On Wednesday, October 19th, to kick off our 2011 State of the Child Conference, TVC will be holding a reception in honor of Wraparound expert Karl Dennis. Mr. Dennis, former executive director of Chicago's Kaleidoscope, Inc., is a youth worker, a teacher, and a cultivator of strengths. His profound reputation is based on a fundamental principle which he brought to life and seeded: that children can be best served in their families and in their communities; that the assets and strengths of their situation are best known to those closest to the child; and that wrapping the youngster and family with individual human care, supervision, and concern is safer, better and cheaper than tearing apart child, family, community, and systems. 

He retired as the Executive Director of Kaleidoscope, Inc., a non-profit community-based childcare agency in Chicago, where he provided leadership and vision for 27 years. He is one of the country’s leading experts and pioneers of community-based care for the “hardest to serve children and families,” including Wraparound services, therapeutic foster care, pediatric AIDS care, independent living and long-term intensive family preservation services.  Under Karl’s direction, Kaleidoscope become nationally recognized as one of the top five child serving agencies in the country. He has helped orchestrate many state and private initiatives to return children from out-of-state placements, and has provided direct services to thousands of children and their families.

AT THE RECEPTION

Join the TVC staff and other friends, members of our Youth in Action Council, children's mental  health professionals, and child advocates from across the state for an evening of music, dinner, and mingling as we welcome Karl and his wife Kathy to Nashville. Legacy Farms, boasting 22 acres in Lebanon and host to the following two days of the conference, is a beautiful site and event center complete with a historic manor and log cabin restored from the 1800s, lush meadows and courtyards, and gorgeous views of the surrounding hills.

We look forward to seeing you there!

For more information, contact TVC at 615-269-7751 or tvc@tnvoices.org.