We recently connected with Christina Gravina and have shared our conversation below.

Christina, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. One of the most important things small businesses can do, in our view, is to serve underserved communities that are ignored by giant corporations who often are just creating mass-market, one-size-fits-all solutions. Talk to us about how you serve an underserved community.

At Bridging Independent Living Together Inc., we serve individuals with developmental and physical disabilities, including teens and adults with autism. In Massachusetts, many individuals age out of public school programs at age 22. After that, they are left to navigate a complex system of adult services on their own. We provide a range of in-home supports, employment supports, and community integration services to help our clients live as independently as possible. We estimate that over 70% of our individuals are underserved and need more supports in order to live a healthy and independent life. We aim to provide innovative programing to our individuals and bridge the gaps of care that specifically teens and adults encounter due to lack of options for programming. Our individuals make our communities vibrant, they are hard workers and kind friends. They deserve the chance to continue to learn throughout their life and experience new adventures, just like everyone else.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Christina is the CEO and founder of Bridging Independent Living Together, Inc. Christina has been working in the Human Service field for the past 14 years and has gained extensive experience with promoting independence in individuals’ lives despite interfering behaviors.

Christina is currently a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) with a Masters of Education in Curriculum and Design in Applied Behavior Analysis. Christina has worked as a direct care staff, residential group home manager, residential area director, and a behaviorist overseeing individuals ranging from adolescents to adults, in clinical and in-home settings.

Christina prides herself on not only providing guidance and education to her staff but also being an advocate for the individuals and their families. Passionate about her work, Christina works to create flexible, person-centered programming that always puts the individual and their wishes at the center of all programming.

With an understanding of the individuals’ and families’ goals, as well as extensive experience with navigating current services and systems, Christina is able to personalize services to deliver innovative and qualified services for every individual served.

Bridging Independent Living Together, Inc. has many services for individuals of all ages. Services include in-home supports, Applied Behavior Analysis Therapy, job coaching, respite care, and for teens/adults we do small group classes, daily. Our small group classes focus on independent living skills, community integration and of course-fun! We cap our classes at 8 individuals and have 3-4 staff to ensure all the individuals can get proper attention and receive the needed oversight to achieve their goals. Examples of our classes include cooking, healthy living, music, and theatre.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

When COVID19 hit we had only been in business just shy of two years. We had actually just launched our first small group event and had much success with it. A month later we had to shut down all services for two months. We decided that as essential workers we would continue to work but just do it in the safest way possible, using the guidance that was available. While it was complex navigating services during a period where people had to remained distanced we worked to the best of our ability to come up with creative solutions so our individuals would not regress with their skill sets. I am proud of our team for it’s flexibility and creativity during this time. I know the individuals and their families appreciated all of the support we were able to provide, in whatever way we were able to deliver it.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

Word of mouth has been the most effective strategy for growing our clientele. The special needs community is a small one. Good services will receive good feedback to other families, while less than ideal services will also shared among others.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.biltne.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/biltinc
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/biltinc
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/biltinc