Statements

Mission

To engage, educate, and empower individuals and families living in poverty by alleviating and eliminating dependence on predatory lending.

Background

Transformation Nashville was incorporated in August 2014 with a mission to engage, educate, and empower children and families living in poverty. The name grew from the idea that we--the serving, those served, and our communities--are all transformed by the power of this work.

We are focused on the engagement, education, and empowerment of individuals and entire family, on the building of meaningful relationships, and on the power of collaboration in reaching our goals. From our first steps, we have been determined to move with deliberation and intention to create an organization with programs that address unmet need with innovation, intelligence, passion, and common sense. We work to develop and manage programs with efficiency and efficacy and that are both scalable and replicable, never forgetting that they must also recognize and embrace humanity. We measure every decision and choice to be sure it serves our mission, advances our vision, and expresses our values.

VISION: a Nashville of equality, opportunity, and self-realization for all.

VALUES:

Accountability: personal and collective responsibility for our choices and actions and transparency in all we do

Compassion: recognizing the different journeys that have shaped us and the filters through which we see and interact with other people and the world

Community: a commitment to a shared journey in which our choices and actions impact one another and in which our mutual respect and action improve life for all of us

Distinction: set apart in our expectation, pursuit, and attainment of excellence in all our endeavors, both as individuals, as an organization, and as a community

Faith: belief that change is possible both on an individual and community basis

Intention: deliberate, thoughtful, and meaningful action in accordance with our mission and values

Love: love of each other practiced through personal responsibility, accountability, and service

Reverence: recognizing the innate value and unique gifts of each person

Service: using our individual talents and gifts collectively to serve those around us

Stewardship: caring for and using all our resources to create real and positive transformation in the individuals, families, and communities we serve

Transformation: positive and lasting change created in us through our own service and through the service of others to us in this community

Impact

Building on an established collaboration with Belmont University Education and Social Work Departments and having launched DRIVE program at Inglewood Elementary and South Inglewood Community Center, Transformation Nashville piloted two programs: SmartBaby and EmpowerCredit. During it's short life, EmpowerCredit has financed more than two dozen loans to individuals and families to pay off predatory payday or title pledge loans or for specific emergency situations. All loans are made at a very low interest rate.

Tennessee has the most title pledge lending locations in the United States. Davidson County ranks second highest in the state with 109 locations. Typically, traditional banks are restricted in the amount of interest rate they can impose on borrowers, with limits of 10 or 11 % for consumer loans. Title pledge lenders are allowed by Tennessee law to charge annual percentage rates (APRs) up to 300%. Individuals without a four-year college degree, renters, African-Americans, and those earning less than $40,000 annually are the most likely to have borrowed money from a title pledge lending institution compounding the effects of systemic racism and systemic economic inequities. Transformation Nashville offers an alternative, community-based and nonprofit option for short-term loans and predatory lender debt repayment as one thread in the tapestry as we collaboratively weave an inclusive community with a commitment to economic justice..

Needs

The EmpowerCredit Program is unique among nonprofit programming in Nashville-Davidson County. In order to decouple our neighbors from an unending cycle of debt to predatory lenders, Transformation Nashville seeks to grow its revolving loan funding to support additional and higher dollar value loans. Because these are loans are repaid with very little interest, your donations give and give again. The typical loan is between $500-$1,000.

We would welcome the opportunity to highlight a donor(s) willing to make match donations for the 24-hour period or select times during the day for The Big Payback.

Additionally, we are always looking for college students and adults over the age of 18 who are willing to share their time and talents with us in these areas as volunteers, advisory committee members and board members: financial literacy, financial services, communications and social media, public awareness, policy research and advocacy, and field/volunteer/database management.

CEO Statement

For too long we have allowed our neighbors to fall prey to con-artists who will lend a penny to get paid back a dollar. More than 100 predatory lending businesses operate in all parts of our city, our county, determined to trap low-wage workers in a never ending cycle of debt. As one part of a larger effort, Transformation Nashville stands in the gap between those individuals and families needing a financial bridge to a better day and those unscrupulous lenders who would steal all their tomorrows. Strengthening that bridge lessens the stranglehold of predatory lenders on our communities of color and those who are under-employed, underpaid, and underserved by mainstream financial institutions. Join us today in laying another plank of the bridge, lifting another individual from the clutches of predatory lenders, and building content and systems to transform tomorrow for our neighbors and for all of us who call Nashville and Davidson County home.

Board Chair Statement

Transformation Nashville is a small but growing organization. We are blessed with smart, generous leaders giving of their time, talents, and other resources to serve others--experts in education, finance, social work, poverty, nonprofit leadership, and law. We are equally blessed with talented, part-time staff who lead our EmpowerCredit and SmartBaby programs. Most importantly, we are blessed to be in the lives of boisterous, curious children and their wonderful families as well as individuals fighting the good fight to rise out of poverty, all of us working together to create meaningful, measurable change that transforms us all. Our programs are unique models in this region and in this state. We are working carefully to make sure each program and is scalable and replicable, building them with deliberation and sustainability. We absolutely believe these programs are game changers, transformational opportunities that break cycles and that will, in time, put a dent in the number of children and families living in poverty in our state.

Service Categories
Primary Category:	Public & Societal Benefit  - Financial Institutions/Services (Non-Government Related)
Secondary Category:	Education  - Educational Services
Tertiary Category:	Human Services  - Financial Counseling

Areas Served

Davidson County

TN - Davidson