Social Services

Planning & Coordination

Planning & Coordination of Metropolitan Social Services (MSS) works to identify community needs, provide long-range planning, coordination, information and consultation. The purpose of Planning & Coordination is to benefit the community by anticipating future issues and service needs based on the evolving community, to develop the most effective and coordinated infrastructure.

Metropolitan Social Services has been identified by Mayor Karl Dean as the agency which will take the lead in social services planning and coordination. This involves assessing current social service needs in the community, identifying service gaps, and coordinating the communitywide effort to address unmet needs.

Planning & Coordination (P&C) is supported by a system of committees to ensure broad and diverse community involvement. A collaborative approach encourages objective consideration of those who are most in need in Nashville, while providing the opportunity for creative and innovative approaches to improve service capacity.

P&C, working with the Community Evaluation Subcommittee, has completed the 2009 Community Needs Evaluation Report, a comprehensive data resource for the planning and coordination of social services to meet the needs of Davidson County residents who live in poverty. It includes an overview of social service needs, information about resources used to address needs and identification of unmet needs including anticipated trends in the community. It provides objective information to help agencies strategically plan their services and provides information developed by a consensus process to guide policy makers, advocates and other organizations.

The success of planning, coordination and implementation depends on the engagement of local, state and federal agencies, along with nonprofit organizations, working together in a concerted manner. Improving the system of social/human services for those in need requires the coordinated efforts of multiple entities because no organization can do it all and no organization can do it alone. This process provides Davidson County with the opportunity to make lasting and meaningful improvements in the way services are provided to persons in need.

Fact Sheet Documents

For additional information about the 2009 Community Needs Evaluation, please contact:

Contact Person Phone
Dinah Gregory, Director of Planning & Coordination 615-862-6494
Abdelghani Barre, Planning Analyst
(Workforce & Economic Opportunity)		 615-862-6459
Lee Stewart, Planning Analyst
(Food & Nutrition, Transportation, Home & Community Based Services-Adult/Senior)		 615-862-6975

Emails can be sent to: MSSPC@nashville.gov