In response to the desperate needs of the AIDS pandemic, Dennis and Susan Wadley formed Bridges of Hope International and moved their family to South Africa in February 2003. During those years the Bridges of Hope team was able to refine a model of holistic community development called Community Health Education (CHE) in an urban setting. They also launched an orphan boarding high school, Bridges Academy, and began multiplying the CHE model into other countries.

Dennis has been in leadership within the non-profit sector and for profit sector for his entire adult life.