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ANNUAL REPORT 2022-23

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SERVICES

SMILING FACES

Our work

LEADERSHIP

Veronica Mallett, M.D.

Board Chair, 2022-23

2023-24 Board of Directors

As I transition out of the role of Chair for this dynamic board of directors, I recognize how fortunate Bridges for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing is to have strong, consistent leadership. As we saw during the pandemic, we are more than prepared to meet the challenges before us. I am excited about our growth in the past year and look to this year with great anticipation and energy. Our services will continue to grow and thrive, our reach into rural areas ever expanding, including BridgesEAST, new access created by Access on Demand, new awareness of the necessity of including disability in diversity initiatives.

I see Bridges for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing as a connector of communities, one that actively seeks opportunities to share communication, to raise awareness, and to build understanding. Through programs that support the youngest to the eldest, BridgesDHH offers tools and interventions to navigate many of this world’s complexities and to build a more just and inclusive world for all. As a physician, a leader, and the daughter of a late deafened father, I have many perspectives on how outstanding this nonprofit corporation really is.

The board of directors is engaged and dedicated to support this incredible team as we navigate what challenges may come and seize all the opportunities before us. We believe great things are happening and will happen, and we invite your support and participation. --VM

Mike Knott

Board Chair, 2022-23

As a Deaf person, serving as chair is a huge honor. Our talented board brings diverse skills and knowledge, and each director is D/deaf, Deaf-Blind, hard of hearing, a CODA, a parent, or someone with a connection to and a heart for our Community. BridgesDHH continues to provide much-needed support and services across the state, growing from Middle Tennessee to open BridgesWEST and now BridgesEAST and reaching into bordering states.

As someone who uses the programs and services BridgesDHH provides, I know firsthand their quality and the importance of our serving from birth through elder years. BridgesDHH is committed to our mission to build access, equity, and inclusion in partnership with the D/deaf, Deaf-Blind, and Hard of Hearing communities through advocacy, education, empowerment, and effective communication, and from our wonderful board to our incredible staff, led by our amazing CEO, we have the skills and care to do great things. Most importantly, we have the support and leadership of the Community we serve.

Wonderful things are happening and will continue because of your support. “Thank you” cannot begin to express our gratitude and excitement as we move forward into this new fiscal year.

Nancy Denning-Martin,

President & CEO

Closing out our 95th year of service and my seventh year with BridgesDHH brought new accomplishments and new opportunities. BridgesWEST, opened in 2019, just six months before the pandemic, grew by leaps and bounds, uniting the vibrant community in southwest Tennessee and doing more and more each day. Then, as we considered options to the east, the strong community in northeast Tennessee approached us to explore options, ultimately inviting us to open BridgesEAST just as our fiscal year drew to a close. The partnership, leadership, and trust of the communities we serve is an extraordinary gift.

In late May, we began a journey to recruit and train 240 educational interpreters across the state. This five-year project will give our D/deaf and hard of hearing students the best possible language models and equal access in classrooms in all 95 counties. This past year also brought big changes and new growth to our youth education programs, expanding into new counties and taking significant steps to our goal of eliminating language deprivation. Camp Rise & Sign was an unbelievable experience. Our Town Hall on Mental Health was successful and transformative for care across the state, and we have new teams trained to do Communication Assessments. I cannot capture here all the work done in partnership with those we serve nor the joy all of it brings.

I call BridgesDHH my happy place. Each and every day, we push ourselves to be more and to do more. You won't find a more strategically, efficiently, or effectively run business, and you won't find one run with more compassion, empathy, ethics, connection, and fun. Here, I have experienced the real power of a proud, welcoming, joyful, encouraging, resilient community.

We continue to define this civil rights work and to seek to engage and empower the community that leads us. From birth through elder years, we identify barriers and needs, removing the former and meeting the latter, and all of it is done on a foundation of excellence, innovation, and love. I am thankful for every minute and for all the extraordinary people who make this work possible.

MISSION

to build access, equity, and inclusion in partnership with the D/deaf, Deaf-Blind, and Hard of Hearing communities through advocacy, education, empowerment, and effective communication

VISION

a more just and inclusive world with no barriers

VALUES

In our service and decision making, we strive to remain faithful to and to express these values:

Integrity, acting with fidelity to our values

Intention, acting with purpose and meaning

Honesty, valuing truth

Relationship, being in community with one another

Respect, acting with honor and kindness for all

Stewardship, respecting and utilizing wisely those precious resources of time, talents, people, and finances entrusted to us

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