J.U.M.P. hosts 23rd Annual Holiday Celebration at Events at 624 – pridepublishinggroup.com
J.U.M.P. hosts 23rd Annual Holiday Celebration at Events at 624 pridepublishinggroup.com
(L-R): Jeffersonian Awardee Eric Holt, Jeffersonian Awardee Paula James Chavis, J.U.M.P. President & CEO Sharon W. Hurt, Keynote speaker Majora Carter, Candlelight Awardee Roger Ligon, and Candlelight Awardee Dan Lane. (Photographer: AutumnSkye Productions)
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The Jefferson Street United Merchants Partnership (J.U.M.P.) celebrated over 26 years of community engagement and cooperative economic development at its highly successful 23rd Annual Luncheon honoring Community Leaders, Business Owners and the Music of Jefferson Street. Mistress of ceremonies Diane Christon welcomed Majora Carter, who delivered the keynote, and honorees included Judge Sheila Calloway, Dan Lane, Roger Ligon, Paula Chavis and Eric Holt at the standing-room only luncheon held on historic Jefferson Street at Events at 624 at 624 Jefferson Street.
This year’s keynote speaker was Majora Carter, a leading urban revitalization strategy consultant, real estate developer, and Peabody Award winning broadcaster. In partnership with the Nashville Civic Design Center, J.U.M.P. won an HCA Foundation grant to bring Ms. Carter for this event and future, collaborative work to develop a plan for the North Nashville corridor and Jefferson Street.
“What are you looking for in the community you desire?” she asked. “You can achieve this in your own neighborhood. Jefferson Street is the perfect catalyst for inclusive growth, but it will take work, commitment and collaborative effort.”
Candlelight Award recipients Judge Sheila Calloway, Dan Lane and Roger Ligon were honored as those who have positively impacted the North Nashville community and demonstrated a dual passion for improving the community and taking the initiative through community -based programs.
Judge Sheila Calloway serves as Davidson County’s Juvenile Court Judge, and Adjunct Professor at Vanderbilt University and Belmont College of Law. She uses her unique combination of humor, passion and judicial wisdom to change the way we look at justice in the United States.
Dan Lane is the Principal Broker for ABL Realty Services, which he started to provide residential, commercial and investment real estate services to property owners and small businesses located in the Bordeaux and North Nashville areas of Nashville, Tennessee.
Roger Ligon is Founder and currently the President of I.C.F. Builders and Consultants in Nashville Tennessee. Mr. Ligon serves on the One Fund Board which approves loans up to $75,000.00 for Local Small Businesses, and is also a Board Member of The Nashville Minority Business Center.
J.U.M.P. presented two Jeffersonian Awards, which recognize middle Tennessee’s unsung musicians and artists with historical ties to Jefferson Street who have impacted others through musical culture, to Paula Chavis and Eric Holt.
Paula Chavis, a native Nashvillian, is one of Nashville’s most acclaimed Jazz vocalists. For 34 years Paula fostered three demanding careers – raising three children, teaching first grade for the Metropolitan Nashville Public School system and singing & performing on stage and screen. Paula has been honored as “Teacher of the Year” four times.
Eric Holt is CEO of the Chiminus Enterprises, a diverse lifestyle marketing and consulting company that is nationally recognized, Managing Partner of concert promotions company The Lovenoise Group, and a full-time professor at Belmont University.
Special guests included 15 fourth grade students and their teachers from Robert Churchwell Museum Magnet Elementary School, who could learn about Jefferson Street in correlation to museum and history projects they are developing in their classrooms.
