Our mission
A bridge is only useful if someone can cross it
We help men returning from incarceration in the Cedar Valley find housing, work, and people — and then become the ones who help the next man across.
What we believe
Reentry is not one problem. It is a chain of them, and they arrive in order: a place to sleep, a way to get to work, a job that will hire you, a person who will pick up the phone, and eventually a reason to stay.
Break the chain early and everything downstream fails. That is why housing comes first for us, and why housing alone is never the whole answer.
We also believe the people best equipped to help are often the ones who have made the crossing themselves. Our long-term measure of success is not how many men we serve — it is how many come back to serve.
The mark
Why the bridge looks like this
Our logo was created for Cedar Valley Bridge to Hope by a woman-owned marketing business with personal ties to our board and lived experience of the justice system.
Every element was chosen on purpose. The open span, the steady piers, and the quiet palette are meant to convey calm, safety, security, and hope — the environment we are trying to create for men navigating reentry. We kept the mark unchanged when we built this site, and the site was designed around it rather than the other way around.
Where we work
Rooted in the Cedar Valley
Waterloo & Cedar Falls
We serve men returning to Black Hawk County and the surrounding communities, working alongside the agencies, churches, and employers already here.
Alongside, not instead of
Catholic Charities, the Black Hawk County Jail Ministry, and local congregations are already doing this work. We are filling the housing gap between them.
All volunteer
Our board serves without pay. Money raised goes into housing, case management, and training — not overhead.
Meet the people behind it
Six board members with three decades of jail ministry, reentry case management, manufacturing, ministry, and military service between them.