Tennessee Disability Pathfinder
| TN-Vanderbilt University, UCEDD/LEND | |||
| Program Type | UCEDD | Fiscal Year | 2012 |
| Contact | Megan Hart, M.Ed. | ||
| [email protected] | |||
| Phone | 615-875-5082 | ||
| Project Description | |||
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The Tennessee Disability Pathfinder is a free, statewide, information and referral service for persons with disabilities, family members, service providers, and advocates. Pathfinder?s mission is to provide comprehensive bilingual disability information and referral resources and support services to and for people with disabilities and their families in Tennessee. The scope of information, resources, and support services includes all types of disabilities, all ages, and nationalities. In 2011-2012, Pathfinder focused on the following areas: I. Disability Information & Referral Service IA. INFORMATION HELPLINE. This year worked with 2000 individual callers (5750 total contacts made) from 87 counties in TN, 34 international countries of origin, and 34 states across the U.S. The 8 counties in TN not included this year: Crockett, Houston, Lewis, Moore, Bledsoe, Hancock, Meigs, Unicoi IB. INTERNET: TN CLEARINGHOUSE OF DISABILITY INFORMATION. Website includes a statewide database of 2100 community agences including resources for refugees and immigrants and is updated annually; Camino Seguro statewide database of Spanish providers maintained by 15 bilingual agency partners across the state; library of disability resources that is topic specific and includes over 1,450 links; flyers and tipsheets from the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center and updated materials including TN Support Group List and TN Autism Resources that is updated annually. IC. COMMUNITY OUTREACH. Staff attended 115 meetings in the community including meetings in Memphis, Johnson City, Jackson, Oak Ridge, Knoxville and Nashville to network with agencies and identify programs and services. II. EDUCATION & TRAINING PROGRAMS The purpose of the Education & Training Program is to increase awareness of disability services, especially regarding Tennessee Disability Pathfinder programs and various programs with Vanderbilt Kennedy Center.This year 1034 individuals from across the state received Pathfinder training. IIA. COMMUNITY TRAINING SERIES ACROSS THE STATE. In collaboration with local agencies Pathfinder spearheaded 3 regional workshops including: Advocacy Services in Johnson City, TN (East TN); Access to Affordable Healthcare in Nashville (Middle TN); and Recreation and Leisure Activities in Jackson (West TN). UT Boling Center UCEDD was a joint sponsor for the workshop in Jackson TN. IIB. PRESENTATIONS AT LOCAL AND STATE EVENTS. There were 25 presentations at local and state events on: Multicultural Diversity, Finding Resources in TN, Self-Advocacy, and Disability Etiquette. IIC. ACCESS NASHVILLE is an accessibility and service learning program for college students. There were 7 Access Nashville related presentations at 4 area colleges and an Access Nashville Replication Training with staff from Lawrenceburg (Middle TN) and Jackson (West TN). III. MULTICULTURAL OUTREACH PROGRAM. The mission of the Multicultural Outreach Program is to help alleviate barriers to accessing disability resources, provide cultural awareness education and training, and provide case management to individuals and families with diverse cultural backgrounds. IIIA. Statewide Information and Referral HELPline (all languages, nationalities, ages) serving 300 individual callers from 34 countries of origin this year. IIIB. Manage a statewide database of over 250 bilingual (Spanish) providers across the state that is maintained by 15 agency representatives. A Camino Seguro Manual has been developed as a replication model for creating, establishing, and maintaining a community database that is web based and designed by Vanderbilt Kennedy Center technology services. IIIC. Collaboration with Community agencies to assist multicultural families with disability information and increase accessibility to disability services (Vanderbilt Autism Clinic, Sports 4 All, Southminster Presbyterian Church, Catholic Charities, Alignment Nashville, Vanderbilt Cultural and Linguistic Council, Meharry Medical College, Division of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, Vanderbilt Junior League Family Resource Center and others) IIID. Annual Conference and community presentations on Cultural Competency and Disability. This year Tawara Goode from the National Center on Cultural Competency was the keynote speaker. There were over 100 people who attended. One outcome was the organization of Alliance for Disability and Cultural Diversity group that meets regularly to discuss ways to address barriers for accessing services for refugees, immigrants, and other underserved populations.As a result of this conference, Pathfinder spearheaded a community group, Multicultural Alliance on Disability, organized to assist non-Englishing speaking families access and receive disability services eligible for and available. IIIE. Sponsor two monthly Spanish support group(s) for parents with children who have disabilities using an education and peer support model. A Parent Support Group Manual has been developed for replication purposes. Provide technical assistance to a Meharry Support Group for parents from Nigeria. IIIF. Spanish media outreach in the community has focused on Middle TN but is expanding to East and West TN in 2012-2013. Activities have included: o WGNC Radio La Sabrosita 810 AM, Richard Cardenas? Morning Talk Show, a weekly radio interview with community agencies from February to November. Pathfinder schedules weekly speakers from Camino Seguro to participate. Pathfinder and Kennedy Center receives recognition on the talk show. o WLLC- Telefutura Spanish television is running a 30 second Spanish PSA about Pathfinder that will be shown indefinitely. o Alexander Santana, Pathfinder Multicultural Coordinator, was interviewed on Que pasa Nashville, local WTVF Channel 5 television station o Carolina Meyerson writes a monthly article about disabilities in La Campana-Nashville Spanish newspaper distributed in Middle TN. |
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