Letter from the President/CEO
Being associated with the dedicated men and women of Community Bridges is, for me, a unique privilege. In 1996, I was fortunate enough to be selected by our Board of Directors, a caring and active group of concerned citizens to become the Chief Executive Officer of what was then a fledgling organization with 23 employees at one location on South Bellview Street in Mesa. Today our organization has close to 200 employees in programs providing services in 18 locations across Maricopa County.
I am always amazed that during these past 10 years, our dedicated clinicians have provided Emergency Crisis Care services at our East Valley Addiction Recovery Center (EVARC) and our Central City Addiction Recovery Center (CCARC) to over 88,000 homeless, indigent, and working poor men and women, while over 20,000 have received lifesaving Medical Detoxification treatment services at these two facilities. Our clinical mission, to provide emergency services to a high risk unstable population, is echoed in our Value Statement: “We Value Human Life, the Sustaining of Human Life, and the Recovery of Human Life…..Always with Dignity”.
Our Crisis Response Team (CRT) is crewed by Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT’s) and Behavioral Health Technicians (BHT’s) who respond to individuals in crisis 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. They work closely with the Phoenix Police Department and Phoenix Fire Department and provide direct response to calls from Police Officers and Firefighters. Our CRT quick response enables Police Officers and Firefighters to triage impaired individuals and transfer them to our team enabling the Officers and Firefighters to return to duty within 15 minutes.
Our Outpatient programs serve over 1,000 men and women each year providing tens of thousands of hours of individual and group therapy.
Our programs embrace the entire spectrum of services. Our Prevention Partnership staff members deliver on-site services to schools, providing programs to students before, during, and after school teaching, mentoring and encouraging students to learn and practice good decisions making skills, to help them avoid substance use and to understand and believe they can have a bright, safe, healthy future even if they are working their way out of homelessness or other challenging situations. Each year these programs touch and change over 30,000 students, their families, their teachers, school administrators, and support personnel.
After three years of fundraising, two years of planning, and one year of construction, we opened the Center for Hope in January, 2005. The Center is a national model “best practice” long-term residential treatment program dedicated to changing the lives of pregnant women with co-occurring disorders and saving the lives of their babies. The 20,000 square feet of living and learning space is home to 24 women and 32 children. Our first baby was born in April, 2005, and 29 other healthy, beautiful babies have followed. Our 15 graduates are all in strong recovery, working, continuing their education, and practicing the skills learned at the Center for Hope to become and remain dedicated, nurturing, caring mothers and contributing members of society. We are so proud of them and the incredible staff who have turned the dream of the Center for Hope into a reality.
Please accept my personal invitation to visit all of the portals on this website to become acquainted with our Program Directors and each of our unique programs. I’m sure that after just a short visit, you will feel as I do, that Community Bridges is a family sensitive, compassionate organization dedicated to saving lives through prevention, education, and treatment of substance abuse.
Dr. Frank Scarpati
President/Chief Executive Officer
