Our History

Bridge Builders Community Partnership (BBCP) was formed in 2003 with the mission of partnering with community residents, service providers, educators, businesses, non-profits, government agencies and other stakeholders to form effective community networks and services in order to strengthen and increase the well-being of families in the Highbridge Community (HC), Community District (CD) 4. BBCP’s vision is to build a networking infrastructure whose synergistic abilities enhance the quality of life for all residents of the HC.

Over the past nineteen years BBCP has been the “backbone” organization of the HC and engaged over 80 partners in community organizing, managing and coordinating community education events, and recruiting and training community leaders. Our grassroots efforts, storefront location in the heart of the community, and staff, who have firsthand experience with the challenges faced by the populations we serve, give us a unique foothold in the HC to reduce poverty and increase quality of life. As a storefront, BBCP encourages neighborhood residents to drop in, seek advice and gain access to community and government services. We make approximately 5,000 contacts with families each year through staff members who spend much of their time interfacing with the community, conducting child-welfare related home visits, and providing clients with services and comprehensive referrals. Last year, BBCP held 104 conferences, supervised visitation services for 33 families, and helped 28 kinship families.

BBCP has a long history of serving the community even prior to the development of the Community Partnership Program. For over 17 years, BBCP has been part of the borough-wide Service Planning Area (SPA) 5 collaboration of over 100 agencies. Although many SPAs have become dormant, SPA 5 continues to meet on a monthly basis and the BBCP is an integral part of the leadership. The BBCP Partnership membership also meets monthly at the storefront where over 30 participants attend each meeting.

Our core values include:

• Transparency

• Circle of Trust

• Commitment to working towards high quality and culturally sensitive education, mental/physical well being, and improved quality of life.

The Children’s Village (CV)

In 2013, BBCP formed a strategic partnership with The Children's Village (CV), a social services agency that serves over 8,000 children and families in the New York metropolitan area each year. In addition to expanding BBCP's reach, the alliance with CV helps both clients and staff. We turn to CV to help us implement effective recruitment and retention strategies and provide staff training; we also refer clients to CV's parenting classes and emergency assistance services, among other programs. Our alliance also gives us access to their data collection and quality improvement infrastructure. 

Founded in 1851, The Children’s Village works in partnership with families to help children develop the skills and positive attitude needed to succeed as healthy contributing adults.  Each year, CV serves more than 10,000 of New York’s most at-risk children and their families.  Programs include short-term residential programs, shelters, street outreach, foster and adoptive homes, a community center in Harlem, programs for youth involved with the juvenile justice system, and a host of family support services. childrensvillage.org