Chi Phuong Thi Phan (MSW ’07), Program Director at the Bridge Project’s Westwood site, had unique preparation for her job; she and her three brothers were all Bridge participants when they were kids. Living in the Columbine neighborhood back then, Phan’s family faced challenges common within all four of the public housing sites Bridge currently serves. Her mom, a single parent who’d emigrated from Vietnam after the war, spoke little English, and the children struggled in school. But things began looking up when Jeanne Orrben (MSW ’78), Program Director at Bridge’s newly opened Columbine site, invited Phan and her brothers to join the after-school tutoring, mentoring and Scouting programs. For the first time, Phan saw social work in a positive light. Now a social worker herself, she’s helping families much like her own break the cycle of poverty.
Read about the accomplishments of graduates from every decade since our founding in 1931.
GSSW Alumni Stories 