The Bridge Community, Inc. is a vital and innovative nonprofit corporation with the mission to improve lives across the diverse communities we serve in Alexander County. The county has a higher poverty line percentage rate of 17.4% of the population living below the national average of 14%. With the U.S. and world economies in crisis, more unemployed workers, working poor families and seniors on limited incomes than ever before are living at the margins of poverty and need help in securing adequate resources for their families.
Generally, many disadvantaged families struggle to obtain life's essentials, such as affordable housing, job skills training, childcare, food and medication. Food Stamp benefits, income deductions and other qualification for federal nutrition assistance have not kept pace with the inflation, nor do they accurately reflect rising household living expenses, such as the price of gasoline, electricity, food or medicine. Without availability of (or access to) proper community-based services, many families would be unable to actively participate in the workforce, leading only to more economic insufficiency.