Mission
Our mission is to provide compassionate, holistic care to those who need a safe place to heal and are experiencing homelessness in the St. Louis region.
VISION
Our vision is a community where every resident has equitable access to healthcare, housing, and the services they need to be as safe, healthy, and productive as possible.
Our Goals
- Formalize Partnerships
- Complete revitalization of the facility and hire qualified, caring staff
- Raise financial support
- Demonstrate the start-up and operational cost value to hospitals and MCOs
- Provide integrated medical respite for over 400 adults annually
- Be the premier medical respite center in the St. Louis region
- Reduce homelessness, hospital readmissions, length of inpatient stays, emergency department visits, and gaps in care
- Improve quality of life and recovery for clients
- Be a successful non-profit in the Ville/Greater Ville community and contribute to the revitalization of the neighborhood
Core Values
- Collaboration: Work closely with healthcare providers, social service agencies, and community partners to ensure quality, comprehensive care.
- Excellence: Leverage continuous improvement, measurement of outcomes and accountability to pursue excellence in all we do.
- Stewardship: Safeguard the time, talent, and treasure with which we are entrusted. Integrity: Maintain high ethical standards and expectations, and value honesty and transparency in our communications, relationships, and actions.
- Equity: Honor and focus our efforts around our core belief that everyone should have access to quality housing, healthcare and a safe place to recover from illness.
- Inclusivity: Create an environment where patients, staff and visitors are welcome, respected, experience compassion and a sense of belonging.
- Faith: Faith is a source of strength, hope, courage, and resilience that enables us to overcome challenges and realize a better future.
History
Bridge of Hope Ministries (BOH) was founded in 2001 by missionaries, Stephen and Robin Boda. What began as a new church plant in one of St. Louis City’s most disinvested neighborhoods, became a haven for the unhoused and housing insecure after intentional conversations to understand the community’s needs. Shortly after its inception, BOH acquired the former Williams Elementary school to begin rendering services. For more than 20 years, BOH has provided basic services such as a place to come out of the inclement weather and rest, receive a hot meal, toiletries, shower, washer and dryer access, a clothing room, and literacy education. The objective was to make space for those who the larger community deemed a nuisance.
In 2020, BOH underwent a massive leadership change from the founders to a new Executive and Board of Directors. Amid a global pandemic, the new leadership evaluated the programs and services to understand what was most impactful and essential in helping clients achieve health and economic stability. After a few months of going through an intensive strategic planning process, BOH leaders made the decision to narrow its focus to a single program, The Bridge Program, that could yield the highest results in moving clients towards sobriety, permanent housing, accessible and equitable healthcare, and job training. This programmatic change shifted BOH from being a basic needs drop-in shelter to becoming a Bridge Program that advocates for and navigates challenging bureaucratic systems that keep the unhoused and housing insecure from receiving needed services, as well as a plan of care where we walk alongside clients from instability to stability. The expectation is graduation from our program.
While our long-standing day shelter has provided short-term necessities and case management services, what our clients have asked for most is access to healthcare and connection to housing. To expand upon our Bridge Program, we are changing our model to focus on medical respite in order to make the greatest long-term impact in the lives of our clients, reduce demand on local emergency departments, and reduce healthcare costs.
Over the years Bridge of Hope has become a place where the unhoused feel safe, loved, seen, and unafraid to fail forward.