Catalyst Story

Hannah Van Sickle has joined forces with CEO Gwendolyn VanSant to launch The CATALYST series at BRIDGE – a place she cites as a catalyst for her own deep learning and transformative thinking. The catalyst idea was created in conjunction with the BRIDGE CEO and her stakeholders; it represents a continued conversation with Gwendolyn and her greater BRIDGE community since the founding.

Our Collective BRIDGE Story: How Catalyst Came to Be 
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For a trio of local women, the idea of bridging gaps in the community at large sprang from a place of personal necessity. In 2007, Gwendolyn VanSant, Marthe Bourdon, and Gabriela Cruz were busy raising young families in the Berkshires. The arc of their collective connection as women spanned surviving personal and systemic violence, an infant massage class at Fairview Hospital, relationships forged at the former Great Barrington Rudolf Steiner School and a shared love of the Spanish language. As mothers with multifaceted backgrounds, they understood how connecting diverse populations with resources and lifting unheard voices would benefit myriad local families, including their own. 

“We established a camaraderie of intersecting circles,” says VanSant (who took this as a sign they were on the right track) when reflecting on the earliest days of the organization she and Bourdon went on to co-found and incorporate as a nonprofit in 2008. 

One year prior, while awaiting their delayed flight to Amsterdam, Bourdon took a seat next to Bob Norris, her former teacher, and the stars aligned. What began as a casual conversation in the Delta terminal continued several weeks later at The Nutrition Center where the energy surrounding BRIDGE was high. 

“Their ideas began to ding my bells,” says Norris, a decades-long supporter of social justice initiatives in and around Great Barrington. After agreeing to provide the seed money that would germinate and grow into Multicultural BRIDGE, Norris said something that went on to leave an indelible mark on the history of the organization: “You are going to be a catalyst,” he said, in no uncertain terms, after hearing about the plans VanSant and Bourdon had to address issues of race, poverty and immigration in South County. And just like that, the concept stuck. 

By definition, a catalyst brings about change; in a chemical reaction, it does so while remaining intact, without being consumed. Its etymology stems from the Greek word katalύein, meaning "to dissolve” — which, for VanSant, resonates. While the original BRIDGE moniker was chosen as a symbol of building connections, she and her team have simultaneously worked to dissolve old paradigms and narratives.

“The ideas that flowed out of the first meeting were powerful,” says Norris, who recalls a dynamic group of individuals keen on problem solving. After 17 years teaching young people, he acquired a good understanding of the community in which he was living and working — and the dearth of opportunities for many.

“I was so inspired by Gwendolyn’s vision to engage larger and larger groups of people in conversations surrounding equity,” says Norris, underscoring VanSant’s role as a change instigator in the community — work she credits Norris with helping her to accomplish. 
“Your response to us was and remained quite beautiful: We had an idea, and it wasn’t seen as a threat; your consistent support sustained an opening for us to do the work and get where we are today,” VanSant told Norris during an early-August visit at his Great Barrington home. 

What began as a grass-roots organization aimed at creating bridges has become a powerful catalyst for justice, social change and building community — and the ripples of impact that persist. From individuals to systems, BRIDGE is making a mark on myriad arenas including youth empowerment and cultural competence to women of color support systems and food sovereignty. Since its inception, the mission — to promote mutual understanding and respect among diverse groups — has remained unchanged.

“By serving as a resource to both local institutions and the community at large, we serve as catalysts for change and integration through collaboration, education, training, dialogue, fellowship and advocacy,” says VanSant, in a nod to the full mission statement. 

“I cannot imagine the community without BRIDGE,” says Cruz, a current Board member and long-time participant in Women to Women, who speaks first-hand of the nonprofit’s far-reaching impact. “It is a very special place, [one] where — no matter who you are or where you are from — we are all equally important,” she says in a nod to VanSant’s heroic advocacy for all. “[At BRIDGE], I feel free, talented and important…to empower myself and to continue working for the community,” Cruz says, adding that especially for women — who don’t always know their value — BRIDGE has allowed a host of individuals to discover: We are very brave. 

“It’s the catalyst that brings people in,” says Norris — who recognized this nugget early on in VanSant — pointing to a new initiative focused on a paradigm shift in regional Philanthropy through the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation - BTCF (on whose board she currently sits, after having been nominated by Norris when he was chair). The Equity initiative, led by leaders of color to serve their communities in order to level the playing field, was co-designed with regional leaders of Color and VanSant as chief research and designer aimed at advancing racial equity and inclusion through reformed philanthropic practice.

“I invested a great deal of intention around this collective work,” says VanSant who saw an opportunity not only to impact the Foundation and its donors but also BIPOC leaders and communities across the region. As founder of the Equity Initiative, she commenced focus groups in 2021 to assess current needs and center the voices, experiences and vision of communities of color for their collective healing and success.

 “The energy this model sparked catalyzed a seismic shift  to inspire institutional change in our philanthropy in the region that is creating a wave of rippling impact as we move to something greater in the future. We also have grown stronger together as leaders of color in the region,” says VanSant who remains on the Leadership Advisory Committee of the Equity Initiative. BTCF’s September 2024 launch of the Equity Fund, a BIPOC community grant program aimed at supporting underserved populations across four counties, has been marked a transformative moment for our community.  

“By supporting initiatives that tackle systemic inequalities, and by placing leaders of color and our community at the center of those grantmaking decisions, we are investing in a brighter, more equitable future for everyone in our region while leading by example,” said Alÿcia Bacon, Community Engagement Officer for Equity and Inclusion at BTCF. Her new BTCF position and hiring process was one of the early outputs of VanSants engagement with BTCF to design and lead the founding of the initiative. This represents an ethos with which Norris, the former BTCF Board Chair, concurs.

“There are certain gems in one’s life that, when we look back upon them, cause us to say, ‘whoa’ — and for me, BRIDGE is one of them,” Norris says. “The impulse that lives within Gwendolyn and her family is not only inspiring but also contagious. Period. She is a catalyst — and I am going to keep working on upholding the values that Gwendolyn and BRIDGE represent as much as I can.” 

Today, the BRIDGE name says it all: After 17 years, the organization remains committed to cultivating Berkshire Resources for Integration of Diverse Groups and Education. BRIDGE earned national recognition in 2021 for its community work during the pandemic; just last year, VanSant received an international peace award.  

“It has been so exciting to watch BRIDGE grow and grow and grow over all these years,” says MaryAnn Norris, who has always been sensitive to bringing people into the fold and making them feel welcome. Over the past decade, Norris has worn various hats at the nonprofit including family sponsor, CEO cheerleader and BRIDGE board member.

“All of what BRIDGE has accomplished, throughout Berkshire County, stemmed from three women and a single seed,” says VanSant. The BRIDGE curriculum, modified to reach each sector’s target population, has been taught throughout the region from Williams College and Westfield State University to Greylock Federal Credit Union, Jacob’s Pillow and Miraval Berkshires Resort & Spa. One would be hard pressed to find a sector in the Berkshires that remains untouched by BRIDGE’s influence over the last 16 years.

“I remain grateful to my enduring accomplices, Bob and MaryAnn Norris, who not only listened but also provided the resources leading to the freedom for us to do our best work without a lot of questioning,” says VanSant, underscoring what might be her biggest accomplishment to date. At this very moment, the Solidarity Projects for reparations are in formation with the goal of promoting healing, belonging and equity; from the gardens flourishing at the old fairgrounds, culturally specific transitional supported housing and our signature training programs on our virtual hub, train-the-trainer and reinvigorating throughout the region, VanSant’s passion is rooted in manifesting community.

“We’re creating more spaces where our folks can just be themselves, be at home and thrive. We do this by creating new pathways, new structures … dissolving old narratives all the while claiming our liberation and health.”

Stay tuned in for monthly Catalyst stories.

Hannah Van Sickle is an educator turned freelance writer keen on working with clients to fine tune their in-house storytelling. Her work — detailing myriad nonprofit and for-profit organizations in the Berkshires and beyond — has appeared in print and online for publications across the country. She was raised in Pittsfield, attended local schools, and earned her BA in English Writing and Fine Arts from St. Lawrence University and her MA in Liberal Studies from Wesleyan University. Hannah's greatest accomplishment to date has been raising daughters, deep in the woods of South County, where she spent summers as a child. This newest endeavor as a storyteller  is values-driven and based on deep listening and learning that she began eight years ago with the goal of amplifying those voices not always heard directly and clearly in mainstream media.