| CEO Comments: New Horizons (NH) is a charitable, 501c3 non-profit organization that provides services to people with developmental and intellectual disabilities. Since our founding, NH has grown to provide services in ten counties and now serves hundreds of people in our facility and in the communities where they live and work. The Challenge: People with disabilities face challenges that last a lifetime, and usually need professional support on some level. At NH, our excellent staff understands and accepts their struggles, ranging from irreversible and severe intellectual impairment such as Down syndrome, to physical disorders that affect a person's ability to move such as cerebral palsy, to the challenges with social skills, behaviors, and communication brought about by autism, and many more. Common barriers they face include attitudes (stereotyping, stigma, prejudices,) communication problems (cognitive or physical limits to hearing, comprehension, spoken or written communication,) physical or mobility problems, and social barriers (lack of employment or education, poverty, and violence). For people with these difficulties in life - often arising during childhood or present from birth - NH provides solutions. (Please refer to Our Purpose, Support and Solutions on the Programs page.) Funding: Much of our funding is provided by the TN Dept of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities as the cost to care for disabled individuals is more than what most families can afford. We also work with MCOs such as Amerigroup and BlueCare, and some families pay for our services directly.However, reimbursement is often not enough to take care of all the needs of the people we serve. We provide programs and services that go above and beyond the basic (reimbursed) costs, what we call Mission-Based Services. Unlike some other agencies, we are a nonprofit charitable organization, which means we are not driven by profit but are motivated by our mission to serve, and our #1 priority is the quality of life for the people in our care. To fulfill our mission we depend on the generosity of people and organizations in the Middle Tennessee community. |
