GOALS & DREAMS FOR 2005 continued
New Bridges Sites
Bridges is constantly approached by schools that are interested in joining our program. Until now, we've turned down most of them due to a lack of resources, but 2005 is the year when we will say "yes" to all those schools. We intend to launch a subscription-based program for schools that are interested in joining our program as members or affiliates. And we plan to add new foreign sites which will increase the geographic diversity of our program. We are currently talking with potential nonprofit partners in Thailand, Ethiopia, Israel, Palestine, Mexico and Ghana about establishing Bridges' sites. A year from now we hope that the Bridges family will be a much larger one and will include a doubling of our foreign sites.

2005 Workshops
We have an ambitious schedule of workshops with six workshops in Seattle and five international workshops, including a workshop in a new location for us - Kathmandu, Nepal. These workshops play such a critical role in the success of the Bridges program, they not only provide us with the trained mentors who go on to work with Bridges students, but they also contribute the single largest source of revenue keeping Bridges going. Through our international workshops we are able to provide intensive training to our foreign students and site coordinators. On top of all of that, the workshops are without exception filled with creative, interesting, committed people - they are a huge amount of fun.

Bridges Board of Directors
We enter 2005 with an expanded Board of Directors. Our new members truly increase the breadth of expertise on the Board. Phil Ginsberg, Alison Shelby-Gardiner, Bihoa Caldwell, Jim Hanna and Cynthia Hartwig have all joined our Board since the fall of 2004.

We are anticipating that this will be Bridges most successful year to date and look forward to sharing it with you through our newsletter, website, special events and workshops.

NOTES FROM PHIL continued
experience of last years Mentor’s workshops has enabled us to develop an ever more exciting cross-cultural experience. It is encouraging to see how many of last years workshop participants have signed up for workshops this year.

Of all the wonderful images I have of last year, this one of the students in Takaungu, Kenya presenting their movie to their village stands out. In all our International Mentor’s Workshops we have the Bridges' students show their final film to their community on the last day. As luck would have it, the electricity in Takaungu went out the night of the showing. Without skipping a beat the students located the village’s only generator, set up an outdoor theater in a field and focused our digital projector on the whitewashed side of a house. The village turned out in force and demanded several encore showings of the film.  For the finale the students took center stage all beaming with pride. To all of our surprise and delight, one of the students, Mwanamvua, who had seemed to be very quiet and shy, took the microphone and sang an acappella solo in front of the crowd.

It was a great reaffirmation of the power that arises when young people are given a voice.