The Governor’s originally proposed budget for 2012/2013 cut the Tennessee Department of Mental Health’s (TDMH) funding for Peer Support Centers by $1 million. Peer Support Centers are a vital link in the supported recovery of persons with severe and persistent mental illness. They make a significant difference in the thousands lives of people in Tennessee who are living with mental illness and in their families lives (Please see below).  Partial funding of $2.3 million had been approved at $1.3 million had been approved, but champions in the Senate and the House came through with budget amendments, most notably Senate Budget Amendment #397 which was sponsored by Sen. Doug Overbey with additional signees. Over 400 amendments were presented for consideration for funding in the budget. 90% of the Amendments were dismissed in the first round of discussion. Senate Budget Amendment #397 made it through, but unfortunately did clear the second round. That is when Commissioner Doug Varney’s plan came into play.

Tennessee mental Health Commissioner had proposed the closing of the Lakeshore Mental Health Institute in East Tennessee. The physical facility was sorely outdated and in need of repair. The decision was made to close Lakeshore which put $6 million dollars back into the mental health budget. That was fine for budgetary considerations, but there were and are lives impacted by the decision, especially for those seeking services for mental illness treatment in East Tennessee. Twenty-five forensic patient beds that were lost from Lakeshore will be made up with new construction at the existing Moccasin Bend facility in Chattanooga.  Building in Moccasin Bend instead of at Nashville’s Middle Tennessee Mental health Institute as originally planned, saves $1.1 million in construction costs. This makes up for the shortfall for Peer Support Centers. It is anticipated that this be included in the Governor’s appropriation bill and will be signed into the budget the week of April 30^th. This is a real success for the all the advocates from NAMI Tennessee and other agencies and legislative offices that worked so very hard over the last month to convince the legislature of the value of the centers.

The supportive peer-to-peer environment results in earlier recognition and  intervention of psychiatric crisis leading to fewer hospital admissions and building skills towards recovery from a severe and persistent mental illness.

• Supported employment opportunities have allowed peer center members to move forward in their recovery from mental illness into private and public sector employment.
• Transportation provided by  centers to members in rural areas may be their only means to mental health support.
• Peer Support Center services are free and are available to persons who do not have insurance making them accessible to a broad range of people in need.
• The cost benefit of funding  a person’s peer support activities at $4 per day versus the cost of a hospital admission at $600 per day, or the impact of persons with unsupported mental illness on the criminal justice system, is simply a more efficient use of taxpayer monies.

When you support Community Shares in workplace giving you are supporting groups like NAMI-Tennessee. To find out more information about the programs and services NAMI-Tennessee offers visit their website.

This is the second installment of “Get To Know A Member Group Better”. Rachel our intern has been interviewing various member organizations to learn more about the work they are doing. Rachel interviewed Brad Palmertree, Director of Communications, with member group Tennessee Health Care Campaign.

What is your overall mission?

Tennessee Health Care Campaign works for affordable access to high-quality health care for all Tennesseans.

 What are the goals for the organization?

Our current goal is to see health reform implemented in a consumer-friendly way here in Tennessee. When the federal government passed the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act (PPACA), sometimes known as “Obamacare,” it did so in a way that allows states a lot of flexibility. Basically, each state is now charged with implementing the PPACA in a way that works best for them. So we want to see Tennessee do this while engaging patients and putting their needs ahead of the politics that often clouds this process.

 How many years has the organization been around?

THCC was founded in 1989 so we’ve been around for 22 years.

 What has been your biggest obstacle?

One of our biggest obstacles has been navigating the political landscape when it comes to health care policy. Of course, we want to see everyone have access to health care, but unfortunately, you can’t talk about that without it becoming a philosophical or political statement. We have consistently (and successfully) worked with members of both major parties, but most people still like to think we pander to one side over another. We understand the political realities of our mission, but we like to think that providing care to our most vulnerable neighbors rises above political rhetoric and party platforms.

What do you think your obstacle will be in the future?

Well, there are two; one short-term & one long-term. The first is what most everyone is worried about: will the Supreme Court uphold or dismantle the PPACA when it releases its decision in late June? If the Court decides that the law (or just one piece of the law) should not be upheld, we will have a lot of work to do in order to ensure that consumer protections already in place because of the law aren’t ripped away. Then we will have to look at Plan B. If the Court upholds the law, we know exactly what we’re working towards and that leads us to our long-term obstacle.

Our long-term obstacle is to see the 700,000 newly-eligible Tennesseans enrolled in health insurance coverage. We have 5 months to make sure all of these people are reached and understand their options. That’s 3,846 per day!  It will be quite the undertaking, but one that we are already making plans at which to succeed.

 What has been your greatest achievement?

We’ve always been proud that we were at the table when TennCare was first formed and gave access to hundreds of thousands of Tennesseans who needed access to care. More recently, we worked tirelessly to see national health reform pass and that was a shining moment for us.

What have you done in the past 12 months that was a success to the organization?

Since the Affordable Care Act passed, we launched a public education campaign like none other. We realized that people were looking to us to provide answers and analysis. Over the past year, we’ve done over 100 presentations to over 5,000 Tennesseans. We know that we’ve changed public perception about the law and dispelled some of the myths. That’s a true success that is already paying off with a change in public opinion about the law.

How do you get word about your organization?

We have a huge base of grassroots volunteers spread all across this beautiful state. They have formed Local Organizing Groups and some of these continue to meet on a monthly basis. They are our voice in the local communities while we operate out of Nashville. We also utilize our e-newsletters, our website, and social media with a presence on both Facebook and Twitter.

Many people, including legislators, tell people of our direct service work. We have a social worker on staff who receives referrals of clients who have been dropped from insurance (public or private), denied insurance, or simply have no access to insurance coverage and needs care. She works with these clients so that they are able to receive the care they need and deserve in order to be a productive, contributing member of society.

How many people do you have working for your organization?

Most people wouldn’t believe that we only two full-time staff members, and one part-time social worker.

What are some volunteer opportunities available for your organization?

We are always looking for volunteers for a variety of opportunities. The Local Organizing Groups are always looking for volunteer leaders to maintain sustainability and to work on local issues affecting their neighbors. Here in Nashville, volunteers are welcome to come by the office. We are looking for help in updating our database, revamping our website, helping with photo & video editing, analyzing health policy, or recording the stories of our clients who have been disadvantaged by the current health care system.

 What is your source of fundraising?

We receive all of our funding from individuals and foundations.

We have started a new blog series written by our intern Rachel. She is interviewing our member organizations to learn more about the work they are involved with in the community. Here is the first edition of the series.

Tennessee Environmental Council (TEC) mission is to education and advocate conservation and improvement of Tennessee’s environment, communities and public health. Without the natural resource provide the background of life. TEC has four main goals. They are the Sustainability Tennessee Project, the Watershed Support Center, Tennessee Tree Project and Education workshops.

The Sustainability Tennessee Project developed an agenda for Tennessee which changes each year based on the needs of Tennessee. The agenda covers land, air, and water. The watershed support center helps communities with the science that is involved with water. Urban water is mainly from storm water, TEC organizes communities to think about water usage and how water effects their lives.

The Tennessee Tree Project is about planting and/or caring for one million trees, by the end of this planting year they will have 5% of their goal complete. During the process of planting trees they educate  people on how to care and plant a tree.  Did you know,  if you volcano mulch the tree, it can kill it? Also for rural and urban forestry there are economic and social community benefits. Socially if there are more trees there is less crime rate, more well-being, less graffiti and less asthma. Another fun fact, in Tennessee there are four cities that rank in the top 10 cities of the United States of people having asthma. Trees filter out a lot of the pollution which helps people breath better.   The last of goals is education workshops, as needed.  At one of their events they sorted their own waste; they had 7lb of landfill waste, 17lb of recyclables, and 30lb of compost. This can be done at any event!

TEC has been around for 41 years, they have been around since 1970. They brought TBA to comply in the 70’s and they won the largest water conservation in the mid 90’s at $1.25 million. Since they have been around for 41 years, their biggest obstacle is political rhetoric, inertia and money. The same goes for their obstacle in the future. They have many loyal donors, but because of the economical time, it is getting harder. Plus a change for the better is often more difficult than a change for the worse.

TEC gets their word out by social media, their website, an e-newsletter, a hard copy once a year newsletter, through public speaking and through Tennessee Wildside, it is a video for the Tennessee Tree Project that will air in April on CBS. Unsure of the date, it will either be April 4, or 9, either way that Saturday it will be at 6:30pm and then it will air again the following Sunday at 9am. With so much that is going on, you would think it would be a massive crew, but it is only built up of 3 full time workers and couple off and on part time workers.

How can you be volunteer for TEC? Help with the tree planting days (on February 4, they planted 5,611 trees and had 180 volunteers!), help with the Green Tie Affair on March 24 (they will need help sorting the waste afterwards), and lastly, you can call your legislator! The TEC recruits their volunteers by email posts, through specific groups, for example: school and youth groups. In the next few weeks here is what is going on:

• March 17- trying again to plant over 5,000 trees (Nashville area)
• March 24- Green Tie Affair at Marathon Music Works- Show your green!
• March 31- planting trees again
• Call your legislator about the Scenic Vista Act

Tennessee Environmental Council gets their money from three places: major donors (which make up about ½), grants and earned income. From all this money 8-10% goes to overhead and administrative cost, the rest goes into the organization.

What does the future hold? They plan on continuing to pursue their mission statement through the core programs, develop core education workshops; including sustain business workshop which will benefit your small to medium size businesses and the storm water coordinators. They plan to plant 15-20 thousand trees, which will mean planting 10,000 trees each day in two days. For the Watershed they want to reach more communities they already have seven, they will like to add two-three. Then for the Sustainability TN legislation, go back to the drawing table for the agenda, hope to have 150-300 people to help participate and help prioritize it.

TEC has increased success in 40 years, for every dollar they receive they make that an investment in the future. They try to stretch every penny out of it to leverage with volunteers, grants and corporations, through the volunteer labor leverage with the grants. They are very thankful and appreciative of every dollar that comes their way. When you look at their mission statement, they know that the three things are linked together like a chain. When you compromise one you compromise them all. Lastly, they make connections in places that count with everyone: politicians, business leaders, families, schools, churches, etc., they are constantly making connections.

If you would like more information about this organization visit www.tectn.org

Saturday March 3, 2012, Little River Watershed Association presents 2012 Winter Gala at the Grand Foyer, Clayton Center for the Arts at 5:30-8:30. This event provides critical funding for the Little River Watershed Association for conducting programs and activities that educate residents about why the Little River is an important natural and economic resource. There will be heavy hors d’oeuvres catered by Miss Lilly’s wine, live music by Shaffer, Ogle and Lee and a live and silent auction. Their goal is to raise funds for programs like Adopt-A-Stream, Little River Watershed 101, the Volunteer Stream Monitoring Program, Little River Fest, and other work to protect, preserve and enhance the Little River. If you would like to go to this event, the tickets are $75 per person, $150 per couple and they may be purchased online at www.littleriverwatershed.org or by calling (865) 980-2130.

Our member group Community Food Advocates wanted to share a Nashville Community Gardener Survey

If you have participated in a community garden in Nashville, we invite you to take part in a survey to share your opinions and gardening experiences. This survey will take no more than 5 minutes of your time.
Your participation will inform new policies and strategies to help make Nashville a healthier community and increase support for community gardening. Your survey responses are anonymous, confidential and will be combined with the answers of other community gardeners.

We  appreciate your help and lending your voice to create a healthier Nashville!

Click here
Nashville Community Gardener Survey