Our New Home

We are moving to 155 Lafayette Street in South Nashville! The building, site of a long-abandoned liquor store, is located in Nashville’s Cameron-Trimble neighborhood. The neighborhood has a proud 150-year history of struggle for racial and economic justice, but is also burdened by some of the most concentrated poverty in the city. The location will enable TJC to draw on the “power of proximity” to those we serve. As Bryan Stevenson, author of Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, has said, “Proximity is a pathway through which we learn the kind of things we need to know to make healthier communities.” Working in proximity to people and communities at risk “is where we are informed, energized, and feel the empathy that drives us to change the world.”

A New Resource for the Neighborhood

Our Silver Anniversary

Going for the Gold

Since the Tennessee Justice Center was founded 25 years ago, generous donors and foundations have contributed $20 million to support TJC’s advocacy for social and economic justice. TJC has used that support to individually represent nearly 15,000 children and adults, then worked with those clients and other allies to advocate for policy reforms that benefit low-income Tennesseans statewide. TJC has enabled its donors’ investment to generate billions of dollars of benefits for millions of Tennessee families in need.

According to court records and state reports, benefits won by TJC include $2.5 billion in medical care and over $300 million in nutrition benefits for children and adults across Tennessee. On an investment of $20 million in donations and grants, that represents a rate of return of $140 of benefits for every dollar invested in TJC’s work.

But wait, there’s more! That calculation doesn’t take into account:

• TJC’s success, achieved through 15 years of litigation, in requiring TennCare and its managed care contractors to meet federal health standards for the 914,000 children and youth – fully half of all Tennesseans ages 0-21 – who are enrolled in TennCare.
• TJC’s negotiation of reforms to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program that enabled 13,000 single mothers to transition successfully into jobs.
• TJC’s leadership role in the establishment of Tennessee’s Children’s Health Insurance Program, known as CoverKids, which currently provides health coverage to 33,000 children and 12,000 pregnant mothers who would otherwise be uninsured.
• TJC’s landmark victory establishing the right of Medicare beneficiaries to enforce federal patient care standards against Medicare contractors.
• TJC’s court settlement that reallocated $250 million in TennCare funding from nursing homes to programs serving frail adults in home and community-based settings, enabling 15,000 individuals a year to retain their independence and dignity.
• TJC’s negotiation of improved educational and mental health services for children in state juvenile justice facilities.
• TJC’s reversal of state policies that denied nutrition assistance to children in immigrant families.
• And much, much more…

Most importantly, by making TJC’s work possible, supporters have insisted that every child is precious, every person matters, and that Justice belongs to ALL of us!

Visit our History & Impact Page to learn more about how TJC has served Tennesseans for the last 25 years!

TJC in the News

Special Thanks to Our Capital Campaign Committee

Co-Chairs: Amy and Frank Garrison

Cabinet Members:

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