About Bluebridge alliance
In 2011 a respected San Diego Police Officer was recorded by surveillance video at a fast-food restaurant buying a snack for a young neighborhood boy he had never before met. Minutes later, the officer was mortally wounded in an unprovoked attack by an assassin who had no apparent motive other than his desire to kill a police officer. The officer’s passing was an unfathomable tragedy, but his last act of kindness inspired the question, “What if all officers had the resources to perform random acts of kindness for people at moments when they are most vulnerable?” In response to that question, Kennewick, Washington Police Chief Ken Hohenberg, with the support of community and business leaders, created a new program in 2015 to provide those resources. Since its inception, Kennewick’s highly successful program has offered interim relief to over 400 individuals and families. The BlueBridge Alliance was formed to help propagate similar programs to communities nationwide.
HOW THE PROGRAM WORKS
Today, the relationships between communities and their law enforcement agencies are at risk. Those essential relationships can be strengthened by providing police officers with the resources needed to provide relief to community members in distress, and by empowering officers to use those resources with minimal administrative impediments. Such assistance could be in the form of food, shelter, clothing, fuel, auto repairs, transportation, or any other means of support that would help relieve the immediate crisis.
A 501(c)(3) nonprofit program, BlueBridge is a catalyst for galvanizing community efforts by providing funding assistance, technology, model policies and guidelines, procedural templates, training materials, and community advocacy. BlueBridge’s secure technology offers mobile banking capabilities that enable officers to draw from designated funds to assist those in need, while also ensuring accountability. Moreover, it puts at officers’ fingertips information about the availability of in-kind resources offered by local business, as well as information regarding available social services and any other local sources of assistance. BlueBridge also serves as a clearinghouse for national and state funding, as well as for grants from private endowments.
OUR VALUES
We believe in the goodness of humans. We believe in compassionate law enforcement officers, open-hearted community members and altruistic community business leaders. We know that when humans are provided an opportunity to express and practice these values, the benefits reverberate in a positive social sequence. We are passionate in supporting a healthy, mutual, symbiotic relationship between law enforcement officers and their communities.
Meet our Board and Advisory Team: Click Here
We are a non-partisan, apolitical, nonsectarian organization which upholds the value and dignity of all individuals regardless of ethnicity, race, color, creed, religion, gender, national origin, age, disability, marital status, hair color, coffee brand, sexual orientation, gender identity or any veteran’s status.
