COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically reshaped our priorities as individuals, employees, public servants, and as a community. While we are still experiencing this pandemic, Bridges of Iowa has been focused on how we can do even more to serve the needs that are coming in the near-future. We are preparing in an environment of skyrocketing unemployment, loss of healthcare, and dramatic increases in substance abuse and overdoses. One study indicated that 47% of Iowans are drinking alcohol from home during work hours with over 33% saying they are likely to drink more alcohol in isolation and 20% of respondents stockpiled alcohol for self-isolation.
Bridges of Iowa has long been an innovative, cost-efficient, and successful program for substance abuse problems. Our wraparound services ensure that people are able to obtain and maintain employment. In fact, many of our current clients and alumni are the heroic frontline workers enabling businesses and society to carry on during these challenging times. But these times are more challenging for some of us, and there is a pandemic within a pandemic of increased substance abuse and overdose deaths.
the problem
By any metric, the war on drugs in America has been a colossal failure. The United States has the highest per capita incarceration rate of any developed nation in the world. More than 80 percent of the 2.3 million people behind bars in our country meet the diagnostic criteria for addiction or have been incarcerated for drug-related charges. Nearly half of the people who enter our criminal justice system go on to commit other offenses. On average, a person facing jail time for a drug-related charge will return to jail four more times during his or her lifetime, escalating into a pattern of continual incarceration.
In Iowa alone, 12,700 people are incarcerated every year, and 65% of those people meet the diagnostic criteria for substance abuse. In its 20 years, Bridges of Iowa has helped thousands of people overcome substance abuse and escape the cycle of criminality. This help has in turn benefited tens of thousands of people in the central Iowa community.
our mission
We invite you to a better life.
our vision
Bridges of Iowa graduates will live free from substance abuse and criminality, become contributing members of their families and society, and continue to explore and to develop their individual faith.
our values
Faith, Hope, and Love, Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, Temperance.
brief history
Twenty years ago Don and Charlene Lamberti formed a foundation that provided the idea and funding for the innovative and comprehensive Bridges of Iowa program. They were moved by their son Anthony’s personal struggle with substance abuse and experiences within the criminal justice system. Bridges of Iowa is a local organization that for twenty years has run an effective, successful, long-term substance abuse treatment and reentry program. We have been collaborating with Polk County Iowa for many years on our shared goal of reducing recidivism in our community and successfully returning those affected by substance abuse back to their loved ones.
board of directors
| Jeffery | Lamberti | Lamberti, Gocke & Luetje, P.C. | Founding Member, Managing Partner |
| Patrick | McManus | Rock in Prevention | Founder & President |
| John | Conway | Regenexx | Vice President Of Operations |
| Father Tom | DeCarlo | Retired | Chaplain |
| Nolan | Gentry | Brick Gentry, P.C. | Founding Partner |
| Julie | Jackowski | Casey’s General Stores | Chief Legal Officer / Secretary |
| Thomas | Jackowski | Valiant Wealth | General Counsel |
| Lawrence | James | Retired | Emeritus |
| Donald | Lamberti | Bridges of Iowa and Casey’s General Stores | Founder―Emeritus |
Management
| Patrick | Coughlin | Bridges of Iowa | Executive Director |
| James | Greenfield | Bridges of Iowa | Chief Financial Officer |
| Jered | Headreck | Bridges of Iowa | Legal Counsel |