Nashville’s council has accepted a movement to repurpose tens of millions in federal COVID-19 aid funds to help Fisk College, the town’s oldest establishment of upper schooling.
Roughly $8.5 million of the remaining funds from a $10 million American Rescue Plan Act grant, which was initially supposed to renovate Fisk’s historic Burrus Corridor, will now be redirected to assist the college preserve monetary stability amidst finances challenges over the upcoming educational yr.
The council voted 35-1 in favor of increasing using the funding, with District 16 Council member Ginny Welsch being the only real vote towards it.
In accordance with The Tennessean, the funding comes from Nashville’s complete $259.8 million pot of one-time federal ARPA cash and was initially allotted to rework Burrus Corridor right into a 12,000-square-foot enterprise incubator facility. The undertaking was supported by former Nashville Mayor John Cooper, who pitched the funding allocation and advocated for the council’s help.
Of that $10 million grant, about $1.5 million has been spent on renovation design and improvement, in line with Metro Finance Director Kevin Crumbo. The Darrell S. Freeman Sr. Incubation and Innovation Middle celebrated a kickoff occasion in January 2023, however renovation of Burrus Corridor is now on maintain. The middle is known as for the late Darrell Freeman, a distinguished Black enterprise proprietor who lengthy dreamed of making a enterprise useful resource heart in North Nashville.
District 3 Council member and Fisk alumna Jennifer Gamble mentioned the incubator program itself is up and operating with its first cohort of companies, however the renovation of Burrus Corridor is delayed.
“The general premise right here actually is that Burrus Corridor as was supposed can go on sooner or later, however at this second, the college has totally different wants and actually must work via its personal fundamentals earlier than it may possibly carry across the completion of that undertaking,” Crumbo instructed members of the COVID-19 Monetary Oversight Committee in Could.
Fisk College, a traditionally Black faculty, just lately celebrated its a hundred and fiftieth graduation. Roughly 90% of Fisk’s roughly 1,000 college students obtain monetary help, and round 60% are eligible for the federal Pell Grant, in line with Fisk College President Agenia Walker Clark. Nationwide delays in processing the Free Software for Federal Pupil Assist (FAFSA), the gateway for federal tuition help, has put Fisk in a “very precarious place,” Clark instructed committee members in Could.
Clark mentioned Fisk is working to construct a extra sturdy philanthropy outreach technique. Within the meantime, these funds would supply a “bridge.”
District 26 Council member Courtney Johnston, who serves on the oversight committee, mentioned whereas she agrees Fisk is a crucial a part of Nashville, utilizing the funding to “bail out a personal college” is “simply not the very best use of taxpayer {dollars}.” Johnston was not current for Tuesday’s vote however voted towards the decision within the Finances and Finance Committee Monday.
Clark mentioned in Could that finishing the Burrus Corridor undertaking is “vastly essential” to her however she’s at the moment specializing in the longevity of Fisk’s mission: larger schooling.
“Whereas I perceive your assertion about Metro investing in a personal faculty, I’ve to say, if not for Fisk, there could be no Music Metropolis,” Clark instructed Johnston in Could. Nashville’s moniker took place due to the Fisk Jubilee Singers.
Crumbo will construct a month-to-month accountability reporting course of that he’ll share with the oversight committee and Metro Council, he mentioned Monday.
“Ultimately, Fisk will likely be higher off, entrepreneurship will survive and this jewel of our metropolis received’t be misplaced,” Crumbo mentioned.
Inbuilt 1945 and designed by African American structure agency McKissack & McKissack, Burrus Corridor falls throughout the Fisk College Historic District. The 2-story constructing is known as for James and John Burrus, two of the college’s first graduates from the category of 1875. The brick construction was named to Historic Nashville Inc.’s checklist of 9 most at-risk traditionally important buildings in 2019.
