About

In March 2001, Bridges to Prosperity (B2P) founder, Ken Frantz, saw a photo in National Geographic Magazine that moved him to action and spurred the idea for B2P.  The image showed men dangling precariously, using ropes to pull each other across a wide, high and broken bridge span over a portion of the Blue Nile River in Ethiopia. Ken soon discovered that his brother, Forrest Frantz, had seen the photo and had the same thought: “what I want to do is repair that bridge.”

Within three months, Ken, who owns a construction company, donated time, money and materials, enlisted eager family members, friends and his Rotary Club to support the inaugural B2P project. B2P’s first bridge project, Sebara Dildi, repaired the bridge crossing along the Blue Nile in Ethiopia and represents a vision that continues to inspire a new generation of bridge builders today.

Bridges to Prosperity provides access to healthcare, education, and markets by teaching communities how to build footbridges over impassable rivers, in partnership with organizations, sponsors and professionals. The student chapter is a multidisciplinary group which aims to provide communities with services in order to improve their current standard of living. Students foster the values required to help these developing communities and gain knowledge while helping design a bridge in order to solve one of their greatest setbacks, access to human essentials.  We prove the value of our work through a commitment to the community and its bridge that lasts long after the opening celebration.