UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Tennessee has awarded grants totaling $600,000 to two organizations to increase housing options for Tennesseans who suffer from mental illness. LifeCare Family Services Inc. of Nashville and the Helen Ross McNabb Center in Chattanooga will receive grants of $258,700 and $341,300, respectively. The funding will support development of appropriate housing for people after being discharged from a mental health facility. Specifically, the two organizations will apply the grants to their ongoing creation of 18 units of safe, affordable, quality housing in Nashville and Chattanooga.

The Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) has awarded a five-year, $10 million training grant to Vanderbilt Kennedy Center’s Treatment and Research Institute for Autism Spectrum Disorders (TRIAD), continuing a 16-year partnership to provide services to educators serving students from kindergarten through high school. Through this grant, TRIAD anticipates being able to deliver approximately 100 professional development and training opportunities annually to educators through statewide workshops, trainings and partnerships as well as online education.