BuildaBridge's mission is twofold: Bring hope and healing through the arts and Engage artists in service to others.

In other words, we use the arts to help people in difficult situations to heal from trauma and find hope for their future.

Our 2012 goal is to provide hope and healing through the arts to the 2,500 homeless children in Philadelphia and 50,000 children worldwide.

Our basic philosophy is summed up in the phrase Speaking a Blessing into the life of the child through the arts. We:

1. Build healthy and mentoring relationships with children and youth
2. Teach creative arts as a method for engaging children and youth in healthy, creative play and learning
3. See the inner gifts of the child and speak encouragement about these gifts for their future
4. Look for teachable moments by listening and observing
5. Use art as a metaphor in teaching lessons of wisdom, correction and life skills
6. Go beyond arts teaching to meet the needs of the whole child through other resources

Examples of what we do:

• Children learned to appreciate the value of other cultures through an indoor mural project in one Philadelphia shelter that taught about Persian art
• Gang members in a Guatemala prison experienced joy and relief of boredom through a portrait painting class
• Young court-mandated single mothers managed their anxiety and anger by creating masks in an art and spirituality class
• Former child prostitutes in Costa Rica dealt with the pain of their past by telling their stories through drama
• Forty homeless women learned financial planning skills through a soap opera and game show along with financial planning with a local banker
• Young artists learned the social skills of behavior in a formal setting by attending live concerts in a professional theater
• Young homeless mothers learned to plan and cook inexpensive healthy snack foods for their kids in a culinary arts class