As part of its ONE Community program, the Tennessee Titans will host a four-part readiness master class for small and minority-owned businesses, in partnership with the Nashville Business Incubation Center and Don Hardin Group. The tailored, four-part class series will provide business owners and contractors with the tools to build capacity and gain insight on preparing for contracting bids in order to better position themselves for large-scale construction projects, such as the new Titans stadium. The monthly series begins August 17, with meetings on the 3 rd Thursdays, except October, on the 4 th Thursday.
“The construction of the new stadium is the largest opportunity for inclusion to date in the state of Tennessee, and with the leadership of our owner, Amy Adams Strunk, our organization is committed to maximizing small and minority owned business participation on this project,” said Johari Matthews, Titans Vice President, Executive Director of the Titans Foundation. “We also want to ensure that we are creating lasting impact in our community even beyond the stadium project, and preparing these businesses and contractor for large-scale projects through this master class is a great step forward towards that goal.”
The master class is a component of the Titans’ ONE Community platform focusing on Opportunity for small and minority owned businesses. Other programs focused on Opportunity include the 1st and Goal Small Business Support Program, which creates a $2 million fund with Citizens Bank for loans and grants for qualified small and minority-owned businesses, and the Titans Economic Inclusion Program, which commits to an $18 / hour minimum wage for employees and a workforce development program to be announced soon.
The curated workshop series will empower and equip minority-owned businesses and contractors through instruction and mentorship by experienced industry leaders. Attendees will also have the opportunity to network with instructors and special guests in a dinner immediately following each session.
The schedule is as follows:
- Class I: A Deep Dive into Accessing Capital, Bank Lines of Credit & Financial Tools – Thursday, August. 17, 2 – 6 p.m.
- Class II: How to Access Surety Bonds – Thursday, September 21, 2 – 6 p.m.
- Class III: Identifying Mentorship & Business Support Networks – Thursday, October 26, 2 – 6 p.m.
- Class IV: Tools for Building a Skilled & Efficient Workforce – Thursday, November 16, 2 – 6 p.m.
Registration opened July 31 at www.tennesseetitans.com/onecommunity. The class is free of charge, with a capacity of 75 attendees for each session. Small and minority-owned businesses and contractors need to register for each individual session that they are interested in attending. Questions on the class can be directed to nbic@nbiconline.com.
ONE Community is the Tennessee Titans’ multi-faceted philanthropic platform that reaches Nashville’s most underrepresented and marginalized communities with a focus on three areas – Opportunity, Neighborhoods and Education. The Nashville Business Incubation Center (NBIC) is the leading business development resource center in Middle Tennessee for small businesses to grow sustainable companies that ultimately create jobs and wealth. Learn more at www.nbiconline.com. Established in 2001, Don Hardin Group is a construction consulting and project management firm, which specializes in Owner’s agent services. For more information visit www.donhardingroup.com.
