Freeman Center searching for new home

The Darrell S. Freeman Sr. Incubation and Innovation Center is searching for a new physical location for its operations separate from Fisk University.

The center is continuing to operate remotely as it has done since its work began, executive director Holly Rachel told the Post. With an incoming class of its Bankable Business Bootcamp starting in September, most of the boot camp will be virtual but some in-person events will still happen thanks to the Freeman Center’s partnership with Pinnacle, Rachel said.

“We’re passionate about the Nashville community,” Rachel told the Post. “We did not want the vision and mission for the center to be interrupted despite what was going on with the university.”

In June, the Metro Council approved an amendment to a resolution that appropriated $10 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to Fisk for the renovation of Burrus Hall for the entrepreneur center. The amendment allows the funds to now be used for “any and all reasonable and necessary capital, operating and working capital expenses in support of students, faculty, staff, and community programs.”

About $1.5 million has already been spent on renovation development for Burrus Hall, the Tennessean reported, but the work will now pause. Burrus Hall was on the list of Historic Nashville Inc.’s at-risk buildings in 2019.

Fisk University President Agenia Walker Clark told the COVID-19 Financial Oversight Committee in May that delays in processing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) have impacted the university’s finances as 90 percent of students who attend are on financial aid.

Rachel told the Post when she received word that the funding had been officially reallocated she and the center’s advisory board decided that they would continue operations but move from the Fisk campus, considering the difference of needs. She added they wanted as little interruption to their services as possible and that there has been plenty of community and partner support for the center, which is funded by grants and private donations.

Center leadership is now looking at several places to host their operations while still working remotely. Rachel did not disclose where the center is considering for its future home base.

The Freeman Center was named after Nashville Entrepreneurs’ Hall of Fame honoree Darrell Freeman, who died in June 2022 soon after he was announced as a partner with Fisk on the business incubator. Metro Council initially allocated the ARPA funding for Burrus Hall’s renovation to house the Freeman Center in December 2022.

Rachel also said that the advisory board for the Freeman Center has all remained committed to their work.

Those advisors are Sherry Deutschmann, Michelle Brown, Mignon Francois, EJ Reed, Rod McDaniel, LaTanya Channel, David Klements and Pearl Amanfu.