Bridges for Communities is a Bristol-based charity that connects people of different cultures and faiths, enabling them to build friendships, grow in their understanding of one another and live well with difference.
Bridges was founded in 2010 by Dan and Karen Green who, while living in the Middle East, observed a critical need for young people from different backgrounds to come together, get to know each other, and have their perceptions of one another changed in the process. This belief in the value of contact or interaction between people from different communities, and in its potential to reduce prejudice and intolerance, has remained at the heart of everything Bridges has done since then.
Bridges has now evolved and grown to run a wide range of projects and activities, including ones that bring people together around food, music, language or faith, and others that seek to make Bristol a more welcoming city for people who are displaced by war or persecution. We are based at Easton Family Centre in central Bristol, and have a diverse team who are passionate about the work we are doing.
Our Values
How we work is as important to us as what we do.
Connection
We see connection as the foundation of our work, bringing people together across difference to create opportunities for increased understanding.
Community
We believe in the strength of inclusive, diverse communities, built on mutual respect, compassion, and meaningful relationships.
Partnership
We work together – staff, volunteers, community members and key partners – to enable people across the city to get involved, contribute, and share resources.
Celebration
We share positive and hopeful stories, amplify voices that may not be heard, and celebrate the people and cultures that enrich our communities.
Reflection
We are committed to listening deeply, learning continually, and developing a thoughtful and caring response to challenging issues.
What Makes us Different
Our work is rooted in grassroots action. Based in Easton, one of the city’s most diverse neighbourhoods, our day to day interactions and relationships with local people are the basis on which the rest of our work is built.
We operate at the interface between different communities and groups. We seek to play a connecting role between different faith and cultural groups, but also between the refugee community and settled communities. Although Bridges was originally set up by people with a Christian faith, it is not ‘faith-based’ and it welcomes the involvement of everyone.
We believe in the mutuality of relationships, believing that when people interact it is always an opportunity for both parties to learn and benefit. This challenges some of the common dynamics and language around charity work such as the hero-victim or helper-helped relationship.
We recognise the complexity of the issues involved in our work, and try to avoid offering neat and easy solutions to complex problems. We have therefore created a varied toolkit of programmes and initiatives that cover a broad range of responses.
Our Partnerships
We are firmly committed to working in partnership with other organisations who share our goals, and to contributing towards wider strategies that overlap with our work. Bridges is part of a vibrant voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector in Bristol. We also work with the local authority, Bristol City Council, and in particular seek to contribute towards their One City Plan.
We are a member organisation of BRASP (Bristol Refugee and Asylum Seekers Partnership), the local network that collaborates and coordinates refugee services across the city, and work closely with the City Council’s Sanctuary Services team.
We are also grateful for strong partnerships with local arts organisations and community centres, including Arnolfini, Bristol Beacon, the RWA, SS Great Britain, We The Curious and Easton Family Centre among others.
Our Team
Stephen Frost
Stephen is the Managing Director of Bridges.
Nic Hope
Nic is the Befriend Project Manager, providing one-to-one support for asylum seekers and refugees through our amazing volunteers. She also manages School Linking.
Poppi Toon
Poppi is the Listening Spaces Project Manager, creating spaces for intentional listening and dialogue across difference.
Dawn Giles
Dawn is our Creative Connections Manager, using art and creative spaces to bring people together.
Sima Gul
Sima is a Stitching Together Project Manager and provides Resettlement Support, welcoming families into Bristol.
Karen Green
Karen is a co-founder of Bridges and oversees the Resettlement Support, welcoming families who have fled war & persecution.
Ruaa Alobied
Ruaa is one of our Community Support Workers.
Shahik Hasan
Shahik is one of our Community Support Workers.
Amir Mazaheri
Amir is our Walk With Me Project Manager, leading one-to-one and group walks to support refugee wellbeing.
Holly Woodley
Holly is our Welcome Hub Coordinator, enabling volunteers and local communities to provide warm welcome and friendship to sanctuary seekers.
Susannah Gooch
Suus is our Training & Resourcing Manager, coordinating the delivery of cultural awareness training, and RefuLingua’s language & culture classes.
Wala Albouti
Wala is our RefuLingua Project Assistant, helping to develop teaching materials and supporting our tutors.
Leeza Awojobi
Leeza is our poet in residence. She seeks to bridges divides by gently using tension & discomfort as pathways to understanding.
Mark Walters
Mark is our Operations Manager, overseeing the administration, finances, communications & internal operations of the charity.
Fiona Daborn
Fiona is our Grants & Trusts Fundraiser, generating income to increase our project impact.
Trustees
Bridges for Communities is a registered charity and a company limited by guarantee. This means that we are required to have a Board of Trustees – volunteers who are responsible for the overall organisation, including its governance, finances and activities. We aim to have a Trustee Board that reflects and represents the communities we serve, and with as wide a range of professional and lived experience as possible.
Our Current Trustees
- Owen Lynch (Chair)
- Roxanne Bennett (Treasurer)
- Azza Mustafa
- Lizzie Briggs
- Danny Gregory
- Roaa Alobeid