THE BRIDGE

The concept of The Bridge is as a business incubator and accelerator for formerly incarcerated people wishing to build a business in the environmental field, to include providing tools for executing business plans, short-term housing, transportation and community work spaces. In short, The Bridge will be a facility where previously incarcerated individuals can live, work, and prepare for successful reintegration.

Master Vermiculture technicians will be involved full-time at the facility and will provide ongoing training to participants who want to learn the trade and potentially start a franchise operation. The vermicompost produced will be used extensively at The Farm. The Bridge will have the following components:

• Housing - several apartments, tiny homes, or other temporary housing opportunities will be created to provide short-term housing for participants at little or no cost for up to 18 months.
• Sustainable Business Incubator bays - there will be several bays set up to allow individuals who desire to start their own business access to a space for a pre-determined period of time so that they can get their businesses off the ground.
• Common Workshops - many businesses need to be able to build out items or manufacture prototypes to get established. The idea behind common workshops is to have them well stocked with tools that can be used on-site to get projects started. This allows progress to take place without each individual needing to make a huge investment in tools prior to generating income.
• Common office space - this will be an area that has computer and internet access, copying facilities, etc. where participants can do the paperwork and research for their business plans. Having an office resource center where all participants have access creates a situation where items only have to be purchased once.
• Mentorship - participants will have access to experts in various fields for advice and mentoring as well as other members of the EARN network.
• Common greeting/rec area - this will be used as a common gathering area as well as for scheduled group meetings such as HEAL, AA, NA, etc.
• Common kitchen area - this will be a space where communal meals can be prepared as well as be used for potential cottage industries such as making pies, canning jams etc.. Items can then be taken to local farmers' markets or sold to subscribers.
• Automotive shop - this will be a space where individuals who have automotive experience can work on vehicles and get them ready for use by participants. This has the potential for being a tremendous resource for individuals coming out of prison as well as other non-profits that are part of this collaboration as the need for inexpensive, dependable transportation for staff and stakeholders is great.

The optimum facility for The Bridge would be an old factory or industrial center that is no longer in use with multiple bays and a large parking lot. An old grocery store, school, mill, etc. would work as well. It would be best if located somewhat off of the beaten path. We are ideally looking for something in the range of 50,000 square feet of space. The idea is that there would be 15-20 people using this facility at any given time with very specific timeframes and agreements on how the different aspects of the facility would be used.