As we wrap up our 99th year of service and prepare to kick off our 100th year, I reached a personal milestone of ten years with BridgesDHH. That anniversary coinciding with our work to create a vision for the next 100 years launched a look back at the last decade and the foundation we’ve laid to lead in the next century.

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In January 2017, we adopted our first strategic plan together and introduced for the first time a vision for a continuum of programs and services. That July we changed our legal name to Bridges for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and adopted our new logo, chosen from ideas submitted by Deaf and hard of hearing artists. That September, we celebrated 90 years, and we introduced Little ACEs for the first time. In 2018, we launched our Advocacy program and passed the Deaf Driver Safety Database. In 2019, we passed WordsMatter and opened BridgesWEST.

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In February 2020, we put in place a plan to go fully virtual, so that, on the heels of tornadoes, when the unthinkable happened, we never missed a day of service, and we performed financially as well. Our Advocacy efforts kicked into high gear, and we took care of our staff and of our community. In 2021, we launched a statewide GED program and Driver’s Ed program. We also got interpreters included in the first round of covid vaccinations and launched our first vaccine clinic. In 2022, we hosted the first week-long Camp Rise & Sign with both TN and WEST together, and it was extraordinary. We also created in-service trainings for all 1,600 employees of the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office and all 2,000 employees of the Metro Nashville Police Department, and we filmed these for an online platform used for law enforcement across the state and country. We also launched Access on Demand. In 2023, we launched the Educational Interpreter Development Program and opened BridgesEAST. In 2024, we hosted our first-ever Camp Interpret, and we trained all state-operated mental health facilities across Tennessee. We  worked flood recovery in East TN. In 2025, we provided school-based mentoring, grew the EIDP, addressed interpreter licensure, and weathered a volatile political landscape without missing a beat in our programming. In this year about to close, 2026, we expanded into southwest Virginia, again addressed interpreter licensure and English-only driving tests, did the work to expand the EIDP contract (happening any moment) to include teaching ASL at all TN School for the Deaf locations, and increased partnerships and collaborations.

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In September 2026, we will announce our vision for the next one hundred years, and I’m excited because this vision means a leap of faith that will land to serve more people in innovative ways, maintaining our standards of agility, excellence, and service first, and be sustainable, replicable, and scalable. The best is yet to come, and each and every one of us will be needed.