THE OUTCOMES

Your generosity and investment moved us toward a more inclusive world with fewer barriers!

Adult Education & Outreach

AEO delivered 130 outreach/educational presentations to businesses, universities, law enforcement, first responders, congregations, and agencies.

BridgesWEST BridgesTN BridgesEAST

46 44 40

AEO delivered 169.25 hours of ASL I, II, and III in classes that were onsite, online, or community based.

BridgesWEST BridgesTN BridgesEAST

64.25 64 41

AEO, with Empowerment, presented/hosted over 30 workshops for the D/deaf and hard of hearing communities. We presented a statewide Driver's Education class and continued our statewide, virtual GED students for Deaf and hard of hearing students. A small group met monthly with the Slovak Association of the Deaf in our cultural exchange partnership.

BridgesWEST BridgesTN BridgesEAST

14 11 5

AEO hosted our 5th, annual Trunk or Treat, Tax Days, Community Health & Vaccine Clinics, Thanksgiving, Game Days, and Signing Santa as well as special Deaf Nights Out in rural counties. With the Tennessee Organization for the Deaf-Blind, we hosted our first Deaf-Blind Game Day.

Advocacy

BridgesDHH trained all mental health facilities operated by the State of Tennessee, increasing access and care for our Deaf, Deaf-Blind, and hard of hearing communities.

We renewed open caption movies for summer series hosted by Nashville, Clarksville, Murfreesboro, McMinnville, and Cookeville.

We continued the Little Pantry in Nashville, allowing our neighbors both to participate in sharing food and in receiving food as needed.

We hosted Community Meetings at BridgesTN, BridgesEAST, and BridgesWEST to get the Community's lead on Interpreter Licensure.

We worked with HCA Healthcare to increase training of staff and access for our Community.

We trained all county law enforcement at their annual conference in Gatlinburg, TN.

BridgesTN began a collaboration with the Nashville Soccer Club to provide interpreters at all home games.

Empowerment

Empowerment served 966 clients in FY24. Our case management program served individual clients in areas such as jobs, housing, individual access, education, and assisting clients with written English.. Other priorities were food security, training opportunities, educational advocacy, and advocacy for access to health care, mental health care, and other services. Empowerment made over 270 referrals to other agencies, including the Civil Rights Enforcement & Education Center, Disability Rights TN, Vocational Rehabilitation Services, Financial Empowerment Center, attorneys, doctors, churches, and more.

At BridgesTN, Empowerment collaborated with the Financial Empowerment Center to provide bi-weekly financial counseling, providing interpreters and a social worker to work with the counselor. If there were identified barriers to program participation, we were able to provide some direct financial assistance to remove those barriers. Over 90% of clients in the financial program had increased credit scores, paid off debt, or built savings.

We partnered with Genoa Healthcare to host vaccine and community health clinics.

Our Empowerment Manager at BridgesTN served on the Mayor's Advisory Committee for People with Disabilities.

CLIENTS SERVED

BridgesWEST BridgesTN BridgesEAST

391 434 141

REFERRALS

BridgesWEST BridgesTN BridgesEAST

56 137 77

Interpreting Services

BridgesDHH provided 46,502.25 hours of interpreting services across the state through a team of staff and freelance interpreters, including 197.5 hours by Deaf interpreters, 1,460.75 pro bono hours, and 82.5 hours of CART, 271 minutes of VRI, and 1,190 minutes of Access on Demand.

INTERPRETING HOURS (DEAF INTERPRETER HOURS)

BridgesWEST BridgesTN BridgesEAST

4,990.5 (0) 27,122.25 (153.5) 14,389 (44)

PRO BONO INTERPRETING HOURS

BridgesWEST BridgesTN BridgesEAST

531.75 648.5 293

CART

BridgesWEST BridgesTN BridgesEAST

0 82.5 0

VIDEO REMOTE INTERPRETING (VRI)

BridgesWEST BridgesTN BridgesEAST

0 271 0

ACCESS ON DEMAND

BridgesWEST BridgesTN BridgesEAST

0 1,190 0

Interpreting Services, in collaboration with Youth Education & Services, is launching Camp Interpret! This three-day camp WAS designed for teens with ASL experience and introduced them to interpreting as a profession, including a field assignment with The Tennessee State Museum.

Interpreting Services provided a robust program of virtual professional development, using qualified interpreters with specific areas of expertise to offer professional development on topics such as legal, medical, performance, mental health, and more.

EDUCATIONAL INTERPRETER DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

In May 2023, BridgesDHH was awarded a five-year grant to train 240 educational interpreters in Tennessee. By July 2023, we had hired our first staff, and by September, we launched our first meeting with sixty (60) potential mentees, moving forward to have fifty-six (56) active mentees in our first year. These mentees are matched with Interpreting Mentors and Deaf Mentors, participate in several workshops each month, and complete assignments using video software. Here are results from our first year.

NUMBER OF CURRENTLY ENROLLED PARTICIPANTS: 75

NUMBER OF UNDUPLICATED PARTICIPANTS: 89

NUMBER OF MENTORS: Interpreting 24 | Deaf 10

NUMBER TESTED TO DATE AND OUTCOMES:

EIPA Written | 8 PASS

EIPA Performance | 17 waiting on results (current wait time is 7 months)

NUMBER OF NEW LICENSES: 7

LAPTOPS PROVIDED: 28 (1 requested but not yet received)

SCHOLARSHIPS AWARDED: 5

Maryville College | 3 Troy University | 1 ETSU 1

COUNTIES REPRESENTED:

Anderson

Benton

Blount

Davidson

Greene

Grundy

Hamblen

Hamilton

Hawkins

Jefferson

Johnson

Knox

Lafayette

Macon

Madison

Marshall

Polk

Putnam

Rhea

Rutherford

Sevier

Sullivan

Sumner

Shelby

Trousdale

Washington

Youth Education & Services

Little ACEs welcomed new Deaf Mentors who meet with families with D/deaf and hard of hearing children ages 0 to 5 each week. Those families also have access to a free, weekly Parent ASL class offered virtually. We matched families in East, Middle, and West Tennessee. Enrollment in Little ACEs doubled in the last year.

LITTLE ACES

BridgesWEST BridgesTN BridgesEAST

4 13 2

At BridgesTN, we delivered school-based mentoring, providing weekly Deaf Mentors for Eakin Elementary and West End Middle School. We hosted quarterly youth social events and opened online tutoring hours. BridgesTN hosted Camp Sign Me Up, a day camp for students who want to learn ASL, and a North Pole event, complete with Santa's Workshop, Signing Santa, and a meal for all ages. BridgesTN also partnered with the Sertoma Club to host the Metro Nashville Public Schools at a Fantasy Baseball Camp with the Nashville Sounds.

BridgesWEST continued our five-year collaboration with the Mayor's Office for Youth Services with the I AM INCLUDED after-school program, and we began working with the schools who host the Deaf Education programs in Memphis Shelby County Schools, providing more services to students and hosting booths at school events. We hosted our first YouthFEST. We completed our third year of teaching ASL at Crosstown Charter School.

In addition to Little ACEs and Camp Rise & Sign, BridgesEAST hosted a monthly Storytime at the public library that was very popular.

DEAF EDUCATION INSITUTE

With the leadership of Interpreting Services and the Educational Interpreter Development Program, we hosted the Deaf Education Institute virtually. Deaf educators, and parents across the state.

CAMP RISE & SIGN

Our amazing location for Camp Rise & Sign (our sleepaway camp for Deaf and hard of hearing students, their hearing siblings, and CODAs) unexpectedly closed at the last minute, disappointing all of us. We were forced to pivot, but creativity and agility won the day. BridgesTN, BridgesEAST, and BridgesWEST each hosted special versions of Camp Rise & Sign.

BridgesTN went to SOAR Franklin on the first day, Nashville Shores on the second, and Game Terminal on the third day!

BridgesWEST went to Redbirds baseball on the first day, bowling on the second, and Magic Springs on the third day!

BridgesEAST went to NASCAR Speed Park in Pigeon Forge and to the Tennessee Smokies baseball game on free hotdog night!

Thank you to the Sertoma Club of Nashville for their sponsorship!