The Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth (TCCY) was established by the Tennessee General Assembly in 1988. An independent, nonpartisan agency created to ensure the state’s policies and programs effectively promote and protect the health, well-being and development of children, youth and families, TCCY was created as a permanent commission. TCCY is the state’s centralized informational resource and advocacy agency for timely, fact-based information to aid policymaking and coordination of resources.
TCCY is comprised of 21 members appointed by the governor and has committees dedicated to specific issues such as data, children’s services, and youth justice. Based in Nashville, TCCY organizes nine regional councils that educate and help child-serving organizations share information, leads bodies such as the Home Visiting Leadership Alliance and the Council on Children’s Mental Health, and inventories all federal and state funding sources that support children in Tennessee. Their efforts build capacity among providers to better support children, youth, families, and communities with data-driven activities.
TCCY Advances Cross-Sector Collaboration
A key function of TCCY is to publish a comprehensive report on the status of children and youth in Tennessee on an annual basis. The report is distributed to the governor, each member of the general assembly and child advocates throughout the state. TCCY works with a range of partners such as state agencies and universities to collect data for the report, which help inform policy and budget recommendations to the legislature. Recommendations for the state for the 2023-2024 fiscal year include improving youth mental health by expanding prevention and treatment options, developing a trauma-informed youth justice system, supporting resilient families and communities, and expanding investment in young children.
TCCY also houses the Second Look Commission, which was created by the Tennessee General Assembly in 2010 to review cases of second or subsequent incidents of severe child abuse. As part of its legislative charge, the Second Look Commission is required to provide annual findings and recommendations to the General Assembly on preventing and reducing child abuse. Membership is set by statute and includes representatives from the Department of Children’s Services, law enforcement agencies, and children’s advocacy groups, allowing the Second Look Commission to provide recommendations that address all aspects of the investigative process. Craig Hargrow, Deputy Executive Director of TCCY and Pathways to Resilience Advisory Committee member, believes the cross-sector makeup of the Commission helps create effective, timely policy change, such as improvements to how the Department of Children’s Services documents cases. The Second Look Commission’s most recent annual report can be found here.
“The best outcomes for children occur when the various child-impacting systems and stakeholders work collaboratively and inform the work of each other with the best interest of the child always being paramount. The professionally diverse composition of the Second Look Commission has helped the Commission to efficiently impact legislation and policies that improve how Tennessee handles child abuse cases.” – Craig Hargrow, Deputy Executive Director, Tennessee Commission on Youth and Children
In addition to these important functions, TCCY also administers a range of state and federal grants, houses an Ombudsman Program, and helps to assure Tennessee’s compliance with the federal Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, as amended. More information about TCCY’s work is available here.
A Resilient Tennessee Collaborative Summit
On May 10, 2023, TCCY hosted the Resilient Tennessee Collaborative Summit to bring together partners from across the state, share research on resilience and positive childhood experiences, and inspire cross-sector collaboration and systems integration.
“The Resilient Tennessee Collaborative furthers the foundational work of Building Strong Brains (BSB) Tennessee. Since 2015, BSB coordinated efforts to improve education and outcomes around early childhood development and the effects of early adversity in Tennessee’s children. In 2022, the Resilient Tennessee Commission ushered in a shift of this work from a state-directed into a state-supported effort. This inaugural Summit was an excellent opportunity for statewide partners to see that support in action and to learn, network and brainstorm with peers to continue to improve our child-serving systems infrastructure.” – Melissa McGee Children’s Mental Health Advocacy Director for the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth
More than 200 direct care providers, organization leaders, advocates, educators, family members, government, and other disciplines working with children and families from across the state attended the summit in person and participated virtually via “watch parties” across the state. Featured speakers included Dr. Christina Bethel of the Children and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Dr. Robert Sege of the HOPE National Resource Center, along with Pathways to Resilience Advisory Committee member Jesse Kohler of Campaign for Trauma Informed Policy and Practice and Pathways to Resilience team member Lizzy Schlichting. Speakers discussed the biological components of trauma, resilience, and hope; shared successful cross-sector initiatives to support youth and families; and discussed pathways forward in the state and nation.
The summit marked TCCY and the state’s commitment to improving the lives of children and families through innovation and collaboration. According to McGee, “moving forward, the Resilient Tennessee Collaborative will guide others in building community connectedness, provide useful information and resources on resilience and community engagement and support use of individual and collective efforts to amplify and strengthen children, youth and family serving systems statewide.”
The Pathways to Resilience team was proud to attend the Resilient Tennessee Collaborative Summit and is eager to see the evolution of the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth in advancing cross-sector, collaborative, and innovative practices to support children, youth, families, and communities.