BRIDGES and Transition Services

BRIDGES Eligibility and Enrollment
Frequently Asked Questions

BRIDGES: SPS 18-21 Transition Program

What does the acronym “BRIDGES” stand for?

Building Real-life Independent Daily Living and Gainful Employment Skills

BRIDGES is designed for young adults with disabilities, ages 18-21, who continue to need special education services once they have completed grades 9 through 12 to meet their unique post-secondary transition goals.

At BRIDGES, students work with highly trained staff at various community-based volunteer sites to develop and hone job, life, and independent living skills to help launch them into a successful and meaningful future.

The vision of the BRIDGES program is a world where young adults with disabilities have the empowerment and skills to be engaged community members. The mission of the BRIDGES program is to provide hands-on learning opportunities that build vocational, social, and independent living skills.

BRIDGES works closely with several community partners that we are so grateful to for letting us learn, grow, and develop in their spaces. Check out some of the programs and organizations that we work with:

BRIDGES Eligibility and Enrollment

All students with an IEP who need continued support in working towards their post-secondary transition goals are eligible for BRIDGES. Students in BRIDGES will be near their peers daily, make frequent trips out into the community both to volunteer and experience the community, and will be supported in and expected to work towards workplace behaviors to the extent they are able.

The decision to enroll and move to BRIDGES is an IEP team decision that includes the BRIDGES team. The earlier you can get us involved the more we can support in ensuring that a student can make a successful transition to our program if that is what they want.

BRIDGES Enrollment Process and Timeline

As early as 9th grade, you can reach out to the BRIDGES Program Specialist for information about the program. In addition to chatting on the phone or answering questions via email, they are happy to attend IEP, Evaluation, or Parent/Teacher meetings to discuss the program and any services or supports that can be offered during high school around transition.

We recommend that at the latest you start informing families and student about BRIDGES during a student’s 10th grade year.

Sophomore Year

We recommend that at the latest you start informing families and student about BRIDGES during a student’s 10th grade year.

If you haven’t already, start inviting the BRIDGES Program Specialist to IEP meetings for the student interested in BRIDGES, so the family and student can get questions answered and the team can start planning for what the student might need to work on during 12th grade.

Winter/Spring of 11th Grade Year

Fall of 12th Grade Year (September to November)

Winter of 12th Grade Year (December to March)

Spring of 12th Grade Year (April to June)

Anytime 12th Grade Year

We recommend that at the latest you start informing families and student about BRIDGES during a student’s 10th grade year.

Case Managers fill out and submit the BRIDGES Interest Form for the student.

Parents, student, and case manager fill out informational form for BRIDGES to get to know student.
BRIDGES staff schedule observation/interview of student

Initial placement offers are sent out to student, family, and case manager.
BRIDGES case managers reach out to student and families to get to know them.
High school case manager and BRIDGES staff work collaboratively to amend the IEP before the end of the year to reflect the student’s transition to BRIDGES the following year.

Please invite BRIDGES program specialist to IEP meetings for any 12th grade student who is considering BRIDGES for the following year.
Please reach out to BRIDGES program specialist if you are interested in a tour of the program if the students are interested.

Frequently Asked Questions

No. BRIDGES follows the Seattle Public Schools’ calendar, so we start when SPS starts and end when SPS ends. Students continues to have Winter, Mid-Winter, and Spring Break.

Yes! We work closely with the Skills Center and many of our students take classes with them that allow them to gain industry level skills. Students who do Skills Center do that for half the day and the other half they work with us at BRIDGES.

We highly recommend checking out the Skills Center.

Yes! Outside of ACHIEVE, we don’t have any specific programs geared towards supporting students in college classes, but for each unique case we work with the student and their schedule to make sure they can get support around their classes through BRIDGES and continue to learn skills essential to their transition and independent living. It is important to note that students will have to pay for their courses at the college or work with other adult agencies they might be connected to in order to help with tuition.

Yes. All students who attend BRIDGES remain eligible for Seattle Promise. Once they are in their final year, we work with the Seattle Promise folks to get the student enrolled so they can access the Seattle Promise the following Fall.

Learn more about Seattle Promise.

Yes. If your student is eligible for special transportation, they continue to be eligible when they come to BRIDGES. However, we work closely with our students to get as many who can to get Metro trained.

Ideally, yes. We understand there are special circumstances, but since BRIDGES is not a program where credits are earned then students will need to have met those graduation credit requirements before coming to us if they want a diploma.

Yes. Having an FBA and BIP helps inform us about the student and the best placement and does not exclude them from eligibility for BRIDGES.

Not always. For safety purposes, some students are not in a place where BRIDGES is the best program for them to make progress on their post-secondary goals. If this does happen, the student stays at their home school and continues to receive services there that help them work towards their post-secondary transition goals.

No. ACHIEVE only offers us a certain number of spots each year and ultimately the decision of who gets in is ACHIEVE’s choice not ours. If a student does not get in, the student can remain at their current BRIDGES site or consider looking at other options like a BRIDGES 1 location.

No. Project Search only offers us a certain number of spots each year and ultimately the decision of who gets in is Project Search’s choice not ours. If a student does not get in, the student can remain at their current BRIDGES site or consider looking at other options like a BRIDGES 1 location.

Yes. We work with all the adult service providers that are connected to a student if the student and/or family want that. Typically, they join us during IEP meetings and collaborate with us closely in their final year in preparation for them exiting school. Some adult service providers we work closed with are the Department of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR), Department of Developmental Disabilities (DDA), School-to-Work (S2W), Vadis, and many more.