Dear Friends,

 

TJC’s secret strength has always come from what Bryan Stevenson calls the “power of proximity,” staying close to and drawing inspiration from those who are too often ignored or scapegoated by those in power. Our neighbors’ daily realities are unrelenting, heartbreaking, and infuriating. Our careful documentation of those realities defies a political culture more focused on deception than facts, on marketing than problem solving, and on social media posturing than preventing pain. 

 

This year, our brave clients in the A.M.C. v. Smith case achieved a monumental victory for the 1.4 million children and adults who rely on TennCare, Tennessee’s Medicaid program. Their powerful testimony revealed the harrowing realities for families desperately trying to hold onto TennCare coverage for a child with cancer, or for a grandparent suffocating with emphysema. The court’s 120-page opinion was a stinging indictment of the state’s callous indifference, which has resulted in 500,000 people losing health coverage. Of those, 70% were never found ineligible but were cut off simply because of their inability to overcome the red tape. We are working now to convert our big court victory into the effective reforms that families need and deserve. 

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When we moved to this neighborhood, walk-in traffic quickly became intensive, with neighbors coming to our doors who had not had a real meal in days. They were victims of the state’s mismanagement of the SNAP (“food stamp”) program. In the first four months of the year, 279,000 people – a third of households on the program – lost benefits. As with TennCare, it wasn’t because most were ineligible, but because of red tape and state agency dysfunction. We added staff and trained volunteers to enable us to handle over 1,200 individual cases, and in that process gained insights and a wealth of compelling evidence. The culmination of that work was the filing of a federal class action entitled Bull v. Carter, which seeks to remedy the systemic flaws that are causing so much suffering. 

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Just as proud as I am of the TJC team doing all of that work, I am in awe of the inspiring clients who step forward to challenge official falsehoods and seek justice for their neighbors. This includes heroes like Ghulam Mustafa Safa and his family, who escaped a hostile regime in their native Afghanistan, where they faced retribution as a result of his service to the U.S. Embassy. Settled in Nashville with the help of a refugee resettlement agency, Mr. Safa sought out SNAP assistance. For months, he repeatedly provided proof of his eligibility for the SNAP program, only to have DHS disregard that proof and deny his family critical SNAP assistance. He tried unsuccessfully to reach someone at the DHS call center and spent hours more waiting in a DHS office packed with people desperately seeking help to no avail. Mr. Safa is typical of the extraordinary clients who, having gained relief for their own families, are now helping us win relief for thousands of others. 

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​​​The year ahead is likely to be our most challenging yet in terms of attacks on the safety net programs on which millions of Americans depend. But the “power of proximity” will get us through, exposing us not just to the injustices our clients face, but their courage and generosity of spirit. They demonstrate a stubborn faith in our country’s goodness and capacity to be better, and an intractable resilience that keeps them speaking up for others. 

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This proximity prompts us to be better and work harder. As we embark on a year of work plans that will surely test our resilience, we know from our clients that together we can make the impossible possible. Thanks for being a part of this vital work and for standing with us and our heroic clients.