BRIDGING POSSIBILITIES

BRIDGING POSSIBILITIES

By Veronica Eldredge

There are many kinds of bridges. A bridge can be an open door, or a warm plate of food lovingly placed in your hand. In music, a bridge connects one part of a song to another. A bridge helps you cross over a stream. In This Bridge Called My Back, Gloria Anzaldúa writes, “Caminante, no hay puentes, se hace puentes al andar. (Voyager, there are no bridges, one builds them as one walks.)” Every day, women are bridges to the world’s possibilities.

“Voyager, there are no bridges, one builds them as one walks”

In the zoom call, one frame shows a woman with a baby on her hip, while another window holds a woman who is chopping vegetables. We’re all listening to a presentation about the benefits and possibilities of small businesses that embody a cooperative model. This is one of several workshops offered to the Jobs to Grow entrepreneur cohort through the Sí Se Puede Collective.

“one frame shows a woman with a baby on her hip, while another window holds a woman who is chopping vegetables.”

We began the program in August 2021, and at the end of February, we celebrated the graduation of 40 fellows from two programs. A week later, a dozen or so fellows participated in a 10-hour long organizing workshop offered by Sacred Heart Community Services. One of the facilitators, Chris Logan, told us, “Organizing is how we build our power, when we all come together and lift up the people of struggle. Organizing is the bridge to the world as it should be.

“Organizing is the bridge to the world as it should be.”