BRIDGE COMMUNITIES INC

Who are the people you serve with your mission?

Through the help of our program partners and supporters, Bridge Communities provides free transitional housing to more than 100 DuPage County families experiencing homelessness each year. During the two years each family spends in our program, they are able to save money, learn budgeting skills, and obtain better education and/or employment, so they can live self-sufficiently once they graduate.

How is your organization collecting feedback from the people you serve?

Electronic surveys (by email, tablet, etc.), Focus groups or interviews (by phone or in person), Case management notes, Community meetings/Town halls,

How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?

To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals,

What significant change resulted from feedback?

One change in our communications came about after a series of focus groups with our clientele. For many years, we had referred to clients we serve in shorthand as "Bridge families" or "Bridge kids." After discussions with our clientele, we learned that this terminology was unacceptable, and we have since changed our communications to reflect their preferred verbiage "families served by Bridge Communities" and "children served by Bridge Communities."

With whom is the organization sharing feedback?

The people we serve, Our staff, Our board, Our funders, Our community partners,

How has asking for feedback from the people you serve changed your relationship?

Regarding the verbiage used to describe the families as "families served by Bridge Communities," this small but meaningful change reclaims the personal identities of the families we serve. It reminds all of our constituents--donors, funders, community partners, volunteers, staff, and the clients themselves--of the clients' autonomy. Feedback is included in our volunteer and staff training and continuing education programs. Most recently, Bridge hosted a workshop on motivational coaching with a primary theme that client families are the experts in their own history, relationships, and decisions, and that the volunteers and staff are there to provide guidance.

Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?

We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback, We ask the people who gave us feedback how well they think we responded,

What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?

It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, The people we serve tell us they find data collection burdensome, It is difficult to find the ongoing funding to support feedback collection,