Salvadori Bridges A Gap For NYC’s Under-Served Kids

In September 2007, the Salvadori Center was awarded a 5-year, $1.14 million grant by the National Science Foundation to create B.R.I.D.G.E.S., an after-school science education program for 8- to 12-year olds. (The acronym stands for "Build, Research, Invent, Design, Grow and Explore through Science.") B.R.I.D.G.E.S. is run in partnership with the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) and is designed to reach some of the City’s most under-served young people via an engaging, hands on after-school program held at NYCHA community centers. 

This fall, B.R.I.D.G.E.S. kicks off at 10 NYCHA community centers—three each in Manhattan and the Bronx; two in Brooklyn; and one each in Queens and Staten Island. Kids at each of the centers will spend 10 weeks learning science, engineering and technology by exploring New York City’s bridges through field trips, design activities and building scale models of the bridges they’ve studied. There’ll even be a B.R.I.D.G.E.S. Jeopardy game to test how much they’ve learned. At the end of the program each center will have a family event where B.R.I.D.G.E.S. kids will present their projects to family and friends.

There will be two more ten-week B.R.I.D.G.E.S. cycles at NYCHA community centers this academic year, and 15 additional B.R.I.D.G.E.S. community center programs will be added in the next three years.

If you’re interested and want more information, please visit the B.R.I.D.G.E.S. section of our website.