Dear Friends of Pathfinder,
I hope you have been enjoying the summer. Although the hot weather indicates that it’s still here, it seems to have quickly passed by for students, their families, and educators as a new school year begins.
Pathfinder recently experienced its own new year with the start of the 2023-2024 fiscal year in July.
I always consider new beginnings a time of reflection and planning. If you are personally or professionally associated with academics, then perhaps you are reflecting on how much has changed since last school year and determining ways to make this year even better. We recently held a Pathfinder team meeting to discuss similar topics for our program. It was an opportunity for us to celebrate all that we accomplished last year—close to 2,000 individuals connected to resources, 38 training presentations provided to more than 1,300 participants, approximately 11,200 users in Tennessee obtained updated information on Pathfinder’s website, and we launched Tennessee Tech Connect.
The celebration, however, didn’t last long before we quickly started brainstorming plans for this year with the goal of continuing to effectively fulfill our mission to help people with disabilities, their family members, the community, and professional support partners find and access resources, support, and services available to meet their needs.
The Compass is one form of communication we use to fulfill our mission and this issue is particularly important because we know navigating the school year, especially the first few days of school can be exciting and difficult at the same time, especially for individuals with disabilities and their families. This issue is jam-packed with resources, community services, and events that can assist in making this transition a little easier as you start your journey with a new beginning. We will continue to bring you more resource information throughout the year, so you will certainly want to keep reading our newsletters, follow us on social media, and visit our website to stay in the know.
Start this new school year and your journey with us, check out The Compass: Back-to-School 4-1-1.
Wishing everyone a successful and fulfilling school year and fiscal year!
Best Regards,
Megan Hart, M.Ed.
Program Director
Tennessee Disability Pathfinder