There's no denying it - BRIDGES is connected

BRIDGES is privileged to be linked to a number of extraordinary organizations around the Memphis and Mid-South area. Below are brief descriptions of some of our key partners.


Common Ground is a a three-year initiative designed to use small group discussions to improve race relations in Memphis. It starts with six weeks of discussion about race and community and then it truly begins with action plans developed by the participants to make our community better for people of all color, in specific, measurable, tangible ways.



BRIDGES and Rhodes College co-sponsor Mid-South gatherings of the PeaceJam program, providing youth from Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas and Kentucky with invaluable insights on making peace in the world. 




Great Outdoors University, a program of the Tennessee Wildlife Federation, is an integral partner for all the outdoors education for BRIDGES' Future Builders program.

GOU and FUBU - natural parners

Middle school students from across the Mid-South are deep into the second session or the year's Future Builders Summer Camp, learning leadership skills, diversity appreciation and environmental awareness to impact positive community change. But if it weren't for the partnership between BRIDGES and Great Outdoors University this awesome program for sixth, seventh and eighth graders wouldn't be nearly as cool as it is today.

GOU is is a youth outdoor experience program of the Tennessee Wildlife Federation.  Its mission is to connect kids with the great outdoors in meaningful, life-changing and lasting ways. Since partnering with BRIDGES a little more than a year ago, the GOU staff has collaborated with Future Builders staff to augment the leadership development, environmental awareness and diversity appreciation of the FUBU experience with unparalleled outdoor adventure education.

For kids in the program it means a trip to Winchester Farms to fish and garden, to the Wolf River to learn about wetlands and to Shelby Farms to ride a horse - experiences brand new to lots of kids in the program. Future Builders director Mollie Merry Campbell said its a perfect match.

"The program had BRIDGES-style experiential learning, but mix it with GOU's outdoor experiences and its just so holistic in terms of our mission statement," she said. "If we were doing this by ourselves, we wouldn't be able to provide the kinds of experiences we are now. They're really opened the door when it comes to outdoor experiences."

Out of each two-week camp session in the summer, four days are devoted to GOU outings with a professional naturalist. GOU also works with the program for annual camps at fall, winter and spring break and on overnight outings to destinations like Fall Creek Falls and Land Between the Lakes.