Did you see the news from last night? More than 30 Metro Council members sided with Stand Up Nashville and delivered a letter to Nashville Soccer Holdings stating that they want a strong, equitable, and inclusive Community Benefits Agreement before they vote on MLS development! (Read the Tennessean story here. Watch live video from our press conference here.)

Your messages to Council have worked!! But we still need you to attend the Public Hearing on August 27 at 6:00 at the David Scobey Council Chamber, 1 Public Square, Nashville! We’re building up momentum, but we can’t stop now. Please make plans to attend and speak up!

As you know, it has been Stand Up Nashville’s mission to harness the development boom to fight for affordable housing and to connect Nashville residents good jobs through responsible contracting and Department of Labor certified apprenticeship programs.

As Derek Odom attested to last night, apprenticeship programs can truly change people’s lives by teaching highly-skilled trades that pay well and offer benefits and pensions that move people into the middle class.

But Rosa Ponce testified that without prioritizing responsible contractors that utilize apprenticeship programs and prioritize safety, we see devastating results, like the recent wage theft case affecting over a hundred workers on the Marriot project and numerous deaths and injuries on other projects. 16 workers have lost their lives on Nashville construction sites in 2016 & 2017.

This Community Benefits Agreement will set a precedent and raise standards for this project and on future development in Nashville.

We appreciate your support and are excited to continue to work with you to make the change we want to see in our city.