ABOUT US
The Main Organization
Bridges to Prosperity (B2P), founded in 2001 by Ken Frantz, is a non-profit organization that aims to provide access to vital resources, such as health care and education, to isolated communities. Our vision is a world where rural isolation is no longer the cause of extreme poverty in communities. We believe that we can achieve this, one footbridge at a time.
Why Footbridges?
In countries like Bolivia, Haiti, and the Panama, those who live in rural communities cannot easily reach essential resources and institutions. Often times, it’s merely geological obstacles that stand in their way, such as rivers and ravines. This results in citizens of equal right to be disadvantaged when it comes to getting an education or gaining employment.Our Mission
Build to InnovateWe develop and share engineering solutions that are safe, replicable, and locally viable.
Build to Educate
We provide educational programs that teach footbridge construction and maintenance to reach the greatest number of people in need.
Build to Inspire
We provide opportunities for leadership development and personal growth through international collaborations.
In the last 13 years, since the organization was founded, B2P has built over 100 bridges in 14 different countries, including Bolivia, Nicaragua, Haiti and Rwanda.
For more information, please visit http://bridgestoprosperity.org/
Our Chapter
The University of Waterloo Bridges to Prosperity (UW B2P) is a student run chapter under the international, non-profit organization, Bridges to Prosperity. Founded in September 2013 by a group of passionate students, we are the first university chapter in Canada. Our chapter is comprised of approximately 15 students and is mentored by our faculty advisor, Dr. Chris Bachmann.Similar to the international organization, our chapter vision is to provide less fortunate communities around the world the means to access vital resources, such as healthcare services, education, and economic growth. We believe that we can get closer to achieving this goal one footbridge at a time. Every year, we work with the international organization to build a footbridge alongside a community.
Our chapter’s design team designs the bridge based on an earlier completed topographic survey of the area. Our faculty advisor, Dr. Chris Bachmann, also provides input and advice when necessary. Also offering help are our bridge corp mentors, who are engineers in the industry who provide us with guidance on our bridge. Once the design is completed, the bridge is built on site as a cooperative effort between the B2P team members from the UW chapter, the international organization, and the local community.
But bridges don’t come cheap, so in order to help raise funds for travel costs to Bolivia, our fundraising team plans and hosts multiple fundraising events including bottle drives, 50/50 events, and bake sales. We are constantly running events and looking for new ideas, if you have any fundraising ideas for us, we'd be grateful to receive any at b2p@uwaterloo.ca!
