Welcome to the Bridges for Social Change Community Hub!
We are so glad you decided to join us and hope you will return often! Our website is modeled after the ancient Aztec city of Tenochtitlan, which today lies underneath Mexico City. The ancient Aztecs were brilliant architects with one of the most advanced civilizations in the history of humankind. Built in the center of a lake, Tenochtitlan had multiple causeways connecting it to the mainland. The lake served as a protective moat, but the Aztecs were well able to navigate it on gondolas similar to what you see in today’s Venice, Italy. Our logo shows a depiction of this beautiful city. Cortez himself, the first time he laid eyes on it, declared it more beautiful than Córdoba or Seville in his native Spain.
Each of our bridges connects you to a separate section of the website. Although we are very much a work in progress, our basic design is far along enough to open up the website publicly. For now, everything is free, although we welcome donations. Your donations help to keep the website going as well as help with further development. This website community supports academic work, cultural work, gender studies, wellness and mental health, art and music, and perhaps most important of all, it supports resistance and social change. Take time now to explore our community and let us know of your suggestions and comments. We are always happy to hear from you! Abrazos, Charli
Our Mission
The idea of a community hub website based upon the design of beautiful Tenochtitlan, came to me one day while I was teaching on Aztec history. There are so many beautiful aspects of this beautiful city and they should be celebrated in perpetuity. At some point, our community hub will be fully bilingual. Our mission, for now, is to effect social change. When we started in 2006, Grandmothers of the Light was our singular nonprofit and was focused on looking after inmates and their families on the outside. In 2008, I decided to go back to college and get the credentials I felt I needed to carry on the work I had started. To my surprise, I discovered that I loved teaching more than anything else I’ve ever done. This led me to find a way to incorporate my Grandmothers of the Light work with my teaching work and Voila! Bridges for Social Change was born! Certainly, inmates and their families are still very much a part of our focus.
However, now we have added academic work from my colleagues and myself, art, poetry, and music from colleagues and friends: a beautiful pride center based on my work with gender studies, a cultural library based upon my work with race and racism, and of course at the heart of it all is resistance and social change. We seek to educate, we seek to liberate, and we seek to support those who wish to create a more inclusive and equal society in America. We hope that you will join us, as we go forward on our mission to bring equality to all aspects of American society. In a deeply divided nation, this is more important than ever. Your suggestions and comments are always welcome. Thank you for stopping by!
We are Multiethnic and Multicultural
Bridges for Social Change support almost all regions and spiritual philosophies.
We are multiethnic and multicultural. We support the idea that all humans should be able to self identify as they choose. We embrace the core values of training one’s mind on a path to wisdom which leads to personal enlightenment. We believe that wisdom will emerge if your mind is pure and claim.
Gender Spectrum Pride Center
Welcome to our website and thank you for taking the time to learn more about the children and grandchildren of prisoners and those who live in other adverse conditions such as poverty, illness, or abuse. There are 9,620,511 children living in the state of California. Nearly 20% of them, or 1 in 5 lives below the poverty guidelines set forth by the government. Many of those have a parent who is in the California Department of Corrections. (for in depth reports and statistics visit our e-tour pages) The plight of these children now and in the future affects everyone one of us. The numbers are too big to be ignored and the social implications too profound to walk away from. Won’t you join with us as we take steps to care for and nurture this important generation?
Bridges for Social Change
support almost all regions and spiritual philosophies. We are multiethnic and multicultural. We support the idea that all humans should be able to self identify as they choose. We embrace the core values of training one’s mind on a path to wisdom which leads to personal enlightenment. We believe that wisdom will emerge if your mind is pure and claim.
Grandmothers of the Light
Grandmothers of the Light is a non-profit organization (TAX ID # 20-5738652) formed for the benefit of children in adverse conditions including poverty, incarcerated parents, illness and abuse. Your help is desperately needed to insure that these children are able to stay in touch with incarcerated family members and have access to phone calls, mailing supplies and visits so they can. No child should lack school clothes, supplies, birthday gifts, Christmas gifts, or any other needs that arise because of poverty. Please take a few minutes to look at our website and get to know some of the kids we want to help.
There are lots of ways to help…
Some Of The Comments From Students Who Wanted This Website To Happen!
Indigenous Land Acknowledgement
Welcome to our website and thank you for taking the time to learn more about the children and grandchildren of prisoners and those who live in other adverse conditions such as poverty, illness, or abuse. There are 9,620,511 children living in the state of California. Nearly 20% of them, or 1 in 5 lives below the poverty guidelines set forth by the government. Many of those have a parent who is in the California Department of Corrections. (for in depth reports and statistics visit our e-tour pages) The plight of these children now and in the future affects everyone one of us. The numbers are too big to be ignored and the social implications too profound to walk away from. Won’t you join with us as we take steps to care for and nurture this important generation?
Shwanee we are, Shawnee we will remain. (Tecumseh)
Charli’s Corner
Contrary to popular belief, Lorem Ipsum is not simply random text. It has roots in a piece of classical Latin literature from 45 BC, making it over 2000 years old. Richard McClintock, a Latin professor at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia, looked up one of the more obscure Latin words, consectetur, from a Lorem Ipsum passage, and going through the cites of the word in classical literature, discovered the undoubtable source. Contrary to popular belief, Lorem Ipsum is not simply random text. It has roots in a piece of classical Latin literature from 45 BC, making it over 2000 years old. Richard McClintock, a Latin professor at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia, looked up one of the more obscure Latin words, consectetur, from a Lorem Ipsum passage, and going through the cites of the word in classical literature, discovered the undoubtable source.