Letter from Barbara Hayes, CEO, The Bridge Fund of New York Inc.

Message from Barbara Hayes, Chief Executive Officer

Dear Friends,

The Bridge Fund of New York Inc. is celebrating two decades of preventing homelessness. During this time, both programs have made significant inroads on the housing problems of the working poor, and never more than during the recent recession. In the past three years of unprecedented need, The Bridge Fund has helped more than 6,500 people retain their affordable housing, while the number of households receiving financial assistance nearly doubled. Overall, we see that economic pressures on the working poor have not abated and, consequently, the need for homelessness preventive services is still at very high levels. We are seeing government agencies in the areas that we operate in doing less and deploying reduced funds for our type of work. It is important that private programs be strengthened so that they can do more. Increasingly, people are turning to organizations such as The Bridge Fund. This is reflected in the surge in the number of applicants and in the number of households given loans and grants (see Three Year Comparison, 2008-2010 ).

The Bridge Fund's private funding is essential now that government-supported agencies with whom we partner have less money to contribute to client loan packages. Substantial grants from The New York Community Trust, the Mark and Anla Cheng Kingdon Foundation and Goldman Sachs Gives were critical to the expansion of the New York City program, and we are encouraged by the Trust's renewed funding in 2011. We are most grateful to long-time and new funders for making our sustained growth possible.

In 2010, The Bridge Fund's Westchester and New York City programs prevented 1,162 households from losing their housing, surpassing the record set in 2009. These households consisted of 1,550 adults and 1,111 children, for a total of 2,661 people. The Bridge Fund utilized $1,762,416 of our own funds to pay the rental arrears that threatened clients' housing. We also networked an additional $1,076,189 from other agencies for our loan and grant packages. Clients contributed $1,126,572 to resolving their housing crises. All together, we mobilized a total of $3,965,177 to stabilize these households.

We are proud of the part that we have played over the years in preventing homelessness through our innovative model of financial assistance coupled with budget counseling. Since 1991, our expert staff has utilized this approach to effectively stabilize the housing of more than 24,000 working poor individuals, half of them children. Recent monitoring shows that over 90% of clients receiving our financial assistance are still in their homes one year after our intervention. We expect that The Bridge Fund will have an even greater impact on homelessness prevention again this year.

Gratefully,


Barbara Hayes Chief Executive Officer