Neighborhood Bridges

About Neighborhood Bridges

Neighborhood bridges is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization that is currently serving 43 school communities in Alabama, Mississippi, and Ohio. The organization was founded by CEO Rick Bannister on Martin Luther King Day in 2017. The launch date was intentional with the teachings of Dr. King influencing the mission of the organization: “To bridge communities with schools in providing basic needs, removing barriers, and seeking equity for students so they can engage and succeed in school and life.” Our success in engaging entire communities to drive impact to students in need speaks to the ability of our model to weave together the best in humanity. In fewer than six years, neighborhood bridges has directly impacted more than 350,000 students by meeting a wide range of basic needs. This equates to over 200 students impacted every day since our launch. Our organization is managed locally by volunteers. It relieves school counselors, social workers, and administrators from the daily burden of trying to locate resources for students. We are the “go to” organization for our schools. Neighborhood bridges uses technology and social media to unite communities, create a campaign for kindness, and bring out the best in people. Our website facilitates a simple and easy to use process to identify, publish, and then fill needs. Through our social media reach, we engage community members, families, schools, businesses, churches, and service organizations to help us identify specific needs of our children and allows the community members to help fill those needs. The neighborhood bridges model of direct local giving is tangible. When communities find out about it, they want it. Every community needs a program like this—regardless of affluence. Our scalable design is backed with tools and resources to ensure success. We’ve made it easy for communities to bridge kindness, and are on track to significantly expand our footprint in 2023.

View contact profiles from Neighborhood Bridges