For 30 years, the Rochelle Center has served persons with developmental disabilities and their families, creating opportunities to develop new skills, enhance independence and increase acceptance as valued members of our community. Founded in 1972 by long-time Nashville educator, W. R. Rochelle, and a concerned group of parents and citizens, Rochelle Center has consistently embraced productivity and dignity through work training and the importance of family support. (see Directions to Rochelle Center)

MISSION STATEMENT

The Rochelle Center provides support for adults with developmental disabilities and seniors with memory loss with personal outcomes which include:
  • Offering meaningful skill/goal attainment;
  • Empowering choice and self-determination;
  • Enhancing quality of life;
  • Assisting family-caregivers with needed training and support;
  • Embracing and advocating diversity.
 
VALUES

The Rochelle Center embraces the inclusion of all persons with disabilities as valued members of the community and strives to build acceptance of personal differences.
  1. All people have abilities.
  2. All people should be treated with dignity and respect.
  3. All people should experience dignity of work, personal growth consistent with his/her abilities/interests, and support in living in an inclusive environment.
  4. All people enjoy rights and privileges and assume personal responsibilities of those freedoms.
  5. All people are interdependent. We all depend upon one another.
  6. Families’ needs should be supported as a critical natural support.
  7. All people should experience opportunities from which to make personal choice.
  8. Cultural diversity and differences are valued.

Today, the Rochelle Center has evolved into a consumer-focused "support" entity which seeks to meet the expressed wants and needs of those it serves and their family-caregivers. This is accomplished through training in independent daily living skills, pre-vocational and job-skill training, and most recently unique support for seniors with Alzheimer’s disease and memory loss.


The Rochelle Center focuses on:
  1. Meaningful Day Developmental Supports for Severely Disabled
  2. Pre-Vocational / Work Skills Training/Alternative Work Experiences
  3. Transitional / Supported Community Employment / Job Placement
  4. MemoryWORKS Senior Day Supports
  5. Residential / Drop-In / In-Home Respite
  6. Community Supported Living Options
  7. Specialized Vocational Assessments / Behavior Supports
  8. Family/Caregiver Supports


CORPORATE STRUCTURE:

The Rochelle Center is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit duly incorporated under the laws of the State of Tennessee. It is governed by a 33-member volunteer Board of Directors with an Executive Committee and Standing Committees which act in fiduciary oversight and policy making roles. An Executive Director manages the day-to-day operations. Board meetings are open to program participants, family caregivers, and the general public. (See Event Calendar for Schedule.)

The Rochelle Center is subject to an independent audit annually, currently by the firm of Marlin and Edmondson, LLP. Copies of this audit and IRS Form 990 are available for review upon request in the Rochelle Center administrative offices, generally by September of each year.

The Rochelle Center is funded on a fee-for-service / attendance basis. State General Revenue and Medicaid Waiver consumer-specific funding is received from the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities. Private fees; corporate, individual and foundation gifts; benefit fundraisers and sub-contract, prime product and supported employment enclave revenues make up the organization’s annual operating revenue sources. United Way support is received through the Alliance of Davidson County - a collaboration among New Horizons, Progress, Inc., Outlook Nashville and Rochelle Center.

The Rochelle Center is an approved Community Housing Development Organization (CHDO) by both the Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency (MDHA) and the Tennessee Housing Development Agency (THDA), which has funded low-income specialty housing grants.

The Rochelle Center welcomes community volunteers as members of Board committees, advisory groups, and program-specific involvement. We value diversity of input and experience.