Nashville Neighbors Grantees and Impact

Nashville Neighbors Fund Breakdown – as of September 2022
9 grants made to 6 unique organizations located in Davidson County.

Money In: $709,753.79
Grants Out: $698,608.43

Fund Established December 25, 2020
In Support of December 2020 Nashville Christmas Day Bombing Recovery

Catholic Charities, Diocese of Nashville: $544,360.43
Catholic Charities, Diocese of Nashville provided Case Management to support impacted businesses, employees, and residents. Funds from the Nashville Neighborhood Fund complemented the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) funding that was received due to nature of disaster. A new grant, the Anti-Terrorism and Emergency Assistance (AEAP) Grant, will extend the recovery support provided by Catholic Charities through March 2023.

The District/2nd Avenue Strong: $50,000.00
2nd Avenue Strong was a campaign initiated to raise a significant amount of funds (goal: approximately $10 million) to not only restore 2nd Avenue and the affected area, but also focus on the preservation of the historic nature of these buildings while also working with businesses to rebuild thoughtfully. The initial funding was focused on safety and security with the initial investment from The Community Foundation and the United Way of Greater Nashville, each committing $50,000 for a total investment of $100,000.

At the time of the request in April 2021, 2nd Avenue was dark and still looking like a war zone. The immediate focus and use of these funds were on restoring trees, lighting, and others aspects of the space to attract tourists to return to the businesses operating on the street, so that staff and small businesses had an opportunity to still thrive while they rebuild.

Funds will continue to be raised as the needs are great to restore the historic character of the area. More about the progress and the vision for the restoration can be learned in this April 2022 Case Study prepared by GHP, Inc., project manager for 2nd Avenue restoration recovery efforts: http://Envisioning a Future for Historic Buildings on 2nd Ave — GHP (ghp1.com)

Family & Children’s Service (F&CS): $22,000.00
The F&CS Crisis Line operates 24/7/365 and serves all individuals in crisis and need, regardless of their circumstances. F&CS used funds from CFMT to support community members impacted by the 2020 Nashville Christmas Day bombing. This include both people directly affected by the bombing (16 individuals were known to be directly impacted), and many other community members that were shocked and traumatized by the event.

Additionally, The F&CS Director of Crisis Services attended biweekly Downtown Response meetings to stay current on the evolving situation, to provide appropriate supports to callers ,and to report the community response rates/call volume to the Crisis Line.

By March 30, 2021, F&CS had spent $13,000 on staffing and promotion of the Crisis Line use related to the bombing. Just as the demand was waning for this disaster, F&CS was being asked to support language-capacity needs (Kurdish and Spanish) and call volume related to March 2021 Nashville flooding, so $9,000 was reallocated for this support.

Nashville Civic Design Center: $30,000.00

Let’s Color Nashville is a public art project that involved local artists and nearly 100 volunteers creating works of art on plywood panels that cover the broken windows along 2nd Avenue, stretching from the top of 2nd Avenue and Union Street, all the way to the bottom of the Avenue. Each artist agreed to bring their talents to add joy, love, peace and vibrancy to the damaged buildings, designed to help encourage guests, tourists, residents, and business owners to walk the street with a lighter step while passing the beautiful art. Let’s Color Nashville was viewed as an important economic development engine — as more people were getting out following the isolation of COVID-19 pandemic — to encourage people to return to The District and patronize businesses along the street. Funds were spent on staffing, artist support, and supplies for the community event held in May 2021.

Ashley Bergeron, owner of Swipe Right Art, who was impacted by the bombing, provided leadership and support for participating artists Niki Adams, Troy Duff, Aaron, Grayum, Valentina Harper, Andee Rudloff, and Thaxton Waters.

Salvation Army: $44,663.00
Salvation Army was active during the first 10 days responding to the immediate needs of those impacted by the bombing. They set up their mobile canteen to serve food and provide emotional support to those evacuated to Nissan Stadium. The organization traveled with the FBI Victim Assistance program staffers throughout the impacted area in the first few days, distributing gift cards for food, supplies, and transportation. In total, there were 407 individuals assisted by the Salvation Army relief resources.
Funds were expended as follows:

Direct Assistance to Survivors in form of Gift Cards: $36,000
Staffing to Support Service Delivery (102.5 total hours): $3,963
Operation of Mobile Canteen and Hospitality Bike for 2 days each: $4,000
Supplies: $200

Second Harvest: $7,585.00
Second Harvest provided 526 food boxes as direct relief assistance for disaster survivors. These boxes were initially distributed through the Community Resource Center (CRC), including a drive-through distribution on New Year’s Day hosted by members of Nashville VOAD. They included representatives from CRC, Hands On Nashville, Salvation Army, Second Harvest Food Bank, and The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee. Food boxes also were distributed through Catholic Charities as it uncovered food needs through case management.