Mission: The mission of The Bridge Leadership Academy is to inspire and develop forward-thinking progressive young leaders through character-based development, educational, personal and professional discovery and a commitment to serve the community.
Organizational Overview:
Bridge Leadership Academy was founded in January 2010 by Wakisha Briggs. Ms. Briggs is currently serves as the President of the organization. In addition, to her work with the Bridge she is the Head Women’s Basketball Coach at a Community College in Kansas City, Missouri and Continuing Education, Director on the University Level. It is important to note that her efforts extend beyond her various job titles. Briggs continues to work tirelessly to instill a sense of school pride, build community awareness, and motivate students to set and achieve higher academic goals. Briggs is truly an advocate for at-risk youth.
Ms. Briggs is joined in her mission by a board of directors of dedicated women that were also co-founders of the organization. While a relatively young organization, Bridge has served over 150 teens since its inception. The program participants are “at-risk,” inner city youth who are primarily low-income and minority. 
In Kansas City area schools, more than 40 percent of students fail to graduate from high school on time and the dropout rates are disproportionately higher for minority and low-income students. “The number one predictor of a young person’s future success is whether they graduate from high school,” said Alma Powell, Chair of America’s Promise, “Research shows that young people who drop out are more likely to be incarcerated, rely on public programs and social services and go without health insurance.” It is estimated that increasing graduation rates by 10 percentage points would prevent 25 murders and 1,700 aggravated assaults in Kansas City alone.1 Bridge leadership believes there are no simplistic answers because the obstacles inner-city “at risk” youth must overcome are both many and formidable. They believe there must be a concentrated effort applied to each individual young person if they are to succeed. The Bridge Leadership program focuses on the fundamental keys to their success — academics, social skills development, character education, and community service.
The program is delivered in three phases over 12-months. Phase I is Leadership Development. During this phase, students will experience character-building activities that are designed to allow students to discover and define their life’s mission, life styles, desired direction and quality of life. Phase II is titled Creating Lasting Change. In this component, students will assist Bridge and the community through Peer-2-Peer mentoring, educational workshops, community service projects, and the coordination of social activities. Phase II will create student leaders who will provide support and guidance to current and future generations of Bridge participants. Phase III is titled College Transition. The phase introduces a series of modules designed to provide information and resources that will allow scholars to make education-based lifestyle choices and set reasonable career and financial expectations during the high school-to-college transition. The content and activities in the college transition phase emphasize the importance of educational success planning (academic and financial), ACT/SAT preparation, college exploration and entry, scholarships, and campus-based support systems.
Many social programs focus on expanding the number of people receiving some form of service or assistance. The point, however, is not the number served but the number changed. The Bridge Leadership program will also provide students with growth-changing experiences that will enhance each student’s sense of self-worth and community identity. More specifically, The Bridge Leadership program will in improve youths’ feelings of self-confidence and self-esteem, school bonding (positive feelings and attitudes toward school), positive social behaviors, school grades and achievement test scores. The Bridge Leadership program will produce multiple benefits that pertain to each youth’s personal, social and academic life.
BCG Salutes the Bridge Leadership Academy and it’s founder Wakisha Briggs for Giving Back and building an educational platform designed for student success! For more information on the Bridge Leadership Academy visit www.bridgeleadershipacademy.com.
