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