Rooted in Love. Driven by Purpose. Inspired by Possibility.

BiG North Florida began with a family's love for their son and a belief that every person deserves the opportunity to communicate, contribute, and live a meaningful life.

In 2015, Tim and Lynn Yeager founded BridgeHaven Academy for their son, Jacob, after he began communicating through an alternative form of communication. What began as one family's search for a way to help their son be heard grew into a school serving non-speaking individuals and families throughout North Florida.

At the heart of BridgeHaven was a simple but powerful belief: Presume competence.

Rather than focusing on what someone could not do, the BridgeHaven community chose to believe in what each person could do—and to create opportunities for those abilities to emerge. That commitment eventually led to the creation of the BridgeHaven Communication Clinic, where individuals and families could explore alternative forms of communication and discover new possibilities for connection, expression, and independence.

But the Yeagers knew the journey could not end at graduation. They began asking a bigger question: What happens when our young adults grow up?

They envisioned a place where adults with unique abilities could continue to learn, grow, work, build relationships, and contribute to their communities. That vision led them to the BiG Community and to organizations whose programs demonstrated what was possible when adults with unique abilities were surrounded by opportunity, purpose, and people who believed in them.

In 2022, the Yeagers and the BridgeHaven team partnered with BiG, becoming one of the first organizations in the nation to bring the BiG model to a new community. BiG North Florida began as a pilot program serving five non-speaking adults with Autism. What started small quickly revealed something much bigger: when people are given meaningful opportunities and an environment where their abilities are recognized, they can flourish.

Today, BiG North Florida continues to build on that vision. We are creating a community where adults with unique abilities are not simply cared for.

They are known. They are heard. They are challenged. They are celebrated. And they are given the opportunity to contribute.

The future is BIG.