The Educational Bridge Foundation is a relatively-new Mariposa-local 501c3 non-profit organization designed to develop and expand educational programs, internships, trade certifications, and job training opportunities for the Mariposa Community and the local Sierras. We are already honoring our pledge to revitalize this county’s education. In the past couple of years, we have helped the Mariposa Academic Boosters Club and the School District relaunch the "Nitty Gritty City'' experience, designed to help our youth learn life skills to navigate their futures. Additionally, the Chamber and Foundation brought back the Mariposa Business Expo in June at the Fairgrounds, where businesses have a chance to demonstrate and talk about what they do for the community and other businesses. We are building our first programs in partnership with Amador College Connect to start creating career and learning opportunities in Mariposa.

This is the slow part of the process; we are learning about all the gaps and broken things. But we love to find those missing pieces and problems - we call them opportunities. These opportunities are the spots where people say “if only” and “I wish” and “they should”. That’s where we need to build bridges. Bridges between the business community and people who want to become certified or licensed in the trades. Connections between existing training programs and state or federal funding. Links between Mariposa County and the California Jobs First Grant program. We are reaching out to neighboring communities to understand what they are doing; we want to partner with Amador College Connect and Columbia College to sponsor and support much-needed local Nursing, EMT, Wildland Firefighter, and Forestry training, certification, and licensing programs. 

We have so much to do, and so many connections to make, and so much to learn. We want partnership and community involvement. We want to hear from you and our constituents. We want your input and feedback and your volunteerism.

We want to empower individuals and build a more knowledgeable, skilled workforce for the future. For our future.