Our History

In 2017, Bridges Out of Poverty of Sublette County (Bridges) began in Pinedale, Wyoming after a Bridges Out of Poverty community workshop was sponsored here. Over the next few years, several people who attended that workshop formed a board of directors and in 2020 created a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Bridges board members pursued additional Bridges Out of Poverty training for the purposes of educating community members, health professionals, business owners and civic leaders on issues related to poverty.

In 2022 the Town of Pinedale provided funding for Bridges to hire a Community Resource Coordinator (CRC). The role of the CRC was to locate resources to assist Sublette County individuals and families experiencing poverty. The CRC walked clients through the entire process of obtaining food, housing, transportation and medical assistance from area providers. Office space and equipment for the Bridges CRC was provided by High Country Behavioral Health, Verizon and the First Bank Community Grant. In the spring of 2024 ,the creation of the Family Resource Center at BOCES made this position redundant.

During the spring of 2023, Bridges completed its fourth Getting Ahead class. In the same year, Bridges offered its first Money Matters 101 class for GA graduates. This course provided financial literacy education to GA graduates, covering the basics of banking, budgeting, income/expense tracking, reading a credit report, credit counseling, debt management and improving credit scores. Eight completed the class. To-date, 26 investigators have graduated from Getting Ahead . A number of them participate in monthly Staying Ahead gatherings where GA graduates encourage one another, meet members of the community, engage in activities that keep them motivated, and work on building their resources.

With generous support from community members and partners, Bridges continues to be successful in facilitating getting and staying ahead opportunities for county residents, developing programs to increase awareness of the existence of poverty and networking resources critical to reducing poverty within Sublette County.