Tammy Simmons

Having a personal connection to people with disabilities was a strong influence on Tammy Simmons’ decision to focus on communication as a medium for changing lives. “Communication is the key to all other learning and greatly influences one’s quality of life,” said Simmons, executive director of Access Group in Little Rock. “It is very rewarding to help children reach their potential.”

Simmons, who said she has always known she wanted to help people, has overseen the organization’s growth since co-founding it in 1994. Access provides outpatient pediatric therapy, along with full-time education and diagnostic services for infants, children and youth with developmental and learning disabilities.

Serving more than 300 individuals each year does not come without challenges, namely securing enough funding. “While we don’t want finances to be the barrier for families to gain a quality educational program, we are a business and we have costs associated with this high-quality program,” Simmons said. “We have been enormously blessed by the community to help close the gap between what we collect and what those services actually cost.”

In 2001 Simmons oversaw the organization’s move to its current campus, which allowed Access to open a school-age education program and triple the student and staff populations. She also led the opening of an evaluation and resource center that houses a diagnostics team and supplemental educational services, started an endowment fund and built a new business model allowing for additional classrooms and a therapy gym, as well as expanded fundraising efforts.

Simmons is most proud of the team Access has developed. “We have not only passionate and highly qualified staff, but generous staff in terms of giving and volunteerism,” she said.

She credits hard work, passion, persistence and creativity for the success Access has achieved.