Bridges Project for Education is a small educational nonprofit dedicated to sending low-income minority and first generation students to college or vocational school and providing first year support for success. Taos County citizens and educators had noticed the low number of college graduates in Northern New Mexico and responded by creating the Bridges Project in 1997.

The Project assists clients through four programs:

• One-on-One College Counseling
• College Summit--a four-day workshop which educates students on the possibilities a college education presents
• Centinel Bank ACT Prep Workshops and Essay-Writing Workshops
• College Tours

As a MIRA CSO, the Bridges Project proposed using technology to establish a needed presence in three locations in Taos County. At each of these ScholarShops an outreach coordinator would implement weekly, ongoing programs using computers, software, and the library curriculum in three Taos County Schools. The ScholarShops will act as technology centers containing computers, printers, software, library materials, phone access and an Internet connection. Students and parents will have access to this technology. The Bridges Project hoped that the MIRA grant would be used to establish these satellites so well they would become self-sufficient within a year.

The Project believed these satellite sites would be useful in:

• Expanding outreach activities to low-income and minority Northern New Mexico citizens interested in attending college;
• Increasing student and family access to information on applications, college-life, financial aid, scholarships, courses of study, tutoring, etc.;
• Decreasing fear and misunderstanding of college by students and their families; and
• Promoting student use of computer technology.