NEWS FROM PATHFINDER
By Melissa Fortson & Carole Moore-Slater
Tennessee Disability Pathfinder has phone, Web,
and print resources in English and Spanish to
connect the Tennessee disability community with
service providers. Referral services, free of cost,
are provided to persons with disabilities, family
members, service providers, and advocates.
Pathfinder is a joint project of the Tennessee
Council on Developmental Disabilities and the
Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on
Human Development.
BILINGUAL RESOURCE DATABASE
NOW AVAILABLE
A bilingual resource database listing services for
the Hispanic community in Davidson County is
now available on the Pathfinder Web
site. A partnership between Tennessee Disability
Pathfinder, the Mental Health Association of
Tennessee, and Nashville Metropolitan Social
Services, the database provides reliable information
about disability, mental health and social
services in English and Spanish. All agencies
included in this database have bilingual staff, and
database entries will be updated regularly. To
access the database, visit
www.familypathfinder.org (click on Pathfinder En
Español option).
HISPANIC OUTREACH PROJECT
OUTCOMES
The Hispanic Outreach Grant, a highly successful
one-year project funded through the Tennessee
Council on Developmental Disabilities, ended in
January 2006 (the project continues as part of the
Pathfinder program). The targeted location for
this information and referral program for Hispanic
individuals with disabilities and their families is
the Woodbine Community Organization in
Southeast Nashville, an area with a large number
of Hispanic residents. An Hispanic Outreach
Worker with Pathfinder has an office located in
the Woodbine Community Center. The purpose of
the project is to assist underserved Hispanic individuals
with disabilities and their families by
increasing knowledge of available disability services
and community supports while improving
access to available programs. Outcomes included:
A total of 177 Hispanic individuals with disabilities
were identified in a 12 month period. In contrast,
during the 2.5 years before Project Conexión, the
Bilingual Social Worker at Pathfinder identified a
total of 80 Hispanic clients with disabilities
statewide. A case management approach is a
necessity with the Hispanic population due to
language barriers and legal status of individuals
needing services.
Pathfinder partnered with the Mental Health
Association of Middle Tennessee and Metro
Social Services to develop a new Nashville area
Hispanic Community Database in English and
Spanish that is available on the Pathfinder Web
site. The focus of this database is disability services
and social services that have bilingual staff
available. This database links to the Pathfinder
Web site at www. familypathfinder. org
The Hispanic Outreach Project sponsored disability
training in the Hispanic community, including
the “Power of Communication” workshop in April
2005 and “Disability Services in the Nashville
Hispanic Community” forum in December 2005.
Both workshops trained agency representatives
to communicate effectively with clients with disabilities
and their families and with other agencies,
offered an opportunity for networking
among agencies, and provided information on
disability-related services available in Spanish in
Davidson County. Both workshops received very
strong evaluations from participants.
STAY CONNECTED
WITH PATHFINDER
Pathfinder publishes
The Pathfinder, an enewsletter
containing
information about program activities and
other disability-related resources in Tennessee.
Past issues of the publication are archived on the
Pathfinder Web site (under Pathfinder Features,
click on “The Pathfinder: News from Tennessee
Disability Pathfinder.” ) To receive future news
from Tennessee Disability Pathfinder via e-mail,
please contact us at tnpathfinder@vanderbilt.edu
.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
Tennessee Disability Pathfinder
(615) 322-8529 (Nashville area)
(800) 640-4636 (toll-free, English & Español)
(800) 273-9595 (TTY)
www.familypathfinder.org
tnpathfinder@vanderbilt.edu
DISABILITY SERVICES & SUPPORTS
DIRECTORY NOW ONLY $10
The 2004-2005 Tennessee Disability Services &
Supports Directory, published by the Tennessee
Disability Pathfinder Office, is a source of information
regarding state and local programs and
services. The newest edition is available by geographic
region (East, Middle, and West
Tennessee). Order forms are available online at
http://kc.vanderbilt.edu/devents/order.html.
Melissa Fortson is disability resource
specialist with Tennessee Disability
Pathfinder at the Vanderbilt Kennedy Family
Outreach Center.
Carole Moore-Slater is program director of
Tennessee Disability Pathfinder at the
Vanderbilt Kennedy Family Outreach Center.