MAKING THE CONNECTION:
PATHFINDER AND THE INFORMATION & REFERRAL COMMUNITY
BY MELISSA FORTSON
The Alliance of Information & Referral Systems
(AIRS) recently held its 28th Annual Information
& Referral Training and Education Conference in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Among the conference
attendees were Tennessee Disability
Pathfinder’s Claudia Avila-Lopez and Melissa
Fortson. Pathfinder, a statewide bilingual information
and referral program serving the disability
community, is a project of the Vanderbilt
Kennedy Center for Excellence in
Developmental Disabilities and the Tennessee
Council on Developmental Disabilities.
Pathfinder is a member of both AIRS, the national
professional organization of information and
referral providers, and Tennessee AIRS (TNAIRS),
its state affiliate. All of Pathfinder’s full-time staff
hold professional certification awarded by AIRS;
director Carole Moore-Slater and bilingual social
worker Ms. Avila-Lopez are Certified Information
& Referral Specialists (CIRS) while Ms. Fortson is
a Certified Information & Referral Specialist in
Aging (CIRS-A). Ms. Fortson also serves on the
TNAIRS board, which helps guide and implement
the AIRS mission
on a local level.
Conference highlights
included pre-conference
training intensives
on “The ABC’s of
Information & Referral”
and crisis intervention,
as well as workshops
addressing the following topics: training, data
sharing, juggling the challenges of I&R provision,
best practices, consumer empowerment, and
more. At a “wrapup” meeting with other
Tennessee delegates—among whom were staff
from the Greater Nashville Area Agency on
Aging & Disability and Middle & East TN 2-1-1—
local I&R providers shared information gathered
at the conference and discussed opportunities
for cooperative staff training and resource sharing.
All agreed that they had learned much at
the conference that they could immediately
apply upon returning to Nashville.
And what, exactly, is Information & Referral?
The following, excerpted from the AIRS Web site,
explains this unique and important service:
Information and Referral (I&R) is the art, science
and practice of bringing people and
services together. I&R is an integral part of the
overall human services sector. I&R organizations
create and maintain databases of programs
and services. That information is made
available to individuals and communities.
People in search of critical services such as
emergency financial assistance, food, shelter,
child care, jobs, or mental health support
often do not know where to begin.
Without I&R, looking for help means scanning
dozens of phone numbers and contacting a
maze of agencies and services in the hope of
making the right connection...Most people
receive I&R assistance via the telephone...
people talk with trained, empathetic I&R
Specialists who assess their needs in a nonthreatening,
non-judgmental and confidential
manner, to help them understand their situations
and make informed decisions about possible
solutions. The I&R Specialist can, when
necessary, assist people who are in crisis and
emergency situations. I&R Specialists can also
advocate on behalf of individuals who need
additional support… When individuals and
families don't know where to turn, I&R is
there for them.
Tennessee Disability Pathfinder remains committed
to “being there” for Tennessee’s disability
community by providing phone, Web, and print
resources in English and Spanish. Referral services,
free of cost, are provided to persons with
disabilities, family members, and service
providers.