The Gulch is welcoming furniture studio Design Within Reach, retailer of authentic modern furniture and accessories, with a grand opening on June 23.

Studio in The Gulch is an 8,000-square-foot facility representing the company’s first-ever physical presence in the Nashville market.

“We have an established customer base of modern design fans in Nashville who have been purchasing from dwr.com for years,” says John McPhee, DWR president.

“We’re very excited to open a retail store in The Gulch for these core consumers and for new clients to discover products in person in an environment that provides a true brand experience.”

Design Within Reach made modern design accessible to the U.S. market through its catalog and e-commerce site and has built a reputation on educating the consumer about design classics and masterworks of today.

The Nashville Studio customers offers 24 fully styled rooms for indoors and out that illustrate the aesthetic versatility of modern design and integrate iconic classics by Charles and Ray Eames and Eero Saarinen with DWR-exclusive collections by Norm Architects, Egg Collective and Jens Risom.

CIC forms partnership with NEOGOV

CIC Credit, a Goodlettsville-based company performing background checks, has partnered with NEOGOV, the leader in applicant tracking systems for hiring in the public sector.

The integration will streamline the hiring and evaluation process in government and other public jobs.

Through NEOGOV, entities such as cities, public schools, law enforcement, utilities, and more can easily follow all the government-mandated hiring processes.

CIC Credit, with its partner TazWorks, provides a full suite of tools for employment, tenant, and volunteer screening using criminal checks, drug testing, and more. Bringing these two platforms together addresses the unique needs of the largest employer in the country, the U.S. government, and allows hiring managers to streamline their workflow while mitigating risk.

CIC Credit and TazWorks provides the largest number of integrated partners, with more than 200 applicant tracking and property management systems available.

Emma teams with restaurant specialists

Emma, a provider of marketing software and services based in Nashville, has announced integrations with guest analytics platform partner, Venga, featuring their restaurant industry solution Venga Dine.

The integration, available through Emma’s email marketing and automation platform, demonstrates how users can deliver more personalized guest experiences, to drive repeat guests and consistently increase average spend per cover.

“Restaurants today are challenged to provide premier guest experiences,’’ says Winston Lord, co-founder and chief evangelist of Venga. “It’s easy to overlook key details, like authentic personalization, while also keeping guests satisfied and encouraging repeat restaurant goers.

“Emma’s integration with Venga is the only solution that truly empowers restaurants to maximize guest data and sincerely understand the individual needs of their guests.”

The integration is free and available to all customers utilizing Emma and Venga Dine.

Hyundai donates $100K to Monroe Carell

Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt has received a $100,000 Hyundai Impact Award.

Nonprofit Hyundai Hope on Wheels is currently celebrating its 20th year of funding pediatric cancer research.

Monroe Carell is one of 21 recipients of this year’s award, which is given to pediatric oncology departments at select children’s hospitals nationwide.

In 2018, Hope on Wheels will award over $15 million toward pediatric cancer research and programs. This brings the organization’s donation total to $145 million since 1998. With this latest grant, Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital has received more than $1.2 million total grants since 2007 from Hope On Wheels.

“Support from Hyundai Hope On Wheels has been essential to support pediatric oncology research in the laboratory and the clinic, allowing discovery, improved treatment and enhanced supportive care,’’ says Debra Friedman, M.D., director of Vanderbilt’s Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology and associate professor of Pediatrics. “This year, the Impact Grant will support research into the physical and psychosocial issues faced by adolescents and young adults fighting cancer, as well as their families. This research will allow us to develop appropriate services to lessen the burden of cancer in this vulnerable population.’’

Investor reaches out to struggling teachers

Brad Smotherman, a real estate investor in Nashville, is launching a free ‘Real Estate Summer Academy’ for teachers who need help making ends meet.

The National Center for Educational Statistics finds 17.9 percent of public school teachers worked a second job during the 2015-2016 school year. Data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that teachers are 5 times as likely as the average US full-time worker to have a part-time job. Often times these second jobs are in low paying fields such as retail or babysitting.

Smotherman’s students will not be studying to earn a brokers’ license. Instead he’s going to teach them the tips and tricks that real estate insiders call ‘Creative Financing,’ which involve analyzing data to find good deals and matching homeowners with investors.

Through Creative Financing, teachers can acquire and sell properties without using any of their own money. A great business, Smotherman says, for smart, hardworking people with limited savings.

Smotherman became interested in helping teachers when he learned a teacher from his daughter’s school worked weekends in a fast food restaurant and had little free time to spend with her own children.

KKR to acquire Envision Healthcare

Envision Healthcare, headquartered in Nashville, announces it will be acquired by global investment firm KKR.

Envision is a provider of physician-led services in a health care system.

The all-cash transaction for approximately $9.9 billion includes the assumption or repayment of debt.

The agreement, unanimously approved by Envision’s board of directors, says KKR will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Envision’s common stock for $46.00 per share in cash.

The completion of the transaction, which is targeted for the fourth quarter of 2018, is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals.

Envision intends to present the proposed transaction to its shareholders for approval at the company’s 2018 annual meeting, which will be scheduled as soon as practicable following the filing and review of proxy materials. Envision intends to hold its annual meeting no later than October 1, 2018.

State issues new classroom safety guide

The Tennessee State Fire Marshal’s Office has announced new guidance for classroom safety in addition to the adoption of the National Fire Protection Association 2018 Life Safety Code.

The new effort is to provide greater flexibility and clarity to Tennessee educators when planning for school safety emergencies.

During annual inspections of classrooms, inspectors will no longer issue citations for barricade devices so long as the devices are not attached to a door nor deployed during an inspection.

If a device is used for purposes other than security drills or lockdowns, this will be noted as a deficiency. Any alterations to classroom doors must comply with adopted codes.

Fire safety measures have helped save lives in Tennessee schools. While Tennessee fire departments responded to an estimated annual average of 51 fires in educational facilities from 2013-17, no fire fatalities have been reported at a Tennessee school. The last school fire fatality in the U.S. occurred in 1958.

MP&F, BlueCross win national award

Nashville-based MP&F Strategic Communications and BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee were awarded Best of Silver Anvil recently at the Public Relations Society of America’s annual awards.

The campaign has been an effort to combat Tennessee’s opioid epidemic through the “Don’t Be An Accidental Drug Dealer” public education campaign. The award is the nation’s top communications industry honor.

“Over the course of two years, this campaign greatly increased awareness of the opioid epidemic and contributed to close to 50 tons of pills being removed from circulation in Tennessee,” says Roy Vaughn, APR, senior vice president, chief communications officer, for BlueCross.

“We are proud of our team and our agency, MP&F, for the great job they’ve done. It’s an honor to be recognized as the stand-out campaign among so many excellent projects from some of our nation’s best communicators.”

In 2015, BlueCross covered more than 1 million opioid prescriptions for its members.

BlueCross committed to being part of the solution and called on MP&F to find a community organization it could partner with to raise awareness about the importance of prevention in the battle against opioid abuse.

MP&F identified Count It! Lock It! Drop It!, a program for prescription drug misuse prevention created by the Coffee County Anti-Drug Coalition in Manchester as a partner for the initiative.