Past Grant Awards

This grant proposal seeks funding to obtain battery-powered cars, toys, and necessary materials to adapt them, providing inclusive play for children with mobility challenges. The project will focus on adapting 15 cars and 40 toys. We aim to build capacity within the disability community by serving as an additional resource for families experiencing challenges acquiring the necessary equipment and tools to aid their children. The Appalachian Highland Region, like many rural areas, faces unique challenges in providing adequate support and resources for children with physical disabilities. These challenges include limited access to specialized services, high costs associated with adaptive equipment, and scarcity of recreational activities for children with disabilities. AdaptoPlay addresses the need for independent mobility among children with disabilities. By providing adaptive equipment and tailored mobility solutions, the program helps children to move more freely, fostering overall development.

adaptoplay.org

Your support will increase our capacity to deliver life-changing adaptive kayak adventures to people living with disabilities served by our Tennessee Chapters. Adaptive kayaking is often inaccessible to people living with disabilities, regardless of their race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status, due to the expense of adaptive kayaks, transportation barriers, and limited opportunities for programs that encourage participation. With your support, we will solve our first issue related to expanding capacity by increasing our storage space, allowing us to expand our kayak fleet and equipment needed to deliver adaptive adventure on the Tennessee River. Our goals are to break barriers, increase equity and access, dismantle stereotypes, raise community awareness, and promote inclusivity. We take this on because it is our life’s work.

youtube.com/@GoCatalystSportsorg

Teens and adults can face significant obstacles when transitioning from high school to employment due to lack of specialized job training and life-skills education. Adults with Down syndrome face the challenge of limited options for safe, welcoming, and inclusive work settings. GiGi’s Adult Education Program fills this gap by providing an innovative vocational training program designed for individuals with Down syndrome to learn foundational skills, preparing them for community employment and a life of confidence and independence. The short-term goal is to encourage and involve individuals with Down syndrome in the workforce, with the long-term goal of helping participants feel acceptance, reduce systemic barriers, and grow beyond expectations. This program was launched in response to ongoing community feedback about the need for accessible career training for adults with Down syndrome.

gigisplayhouse.org/nashville

The Aging Program is an initiative proposed by the Knoxville Center of the Deaf (KCD) to address the unique needs of Deaf, Hard of Hearing, DeafBlind, DeafDisabled, and Late-Deafened individuals aged 50 and older. This demographic faces significant barriers in accessing and utilizing resources designed for elderly populations, resulting in misunderstandings, miscommunication, and inadequate care. The Aging Program aims to bridge this gap by providing tailored outreach, education, and support services to enhance the well-being and quality of life of elderly members of the Deaf community in Knoxville and surrounding areas. Through targeted outreach, collaboration, education, and support services, the program empowers elderly Deaf individuals to lead fulfilling and independent lives while fostering greater inclusivity and accessibility within senior care systems.

kcdtn.org

Our proposed project will extend our reach, impact, and inclusivity within the disability community by bridging the language gap for Spanish-speaking families who have children with disabilities in Middle Tennessee. The project responds to the underrepresentation of Spanish-speaking families in disability support services, despite Hispanics comprising 10% of Davidson County’s population. This includes translating our website, social media content, the Assessment and Inclusive Modification (AIM) application, and producing a Spanish-language video in our House to Home series. By leveraging our diverse team, with 40% identifying as Latino, we aim to expand service capacity and build stronger connections with immigrant communities. The immediate goal is to refine outreach to Spanish-speaking families, and the long-term vision is to strengthen partnerships, increase annual service numbers, and foster a more inclusive environment for all children.

tuckershouse.org

Earlier in 2023, two of our health educators attended training with Elevatus to become Certified Sexuality Trainers, specializing in education for people with I/DDs, their caregivers, and service providers. Elevatus is a global organization whose mission is to empower, motivate, and educate self-advocates, professionals, and parents to gain confidence, comfort, knowledge, and skills to teach and talk openly about sexuality, enabling people with developmental disabilities to lead healthy lives. This training gave us access to Elevatus’ evidence-based, trauma-informed curriculum. The curriculum is appropriate for high schoolers and adults. We don’t just want to adapt what we are already doing to fit a population with unique needs; we want to ensure we are equipped with evidence-based resources created by experts that will have the most significant impact possible. It is important to us that when we educate a vulnerable population, the health educator facilitating the conversation is someone with lived experience. We request $2,200 to have two contract health educators, both disabled individuals, complete the Elevatus certification. This will allow them to cofacilitate the training moving forward.

astepaheadchattanooga.org

The proposed project is the purchase of racing wheelchairs to be used by children participating in ABLE Youth’s Sports and Independence Program. Specifically, ABLE Youth is requesting funding to cover the cost of two Soaring Eagle T-Frame Racing Wheelchairs with shipping.

ableyouth.org

The project we are proposing aims to expand and enhance our community center workshops, which are integral to our mission of empowering wounded veterans through the arts and music. This initiative will specifically focus on building a comprehensive arts resource center within our community center. We plan to add essential technology and equipment that will be accessible to veterans from anywhere, providing them with tools for creative expression and healing.

creativets.org

The Memphis Dream Center’s Indoor Play Space is a multi-phase sensory play space to be built out by Fun Factory. This project is addressing playspace inequity in our city. 63 children that we are serving in other capacities have been identified by their parent or caretaker as not having a safe space to play, according to our most recent community needs assessment. We will implement the building out of this accessible indoor playspace in phases. Phase One will cost approximately $25,000. The community will be informed through flier distributed through partnering organizations, our website and our social media.

memphisdreamcenter.com

The overall goal of this project is to bring JCRC’s existing accessibility ramp and bathroom up to ADA standards so that ALL people seeking recovery from substance use disorders have equitable access to life-saving recovery support services.

johnsoncityrecoverycenter.org

In 2020, TNSTEP launched its Family Equity Advisory Team (FEAT) to review and monitor the organization’s policies and procedures through an equity lens. The team efficiently put measures in place to help eliminate disparities in educational outcomes for students and youth with disabilities, with a special focus on students from underserved and underrepresented populations. To support this ongoing work, it is necessary that TNSTEP produce informative written, graphic, and video content in the top 4 languages represented in our state—English, Spanish, Arabic, and Chinese—to reach more families who need special education support and training.

tnstep.org

Our project is a massive, inclusive performance of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “Cinderella” at Tennessee Performing Arts Center in October 2023.

backlightproductions.org

BEST would like to initiate a Music Therapy Program for children with vision impairment/blindness and their families.

bestoftennessee.org

To bring our communities together and provide a healthy environment that inspires peer-to-peer play.

carrollcountytn.gov

On September 9th, 2023, Fashion Is For Every Body will host our eighth annual inclusive, multi-runway fashion show at Studio 615 in East Nashville. We will be serving adults aged 18+, persons with disabilities, persons of varying body types, people in the BIPOC and AAPI diaspora, those who identify on the LGBTQ+ spectrum, and persons over 40.

fashionisforeverybody.com

HAPI plans to expand services to reach more underserved Tennesseans by offering free art and creative writing classes in the West and East.

healingartsprojectinc.org

Funding to support and build our Resource Hub throughout 2023. Several of the services we provide are underfunded or unfunded. Reimbursement rates are not at the level to fully fund some of the programs (e.g., STAGES and our outpatient clinic), and unfortunately, our Resource Hub is an example of a completely unfunded, but critical and growing service we must provide.

chattanoogaautismcenter.org

Our proposed project is a partnership between the Overton Park Shell and DeafConnect MidSouth that would allow for ASL interpreters for the D/deaf and hard of hearing communities to interpret the lyrics of the music and all announcements during our pre-show introduction at our Free Concert Series at the Overton Park Shell, our Shell On Wheels Outreach Concerts in Midsouth neighborhoods, and other programming such as our Health and Wellness Series.

overtonparkshell.org