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Therease Taylor
Report on Field Placement Setting: Detroit, Michigan
SW 4443 Field Work Practice Seminar
Wayne State University
Professor Althea M. Grant

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REPORT ON FIELD PLACEMENT SETTING

PERFORMANCE OUTCOMES RELATED TO FIELD PLACEMENT SETTING

Mission and Purpose of the Agency

I am currently completing my internship at Bridging Communities, Inc. Based in
Southwest Detroit, Bridging Communities, Inc. is a grassroots collaborative involving local
unions, businesses, residents, social service and faith-based organizations working together to
create caring communities where people of all ages can live in dignity in Southwest Detroit. Our
work improves the quality of life for the elders of Southwest Detroit by meeting the needs of the
surrounding neighborhoods, through creative collaboration and innovative programming.
Its mission is to improve the quality of life for the elderly by meeting their needs in the
areas of supportive services, visiting and providing transportation; as well as, case management
and minor home repairs. The work at Bridging Communities is a collaborative one between the
community, businesses, and organizations. They all work together in Southwest Detroit to
establish a caring community, where the elderly, youth and people in the community interact
with one another to ensure the elderly remain safe and cared for. Many of the people at Bridging
Communities, Inc. are volunteers. The individuals that come to volunteer at Bridging
Communities consist of all ages.
Bridging Communities, Inc. was established in Detroit in 1980 in the Southwest side as a
project that branched off from S.A.V.E (Seek and Visit the Elderly). Bridging Communities, Inc.
worked at getting businesses in its communities and neighborhoods involved with the assistance

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of providing for the elderly. Bridging Communities, Inc. recognized the relationship between the
community and the need to help the elderly live better lives.

Overview of the Population Served

Bridging Communities, Inc. services the elderly of the community. Living in the
community of just one zip code are 39,613 individuals; however, BRIDGING COMMUNITIES,
INC. serves many communities outside of the community where it is located. Zip codes that are
serviced by Bridging Communities, Inc. are 48208, 48209; 48210, 48216 and 48217. This
number adds to approximately 200,000 individuals in these communities. Out of the 200,000
people in these communities, 70,000 are senior citizens. That means that 40 percent of the
population is a senior citizen. Bridging Communities, Inc. only serves approximately 10 percent
of the 70,000 seniors. Bridging Communities, Inc. serves five zip codes and multiple
communities.
Your Role Within The Agency
I assist the social worker with helping clients complete Department of Human Services
paperwork, Social Security Income paperwork; healthcare, apply for focus hope the food and the
meals on wheels program. I assist the social worker with signing them up and making sure their
certification is up to date for Department of Human Services and focus hope. I partake in the
Arrangement of transportation to doctors appointment, make phone calls to insurance
companies on behalf of clients, and also make phone calls to clients of Bridging Communities,
Inc. My role within the agency also is to monitor a senior who is living alone, and or have very
limited caregiving visitors and having no one to check on them daily. This is done by making
daily assurance phone calls to the senior. I complete surveys with clients to find out if their

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service with Bridging Communities, Inc. is meeting their standards. I take inbound phone calls
from people in the community calling for various resources.
Other disciplines represented within the organization and your (or social work) interaction with
Each Discipline
Bridging Communities, Inc. has several programs to service the communities. We have
the Eldercare Services, where Bridging Communities, Inc. does a professional assessment of the
elderly citizens that are living in the areas, or who has giving Bridging Communities, Inc. a call
and would like to seek services offered by Bridging Communities, Inc. We assess their living
condition and by way of our volunteers with particular skills, we aide with the necessary needs
of the client. The need can be minor home repairs to providing additional assistance for the
elderly who are living alone.
An Intergenerational Program also has been added to Bridging Communities, Inc.s
organization. This program was created to teach the youth respect for the elderly and to exchange
knowledge and talents, both from the elderly and the youth. Another program Bridging
Communities, Inc. has is the TimeBank program. This program establishes volunteers to
negotiate volunteering services; for example, there may be a barber who is involved with the
TimeBank program and a volunteer needs a haircut, there is a coordinator at Bridging
Communities, Inc. to assist with making this happen. However, there is no direct exchange.
PAPLO is a building owned by Bridging Communities, Inc.; however, Bridging
Communities, Inc. does not oversee the management of the building, but we do connect with the
seniors who visit the building to aide them with resources and services. The building is a place
where seniors live and receive visits from the BCI, the case manager. Seniors mingle with other

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elderly citizens and overall relax with someone whom they can relate to in a stimulating,
reminiscing conversation and environment.
Bridging Communities, Inc. has been strongly concerned for the lives of the elderly for
many years. Bridging Communities, Inc. has built two affordable senior citizen housing
townhomes and have transformed city-owned properties into properties that can be owned by
residents.
BCI works on continuing to enhance the neighborhoods where seniors are living. The
desire to see the neighborhood looking how it used to look some thirty or forty years ago is what
BCI would like to see and this is another area where we call on volunteers to assistance. Another
program we added to our organization Neighborhood Stabilization, where the community and
neighbors around the elderly are coming together to assist the elderly with the beautification of
the exterior of their homes. We also assist individuals with the necessary paperwork and assist
them with the Detroit housing auction.
How clients access/enter the system, eligibility, intake policies, and procedures, etc.
Anyone over the age of sixty living in the designated zip codes is eligible to receive service from
Bridging Communities, Inc. and must meet poverty level standards. In some cases, we assist
individuals below the age of sixty. There are various programs that service ages from teenage
years to elder years. Elder care is one of the agencies most popular departments at the agency.
How clients leave/terminate the system
A senior citizen has on-going eligibility as long as he/she continues to live in the
designated zip codes and meet the income standards. Once a client has left the area and has
moved out of the radius of pick up, services are terminated. Our clients have a long history of

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being a part of our organization. Moving usually only happens when a senior becomes too old to
care for themselves and must move in with family, a nursing facility, or passes away.
Discuss the agencys commitment to the community and surrounding areas it serves and
examples of how this is achieved
Bridging Communities, Inc. has been and is committed to the partnership of the
community, to continue to build trust with its citizens of the community, and to continue to
inspire volunteers to join. The commitment of assisting senior citizens, not just in a small portion
of the city, but would like to extend its services further and further into other communities to
build a stronger community. Bridging Communities, Inc. has been around for over thirty years
assisting seniors. Having the ability to get other people involved and having the youth to
understand what it means to make it to the age to be called elderly.
Bridging Communities, Inc.s concentration on the youth has inspired it to start a new
program for the youth boys in the community. We are making a difference in the lives of these
young men. I can say that Bridging Communities, Inc. has been and continues to be a great
benefit for the people of the southwest communities. They are committed, not only for the
welfare of the elderly but also to the growth and development of the youth in the community; as
well as, to the people of the community. Bridging Communities, Incs vision is to further expand
and add to its organization programs that would consist of change, and decrease the number of
youth not completing high school.

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References

Bridging Communities, Inc (2013) Bridging Communities, Inc/

Home,.www.Bridgingcommunities.org
The Unity in our Community Time Bank (n.d) Neighbors helping neighbors,.
http://www.southwestdetroittimebank.org/