Vice Mayor Jim Shulman, in partnership with Mayor John Cooper and Metro Council, has formed a small business task force to address the issues facing small businesses in Metro Nashville/Davidson County that have been affected by COVID-19 and the March 3 tornadoes.

“While we take necessary steps to protect our population, the Metro Council, Mayor Cooper and I agree that we must quickly determine what we can do–short term and long term – to help small businesses,” Shulman stated. “The Task Force is expected to focus on establishing available federal, state, and privately-sourced small business assistance and to determine how best to obtain and distribute such assistance locally.”

The Task Force is chaired by Metro Councilmember At-Large Steve Glover and community leader Cristina Allen. The task force’s 24 members represent the diversity of Nashville’s business environment, including hospitality, retail, services, construction, manufacturing, creative/music, healthcare, real estate, and finance.

The Task Force will work to aid and assist small businesses with their financial stability. The plan will be finalized in mid-April. Information: https://sbtfnashville.com.

Task force members are:

• David Andrews, bakery

• Andy Bhakta, hotel

• Chris Carter, retail

• Sam Davidson, retail

• Kamel Daouk, real estate

• Bridgette Edwards, fitness

• Nancy Edwards, manufacturing

• David Fox, financial

• Santos Gonzalez, broadcast and real estate

• Don Hardin, construction

• Barrett Hobbs, hospitality

• Michael Johnson, barber

• Katie Lentile, mayor’s representative

• Kathy Leslie, restaurant

• Andy Mumma, restaurant

• Elizabeth Murphy, local farmers

• Josh Mundy, dry cleaners

• Ashley Northington, public relations

• John Ozier, music

• Mayur Patel, grocery

• Adam Saba, grocery

• Julia Sullivan, restaurant

• Deborah Varallo, marketing/PR

• Alex Vaughan, retail

• Sheri Weiner, health care