Since 1999, the Bridge Program at Antioch University Los Angeles (AULA) has been doing something simply revolutionary: providing college classes to low-income adults in Los Angeles, at no cost to students. The Bridge Program was founded by AULA alumna Shari Foos with the assistance of B.A. Program faculty member David Tripp, who served as the founding director of the program. Bridge is funded by the generous support of individuals, foundations, and volunteers, as well as Antioch University Los Angeles.

Download an application here.

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On October 28th, the Bridge Program was awarded the Community Support Award by the Westside Shelter & Hunger Coalition. Antioch University Los Angeles President Dr. Tex Boggs and Bridge Program Director Kathryn Pope represented Bridge on behalf of the university and Shari Foos, the founder of the Bridge Program.

We’d like to give a special thank you to Chrysalis, the community partner that nominated the Bridge Program for the award. Chrysalis has been changing lives since 1984, when the organization first began. Since then, Chrysalis has been dedicated to helping folks get the resources needed to find jobs, from resume-writing help to computers, suits, and fax machines. In short, we’re so lucky to be able to work you, Chrysalis. Thank you!

Tags: Bridge News

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A reporter in Philadelphia featured the Bridge Program in a post this summer. The article, titled, “Antioch Offers Humanities and Changes People’s Lives,” focuses on the potential of the Bridge Program to change the lives of its students. We might add that Bridge often changes the lives of everyone involved — not only students but volunteers, teaching assistants, staff, faculty, donors, and supporters. Access to education, coupled with a supportive classroom community, can change the game entirely.

Tags: Bridge News

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Bridge 2011 Commencement Speech

Tags: bridge experience, student stories

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This summer, the Bridge Program was featured in the Chronicle of Higher Education. Journalist Eric Hoover, who writes about recruitment in higher education, visited as Bridge staff introduced the Program to potential students. Eric wrote about his experiences on this nontraditional recruiting visit in an article featured in the print edition of the Chronicle: “A Recruiter Offers the Humanities, and Second Chances”  and later in a blog post, “Bringing Plato to the Underprivileged.”

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AULA’s Bridge Program – KTTV Channel 11 Feature

Tags: Bridge News, student experience

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On June 26, students completing the Bridge Program gathered with family and friends at Royce Hall for the Antioch University Los Angeles Commencement. The class was represented by this year’s Bridge commencement speaker, Andrea Leahy. Congratulations, Bridge Graduates!

Tags: Bridge News

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Each year, graduates of the Bridge Program continue to claim education, become active members in the community, and share the gift of reading, writing, and learning with others. Below are some of the most recent news from Bridge alumni:

• Theresa (Bridge class of 2009) completed her Bachelors degree recently. Congratulations, Theresa!
• Melissa (Bridge class of 2007) completed her Bachelors of Science in Human Services with a concentration in psychology, counseling, and social work. Melissa also just became a mom.
• Bridge alumnus Jaime (Bridge class of 2007) wrote a paper, “Waldemar Wilhelm: Father of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery in Columbia,” that has just been accepted for publication by The Journal of the History of Dentisty, which is sponsored by the American Academy of the History of Dentistry. Please join me in congratulating Jaime.

Please join us on Bridge’s Facebook page: facebook.com/BridgeAULA.  Also, if you are a Bridge graduate and have news you would like to share with the community, please let me know! Send me an email at kpope [at] antioch [dot] edu.

Tags: alumni, Bridge, student news

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On their second visit to Little Tokyo this fall, Deborah Lott led students through the stories and histories of the neighborhood. Students visited the Japanese American National Museum, where they explored the American Tapestry Exhibit, which displayed 25 stories from Japanese Americans (the exhibit runs through April 17th).

Students heard stories about discriminatory immigration policy affecting the first generation of Japanese immigrants to America, stood inside portions of the original barracks buildings built to house Japanese Americans unfairly imprisoned during WWII, and examined stories of Little Tokyo’s past through its objects. For example, the bicycle in the photo below tells the story of two little girls who lived in Los Angeles during the war: one who was sent to the internment camps with her family and the other, who vowed to keep her friend’s bike safe until they met again, nearly a lifetime later.

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Hello to all of you Bridge Blog followers–

One month into the new year, and boy has the Bridge program been busy! So far this last month we’ve had a Family Night where friends and family can experience what the program is like and get their name in if interested in joining the following year–great turn-out too, with nearly 100 people showing up. Also, this last weekend some of us went on an afternoon excursion to the L.A. Public Library with Rosa Garza-Mourino. She gave us a great inside tour of where to find all the departments, where the research library is held, interpretations of the statuary and murals found there, and what the symbolism means in the entryway and gardens. Really a great tour! Last of all, the tutors and students just finished their first tour of their neighborhoods of choice to do an in-depth field study. This quarter the students, after finding all they can about their field study neighborhood, will make a proposal to do some community service there. This not only takes collaboration on the research but agreement on what should be done with the community’s preference in mind–not an easy task but a very rewarding one, which kind of sums up what it’s like to be a T.A. in the program. Very rewarding.

~ terry

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On the first visit to Little Tokyo, students were impressed to find evidence of neighborhood involvement in issues of democracy and citizenship, most notably in the presence of the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy and the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment.

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