bridges cost-effective and cost-efficient

Independent Schools: As Bridges program locations, The St. Paul’s Schools, Gilman School, and The Bryn Mawr School have made an institutional commitment to Bridges, fully adopting the program as a function of their schools. This commitment includes year-round facility and office space usage, a volunteer base, back-office support, and annual financial investments in Bridges Baltimore.

University Partners: Loyola University has become an increasingly larger partner over the last few years, providing about 50 tutors a year and summer facilities for our high school program.

Local Employers: Our high school summer jobs program is dependent on partnerships with Youth Works and 15+ companies providing 50+ summer jobs. Capital Educators provides in-kind SAT prep to Bridges students.

Supporters

Bridges has 140+ supporters consisting of individuals, foundations, and corporations. These supporters under-write Bridges’ $2.1mm+ annual program and operations budget. Annual donations range from $10 to $167,000 per year, with an average contribution of $10,000.

People

Bridges Baltimore Board of Trustees

Ellen Bernard, Community Volunteer

Flynn Burch, Under Armour – Director of Global Philanthropy

Vickie Cosby, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield – S.V.P. Medicaid and Medicare Programs

Scott David, T. Rowe Price Associates – Former Head of U.S. Investment Services

Nnamdi Etoh, Rock Springs Capital – CFO

Doug Greenstein, T. Rowe Price Associates – Head of Institutional Business Development

Carim Khouzami, BGE – CEO

Josh Levinson, Charm City Run – Owner

Paul F. McBride, Black & Decker – Former Corporate Officer

Mark Neumann, 510 Ventures, LLC (Current Chair)

Rob Paymer, Bridges – Executive Director, Bridges (Staff)

Phil Pine, Capital Educators – Program Director

Dr. Bryan D. Powell, St. Paul’s Pre and Lower School – Head of School

Lynn Rauch, Community Volunteer (Founding Chair)

Roger Schulman, Fund for Educational Excellence – President & CEO

Jim Smith, RBC Wealth Management – Sr. Vice President (Former Chair)

Henry Smyth, Gilman School – Headmaster

Bridges Baltimore Staff

Chloe Baier

Deputy Director

Chloe manages communications & marketing, partner stewardship, and grant writing, as well as supporting operations at Bridges.

Eddie Bennett

Office Manager

Eddie coordinates major administrative needs including the calendar, transportation, purchasing, and office space management.

Victoria Brown

Student Support Specialist

Victoria has responsibilities across the Bridges system, including 1-on-1 support and school guidance for 5th and 8th grade students.

Ysem Brown

Elementary/Middle School Director, Bridges at the St. Paul’s Schools

Ysem manages programmatic supports for our elementary and middle-aged students at the St. Paul’s site.

Brittany Clapp

High School Associate, Bridges at the St. Paul’s Schools

Brittany manages programmatic supports for high school-aged Bridges students at the St. Paul’s site.

Kevin Eskridge

Senior Operations Director

Kevin is responsible for supporting Rob in overseeing operations at Bridges, securing funding, launching new initiatives, and expanding to new sites.

Matt Frank

Elementary/Middle School Associate, Bridges at the St. Paul’s Schools

Matt supports Ysem with programming for elementary and middle-aged students, as well as volunteers from the St. Paul’s Schools.

Ashley Humbert

Director of Talent, Learning, Collaboration

Ashley manages Bridges’ hiring & onboarding processes, professional development of staff, and collaboration across sites.

Jonathan Lindsay

Elementary/Middle School Senior Director

Jonathan oversees all of Bridges’ programs for its 200+ elementary and middle school-aged students.

David Menard

Site Director and Elementary/Middle Director, Bridges at Gilman School

Dave oversees all of Bridges at Gilman’s programs for its 80+ students and 60+ independent school volunteers.

Sydney Michener

High School Associate, Bridges at Gilman School

Sydney manages programmatic supports for high school-aged Bridges students at the Gilman site.

Briana O’Neal

College and Career Director

Briana plans, manages, and oversees all of Bridges’ programs and 1-on-1 support for its 50+ college students.

Rob Paymer

Executive Director and Site Director, Bridges at the St. Paul’s Schools

Rob’s responsibilities include staff management, organizational improvement, fundraising, partnership development, and expansion.

Annelise Royles

Elementary/Middle School Associate, Bridges at Gilman School

Annelise supports Dave with programming for elementary and middle-aged students, as well as volunteers from the Gilman community.

Jenni Ruiz

Director of College and Career Counseling

Jenni is responsible for providing post-high school guidance to all of the Bridges high schoolers across sites.

Amara Sillah

High School and Post-High School Senior Director

Amara plans, manages, and oversees all of Bridges’ programs for its 100+ high school students.