Brady’s Bridge

Many kids with special needs in our community do not have an option for after-school care. It not only creates a hardship for the children, but also for working parents who do not have a flexible schedule. How do they provide care for their child and maintain their source of income?  Brady's Bridge has a vision to create a place that caters to kids of ALL abilities by keeping a low ratio of children to teachers (6 to 1) so that all kids can receive the care they need in a social setting with their peers. Children and parents should at least have an option. 

A growing body of research is revealing that the many benefits of after-school care range across children of all abilities. General benefits for all kids include elevated self-esteem, enhanced positive behavior, improved social competence, improved school attendance, and loftier aspirations. Kids with special needs enjoy additional benefits including access to critical supports and enrichment opportunities in a structured environment, stronger connections with peers and increased confidence, opportunities to develop important workforce skills, and being physically active. Parents and caregivers appreciate the ability to remain in the workforce and seek upwardly mobile opportunities, access to much-needed respite care, and peace of mind that their child with special needs or disabilities is safe and actively engaged when the school day is over. However, families with children with special needs or disabilities also experience unique barriers to participation compared with parents of neurotypical kids. These include higher than average cost and greater difficulty finding an appropriate program. The need for more teachers and less students significantly increases the cost per student. With our lower child to teacher ratios, donor and grant funding is critical to keeping our program affordable for parents, at least on par with other after-school programs. Sadly, when faced with no choices for after-school care, parents have to make a choice to leave a career to care for their child or find expensive in-home care without the benefits of socialization. 

 

This cause is a matter of deep personal conviction for me as Founder and Executive Director of Brady's Bridge. The birth of our son, Brady, in 2011, opened our eyes to a new world of diagnoses, therapies, medical claims, many other challenges. When we began Brady’s Bridge a year later in 2012 with a simple desire to support families of kids with special needs with resources, we could scarcely imagine the huge service gaps we would uncover along the way. When Brady entered kindergarten in 2016, we could not find an after-school program because of his needs. Brady is in a wheelchair, has a feeding tube, and has been diagnosed with a seizure disorder among other diagnoses. Traditional after-school programs are allowed 22 kids per 1 adult. It’s not possible to offer the specialized care he needs in this type of program. There are so many families faced with the same challenge. With both parents working and traveling, it was impossible to be available after-school. We had to make a change and decided to help other families along the way. 

 

Since deciding to broaden the mission of Brady's Bridge in 2018, we knew we needed to deliver the highest quality of care to children of all abilities while keeping the monthly tuition affordable for parents. The tuition for each child monthly is $400, but to cover costs of having lower ratios of teachers to students, we need to bring in $518.31 per child. 

118.3147 x 36 kids = $4,259.33 per month or $51,112 per year.

Your generous gift would guarantee that our program can fully staff and care for these wonderful kids with the individualized care they need, while still maintaining a group social setting. It is important that we are able to recruit and retain the most talented caregivers who are able to provide the specialized care that is needed. Accordingly, our salaries must stay above just competitive in the industry to reduce turnover and make our team feel valued for the additional care they provide, physically and mentally.

In addition to the cost of care per child, Brady's Bridge also needs a new A/C unit with duct work and insulation, and an accessible driveway and parking area for our families.  The total costs for those capital projects = $83,322.

This request will fund a new program that will allow Austin-area parents to rely on individualized and nurturing after-school care for kids of all abilities. You can truly make a difference in the life of a child. Could you join us in creating a place for kids of ALL abilities?