Disability Pathfinder Hispanic Outreach Program

The Disability Pathfinder Hispanic Outreach Project is a statewide information and assistance program for children and adults with disabilities. The outreach office is located at the Woodbine Community Center , a non-profit organization in Nashville.

The Hispanic Outreach Project started with a one year grant through the Council on Developmental Disabilities and the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities to provide outreach to individuals with disabilities who are unserved and underserved Hispanic community of Nashville/Davidson County. The primary objectives of the grant were to...

  • assist individuals with disabilities and/or family members in understanding disability systems and in securing available disability and community services
  • develop bilingual information and referral resources in local agencies to link Hispanic individuals to existing resources, and
  • provide technical disability training in the community.

    • After the initial grant ended in January 2006 this outreach project was integrated into the Disability Pathfinder Hispanic Outreach Program,currently staffed by a psychologist from Argentina and social worker from Mexico.

    Project outcomes have included a significant increase in the number of individuals with disabilities identified in the Hispanic community; several training conferences have been held, and a database of bilingual resources has been created. In addition, Pathfinder started a parent support group in January 2007 that is well-attended and a good source of information for families.

    Training Conferences

    Power of Communication Conference in Spanish held April 20, 2005
    Disability Services and the Hispanic Community Forum held December 14, 2005
    2nd Annual Disability Services and the Hispanic Community Conference held December 6, 2006
    Memphis Area Disability Services & the Hispanic Community Conference held April 5, 2007

    Camino Seguro, a database of Hispanic Resources in Nashville

    Tennessee Disability Pathfinder, Mental Health Association of Middle Tennessee, and Metro Social services partnered to create a reliable bilingual resource database that provides information about disability, mental health, and social services for the Hispanic community in Davidson County. All the agencies included in this database have bilingual staff. Click here to visit the database or go to www.caminoseguro.org.

    Parent Support Group

    The parent support group meets monthly at an area church in the Woodbine community of Nashville.

    For additional information contact Claudia Avila-Lopez, Statewide Program Coordinator for Hispanic Services at this email or 615-322-8529 ext.11.