August 2025

From Our Chief Strategy Officer

Dear readers,
 
If you follow us closely, you have heard us talk before about our “community needs assessment” or “joint needs assessment” process. You may have participated in the big survey we did last year.  We have exciting news! 

The full results of that assessment are ready to share. We’ll be sending a separate email very soon about how to access the full report. In the meantime, we’re including a special feature below to explain what the joint needs assessment is and why it matters, along with a few highlights from the data. We’re really excited about what we’ve learned and can’t wait to share more information with you.  

One of the biggest ways we use the assessment data is in writing our new five-year state plan. That plan will outline what we’ll be working on from 2026-2030. We’ve started developing the plan now, using what we learned from the needs assessment. You will have a chance to give input before the plan is final. Keep a lookout for more information this winter about how to comment!  

In the meantime, we hope you enjoy learning more about the needs and issues that are most important to Tennessee’s disability community. We are so grateful to every person who took time to offer valuable input for our joint needs assessment. As we close out summer, we’re continuing to work, together with all of you, to create the bright future our community deserves.   

- Jolene Sharp 

All About the Joint Needs Assessment

^{Note: Much of this content originally ran in Jolene's article for the July issue of Compass, from our friends at TN Disability Pathfinder. You can subscribe here to that newsletter!} 

Tennessee’s Developmental Disabilities Network has made national history with its just-completed joint needs assessment. What does that really mean for the Tennessee’s disability community?  

First, some background: The Developmental Disabilities (DD) Network exists in every state and is made up of three branches, all created under the same federal law.  

• Councils on Developmental Disabilities are the policy change branch. (That’s us!) 
• University Centers of Excellence in Developmental Disabilities are the research, training, and clinical services branch – Vanderbilt Kennedy Center and University of Tennessee Center on Developmental Disabilities in our state. 
• The Protection and Advocacy agency is the legal monitoring, investigation, and advocacy branch - Disability Rights Tennessee in our state.  

The DD Network is the only source for this comprehensive support to the statewide developmental disability community.  

Tell Us What You Think - Quick Survey!

Your feedback shapes everything we do.

It takes just 5–7 minutes to complete our annual survey. By sharing your thoughts, you help us:

• Improve how we share disability information and resources.
• Show our federal partners the real impact of our work.

Every response makes a difference. Even if you only skim our emails or read Breaking Ground, we want to hear from you.

Thank you for helping guide our work for the year ahead!

Click here to take our public policy impact survey.

Welcome our new Governor-appointed Council members!

We’re excited to welcome several new voices to our Council! These members bring personal experience, professional expertise, and a shared commitment to inclusion across our state.

Carrie Hardin (Cookeville)
Carrie’s daughter Elena has an autism diagnosis, and that’s what drives her as her motivation for volunteering on the board of The Exceptional Bean, and now on the Council. Carrie wants to see better housing and support services that help people with disabilities live more independently.

Ricky Skillington (Lawrenceburg)
Ricky worked for UT Extension for 37 years. Today, he’s a county commissioner and a licensed auctioneer. His daughter Ginger has cerebral palsy, and she’s a big part of why he’s volunteered with the Special Olympics, Buddy Ball, and Abigail’s Plan. Ricky graduated from Partners in Policymaking® and now advocates to improve how students with disabilities move from school into adult life. He also values supports that help aging parents plan for the future.

Kelsie Layman (Jackson)
Kelsie graduated from Union University’s EDGE program in 2017. She has Down Syndrome and brings joy and a strong sense of community to everything she does. Kelsie volunteers at Alexandria Place Assisted Living and is involved with the Down Syndrome Association of West Tennessee. She uses music, dancing, and local events to encourage others and make sure everyone feels included.

Keona Gwinn (Nashville)
Keona is working toward her Master of Public Health degree at Meharry Medical College and is an intern with the Tennessee Department of Health. She was born with spina bifida and now mentors young people and serves on advisory groups for transportation and disability issues. Her long-term goals are focused on mentoring, increasing accessible housing, and supporting services that help people live on their own.

Jennifer Rose (Knoxville)
Jennifer founded LIFT East Tennessee and owns William’s Voice. She was inspired to advocate for others by her son’s autism and her late mother’s brain injury. She was appointed to the Council on Autism Spectrum Disorder in addition to our own. She advocates for early intervention, safety, and person-centered supports. She uses her lived experience to push for inclusive policies and stronger communities where every family’s voice is heard.

Council leadership updates
•    Bliss Welch has been named Vice Chair.
•    Courtney Johnson has been named Public Policy Committee Chair. 
•    Reappointments: Kim Boyd, and Shontie Brown.

Welcome the new 2025-2026 Partners in Policymaking® class!

We’re excited to announce the 2025-2026 Partners in Policymaking® class - our leadership and advocacy training program for people with disabilities and family members. Please join us in congratulating these new Partners!

Policy Corner: Council News to Know

Dear Readers, 

News about federal budget decisions can be confusing and hard to follow. Below is an update about where things stand for various disability programs and what comes next. 

This update focuses on disability programs that fall under the federal departments of labor, health and human services, and education. There are many other programs across the federal government that impact people with disabilities (housing, transportation, justice, etc.) 

Background: 

“FY26 appropriations” = funding for federal agencies and programs between October 1, 2025 and September 30, 2026, the federal fiscal year. This relates to discretionary spending - which is different than mandatory spending. 

Last month, we wrote about the One Big, Beautiful Bill and changes to mandatory spending in Medicaid made through the “budget reconciliation” process – this is a different funding issue … which is confusing!

• Both the Senate and the House of Representatives are working on making decisions about FY26 appropriations.
  • Right now, members of Congress are working in their home states. They’ll return to Washington, D.C. after Labor Day in September and keep working on appropriations.
  • Earlier this summer, the Senate and House both made SOME decisions and progress. There are lots of different committees that vote on different budget bills for different federal agencies. Neither the full House nor the full Senate have finished the budget voting process.
  • They are supposed to pass a FY26 appropriations bill (or “federal budget”) by Sept. 30, 2025; the overall bill would need to be the same in both the House and the Senate. 
  • It is very likely they won’t be able to do this by the deadline, due to political challenges and disagreements. If that happens, they should issue a “continuing resolution.” This keeps funding at the same levels temporarily. We’ve been under a “continuing resolution” for all FY25, which started Oct. 1, 2024, so funding levels have not changed for most agencies and programs.
• The President always puts out “the President’s Budget proposal” in the spring. This can influence what Congress decides to do. However, the final budget decisions are up to Congress (legislative branch) and not the President’s administration (executive branch). 
  • The budget request from the President’s administration for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees many disability programs – including the Council – concerned many disability advocates. It proposed some big changes like getting rid of some disability programs and moving others to parts of the agency that don’t have recent experience managing disability programs.
    • It proposed getting rid of the Administration for Community Living and moving programs to another part of HHS. It proposed getting rid of university centers on developmental disability, like Vanderbilt Kennedy Center and UT Center for Developmental Disabilities in TN.
• Even though Congress has not voted on a final budget yet, we can use clues from what HAS happened to learn about what might be next. 

Where things stand now

• On July 31, the Senate appropriations committee approved 26-3 on a bipartisan basis a budget for the departments of labor, health and human services, and education.
• Highlights from that Senate Labor/HHS/Education budget bill are below and show what the key Senate committee thinks should happen with funding:
  • Slightly increased funding over FY24 levels proposed for: 
    • Dept. of Education’s Special Education programs 
    • Dept. of Education’s Rehabilitation Services Administration (oversees vocational rehabilitation) 
    • Dept. of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Community Living.  
      • Note: The Senate proposed moving $27 million from another pot of money within HHS (Prevention and Public Health Fund in the CDC) to various aging and disability programs. Read page 224 of this PDF for more details. Appropriations are directed to the Administration for Community Living (ACL), which suggests a lack of support for dissolving it (which the President’s Budget proposed).
    • Level funding at FY24 levels was recommended for programs under the Developmental Disabilities Act: University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities, Councils on Developmental Disabilities and Protection and Advocacy systems. 
      • Level funding at FY24 levels recommended for Independent Living programs 
      • Several other disability programs the President’s budget had recommended eliminating were kept at FY24 funding levels.
  • Level funding proposed for: 
    • Dept. of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy

Our main takeaway: the Senate did not adopt a lot of the cuts disability advocates were worried about from the President’s budget. 

What comes next and what we’re watching

• The full Senate needs to vote on the Labor/HHS/Education budget bill. It’s unclear when this might happen.
• The U.S. House Appropriations committee has a subcommittee on Labor/HHS/Education that will do a “mark-up” of their version of the budget bill. We’ll be watching to see what the House recommends for funding levels. It’s unclear whether this will happen before the Sept. 30 deadline or not.
• Both houses of Congress – the Senate and House – often propose very different budgets but must eventually agree to one single appropriations bill. A “conference committee” must work out the differences between versions in the two chambers. 

If you have questions about funding decisions about particular programs, let us know at tnddc@tn.gov.  

Thanks for reading!  

- Emma Garton, Policy Director 

Leadership Interview Series: Anna Bass

As Executive Director of Disability Rights Tennessee, Anna Bass brings nearly two decades of advocacy experience as well as a lifetime of personal connection to her leadership.  

To celebrate our 50th anniversary, we talked with 14 disability leaders – past and present – for a special edition of Breaking Ground magazine. We couldn’t fit all that great content in the magazine, so we’ll be sharing more of their full interviews throughout the year.

Sign up here to get updates when new content for this special series is available.

In this e-newsletter, we’re excited to share a short excerpt from Anna’s interview.

Q. What is your personal connection to Tennessee, and how has that shaped your perspective on disability issues here?
A. I’m not a native Tennessean – I’m from Alabama originally. I came to Tennessee because of the Deaf community. The Deaf community said, “Come here," because there is a very strong Deaf population here, and there’s a very strong educational system here, for both Deaf educators and interpreters. And so they said, “Come to Tennessee.”

So I came to Tennessee, and then it became my home.

Q: Fast-forward 20 years. If things go the way you hope, what would disability services and inclusion in Tennessee look like?
A: I envision a Tennessee with integrated, competitive employment and inclusive higher education, where people can choose where they live and work. All the doors open, and people with disabilities are able to walk through any one they want.

Q: What does community-led advocacy mean to you?
A: It’s paramount. I don’t think any of us can do this work without listening to the community… Especially our work. It doesn’t make sense to build a system if the people who are going to engage in it aren’t helping build it.

Be on the look out for the full, unedited interview with Anna on our website later this week.

Community Events & Training

Celebrating 15 Years of Next Steps at Vanderbilt

This summer, Next Steps at Vanderbilt welcomed the Class of 2029 during orientation - marking 15 years of opening college doors to students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).

We are proud to have been an original funder of Next Steps, our state's first inclusive higher education program for students with IDD.

Alumni like Diamond (a 2018 Partners in Policymaking graduate and current Council member) are proof of the lasting impact this program has on students and families.

We celebrate this milestone with our partners at Vanderbilt and look forward to many more years of expanding opportunities for students with IDD in Tennessee.

Research Opportunities

In addition to welcoming their newest class, Vanderbilt is also leading two important research studies and they need your input.

They want to hear from employers about:

• Workforce trends
• Apprenticeship programs
• Hiring people with intellectual disability

Who can participate?

• Employers in Middle TN
• Those with supervisory or hiring responsibilities

Your input will help shape inclusive workforce practices that benefit both employers and people with disabilities.  If you have an interest in participating in a 1-hour interview, please click to register here.

The Vanderbilt Kennedy Center also wants to hear from adults with disabilities and their families. The study explores both:

• formal supports (like services and programs) and
• natural supports (like family, friends, and community).

Who can participate?

• Adults (18+) with an intellectual and/or developmental disability
• Family members of adults (18+) with an intellectual and/or developmental disability

Your voice will help researchers better understand how to improve supports for people with disabilities and their families. If you are interested in participating in a 1-hour Zoom or phone interview, please click to register here.

Jobs

Family Voices Director and Family Voices Advocate

Family Voices of Tennessee is hiring a full-time Family Voices Director and a half-time Family Voices Advocate. Family Voices is a program staffed by families to support families raising children with disabilities, special health care needs, and chronic illnesses.