Legislative Day

SERTOMA CENTER TRIO TAKES TO CAPITOL HILL IN NASHVILLE TO LOBBY LEGISLATORS

By John Mark Hancock, Sertoma Center Executive Board Director  

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Nashville-  Sertoma Center, Inc. is a member of a statewide association of 80 community agencies in Tennessee . TNCO, the acronym for Tennessee Community Organizations, represents 10,000 people that are mentally retarded or have developmental disabilities.  

On Wednesday, March 21, 2007 , TNCO held its annual Legislative Day on Capitol Hill in Nashville . It is an opportunity for agencies like Sertoma Center to have their voice heard on important laws that affect our operations, our staff, and our clients.  

Becky Massey, Executive Director of Sertoma Center, along with two members of the  Sertoma Center Board of Directors, Mark Hancock and Chris Kerr, met with all of the members of the Knox County Legislative Delegation in the Tennessee General Assembly, as well as other legislators, lobbyists, and members of Governor Phil Bredesen’s administration in presenting our case on vital issues affecting us. It was a very productive day.  

Lest anyone think such trips to Nashville are not hard-working affairs, there was a TNCO breakfast at 7 a.m. to kickoff the day at the historic Hermitage Hotel, just a block from the State Capitol. That was followed by all-day meetings starting at 8 a.m. with State Senators Tim Burchett, Jamie Woodson, and Randy McNally, along with State Representatives Joe Armstrong, Harry Brooks, Stacey Campfield, Bill Dunn, Frank Niceley, Parkey Strader, and Harry Tindell.  

Becky, Mark, and Chris all met with each of these ten legislators individually and explained to them not only the vital work that Sertoma does for our clients, but how pending legislation will impact us. For instance, we reiterated our strong support for the bill to equalize staff pay at Sertoma and other private providers with those in state-run development centers. Becky is spearheading an effort, along with State Representative Armstrong, whose daughter is now on the Sertoma staff as an LPN now, to meet with Governor Bredesen to make this a part of his supplemental budget this year.  

Other legislation we are supporting includes the bill that Senator Burchett has sponsored for us to allow some of the marriage license fees being collected annually by the state to be funneled to agencies such as ours to meet the needs of families with children who have mental retardation and developmental disabilities. Another bill we are opposing is the state’s attempt to be able to rid itself of having to allow public hearings on the rules and guidelines that it imposes on us and other agencies.  

All board members are encouraged to participate in this process in future years. This is the first time ever that Sertoma has ever been represented by members of our board in Nashville . It definitely had an impact on our legislative delegation that we had such a strong showing.  

Coincidentally, it was also “UT Day” on Capitol Hill, so we were in and out of offices on the same day that The University of Tennessee was making their lobbying efforts to the same delegation. That also enhanced our efforts in being able to raise awareness of Sertoma Center and what we are about to the University community.  

There were 26 of the 80 TNCO agencies that were represented in Nashville this session. Only 6 of those 26, however, had board members accompanying their executive directors. Over half of those were from East Tennessee , but Sertoma Center was as well-represented as anyone in the state. That is a tribute to not only Becky Massey’s capable leadership but also to the strong board involvement in support of Sertoma.  

It is very important that Sertoma Center in particular and TNCO in general keep and maintain effective communication going with state government. Our lobbying delegation’s efforts are only one way to do that.  

Please contact your legislators on your own and encourage them to support Sertoma in every way that you can get them to do so. Without their help, we cannot continue to effectively provide the services we do to our clients who so desperately need it. The legislation that is either passed or killed in Nashville each session can make or break our budget, improve or diminish staff morale, and keep bureaucratic red tape to a minimum or increase its burden on us.

Sertoma Center Executive Director Becky Massey with State Representative
Stacey Campfield in his office with his "Right Turn Only" sign,
representing his conservative Republican philosophy about government.

State Representative Bill Dunn and Sertoma Center Executive Board
Director Mark Hancock in Representative Dunn's office, with "Advice from
a Tree." Bill is an executive with Cortese Tree Specialists in Knoxville.

From Left to Right - Chris Kerr, President of Tender Heart Support
Services of Knoxville and a member of the Sertoma Center Board of
Directors, Becky Duncan Massey, Sertoma's Executive Director, and
Knoxville consultant John Mark Hancock, a member of Sertoma's Executive
Board of Directors, at the Tennessee Community Organizations Legislative
Day Kickoff Breakfast at the historic Hermitage Hotel Grand Ballroom in
Downtown Nashville on Wednesday morning, March 21, 2007. Note that the
portraits of all of Tennessee's presidents are hanging on the wall
behind them in the photo, James K. Polk, Andrew Jackson, and Andrew
Johnson.

Sertoma Center Executive Board Director Mark Hancock, University of
Tennessee President John Petersen, and Sertoma Center Board Director
Chris Kerr in the hallways of the War Memorial Building at the State
Capitol in Nashville. Note the historic photo collage of state
legislators in the Tennessee General Assembly of nearly a century ago in
the background. Not only was March 21, 2007, TNCO Legislative Day in
Nashville, but it was also UT Legislative Day, as all of the top UT
administrators were in town to lobby legislators as well.

Sertoma Center Executive Board Director Mark Hancock, State
Representative Parkey Strader, Knox County's former Property Assessor
and a cancer survivor, and Sertoma Center Executive Director Becky
Massey in Representative Strader's office, overlooking Legislative Plaza

State Senator Tim Burchett, Sertoma Center Executive Director Becky
Massey, and Sertoma Center Executive Board Director Mark Hancock in
Senator Burchett's War Memorial Building office on the morning of TNCO
Legislative Day on Capitol Hill. Note an American flag that Senator
Burchett's father, retired UT Dean Charles Burchett, brought back from
his service in World War II in the Pacific hanging on the wall in the
background.

Dedication

SERTOMA CENTER BUILDING DEDICATION A SMASHING SUCCESS

By John Mark Hancock

Sertoma Newsletter Editor

Friday, March 2, 2007

KNOXVILLE - Sertoma Center dedicated its newly-renovated building today with a ribbon-cutting that was attended by several dignitaries, including Congressman Jimmy Duncan, State Representative Joe Armstrong, Mayor Bill Haslam, and City Councilmen Joe Bailey and Barbara Pelot, along with David Leaverton, Senator Bob Corker’s new East Tennessee Field Director, and Bob Griffitts, Congressman Duncan’s Chief of Staff. Television and print media outlets also sent representatives, and many of our donors and supporters were able to meet and greet our board, staff, and the clients in the open house that followed.  

Congressman Duncan was able to obtain a quarter million dollar federal appropriation recently for the Sertoma Center to upgrade its employment training programs. These programs provide jobs for our clients, but also just as importantly provide a reliable work force for various businesses and governments in the Greater Knoxville area.  

Our Sertoma Board of Directors has been hard at work making these federal dollars stretch the farthest possible to do a complete makeover of the Sertoma Center headquarters on East Fifth Avenue near Downtown Knoxville. The Center has been a beehive of activity recently with painting, carpeting, and roofing going on almost simultaneously.  

With all of the new development going on around the Sertoma Center , it was long past time for these renovations to occur. There had not been any improvements to the interior or exterior of the building in over a decade.  

All around the Center, things are happening. The new Caswell Park softball fields, the new Cansler Family YMCA, the Ashley Nicole city park for disabled children, and the newly-renovated O’Conner Senior Citizens Center, are just a few of the things that are transforming the neighborhood, all within walking distance of the Center.  

In addition, the new Hall of Fame Drive connecting the Civic Coliseum and the riverfront with Broadway, comes within a couple of blocks of Sertoma. Combined with the improvements that are being made to Magnolia Avenue , our Center is far more accessible to everyone than it has been previously.  

Great things are happening at the Sertoma Center these days. Everyone has a brighter outlook with the renovations that are taking place within the building.  

New community day programming is on the horizon. New workshop space has been built. Private donations have been combined with the federal appropriation to get some overdue things accomplished.  

Sertoma hosts public relations luncheons on a regular basis at the Center to let the public see the progress we are making in serving the developmentally disabled in Knoxville . Make plans to attend one of those so that you can see what a difference we are making in the lives of our clients that we serve daily.

Sertoma Center Executive Director Becky Massey and Congressman Jimmy
Duncan cut the ribbon to open the newly-renovated Center at 1400 East
Fifth Avenue in Knoxville, on Friday, March 2, 2007. Congressman Duncan
obtained a quarter-million dollar federal grant for the center, to which
private donations were added.

Sertoma Center Executive Board Director John Mark Hancock with Knoxville
City Councilman Joe D. Bailey at the Sertoma Center Ribbon-Cutting and
Dedication.

United States Senator Bob Corker's East Tennessee Field Director David
Leaverton, the punter on The University of Tennessee's 1998 National
Championship football team, and United States Congressman Jimmy Duncan's
Chief of Staff, Bob Griffitts, at Sertoma Center's Dedication.

Tennessee State Representative Joe Armstrong and his daughter, the new
LPN at Sertoma Center, at the building dedication. The Center is located
in Rep. Armstrong's legislative district. He is a longtime supporter of
legislation in the Tennessee General Assembly benefiting Sertoma.

Gift

Michelle Hardin, Sertoma Center Past President, Becky Massey, Sertoma Center Executive Director, and Mitchell Adams, Sertoma Executive Board Director and Strategic Planning Committee Chairman, presenting a $1,000 Leadership Grant from First Tennessee Bank to Sertoma Center. Both Michelle and Mitchell are First Tennessee employees. The check was presented to them by the bank in honor of their service on the Sertoma board. They in turn presented it to the Center.