Metro Councilmember Jordan Huffman was elected in fall of 2023 and represents District 14, which encompasses the east side of Donelson, from Stewarts Ferry Pike to Central Pike on Lebanon Road as well as the majority of Hermitage. Huffman describes the people as being pretty progressive, tolerant and diverse.
“It definitely feels like a smaller community out here,” he said. “We also have a lot of green space. The new Ravenwood Park is a treat.”
What are your main focus areas and goals for this term?
I really have three focus areas. When you get on the Metro Council, you typically have goals at the beginning that you want to tackle, and then you’ll get other stuff that get tagged on.
One focus area has been homelessness — I’m on the Homelessness Planning Council and I’m on the Public Health and Safety Committee — and it is definitely a passion of mine.
Also, beautification is a passion of mine. A couple of meetings ago, we passed a resolution that I sponsored to officially enact a Wildflower Program here in Davidson County. It’s small for now, but essentially it asks NDOT (Nashville Department of Transportation) and Metro Parks to look into establishing an Indigenous Wildflower Seed Program. This year, it’s going to start out with about a dozen beautification commissioners throughout Metro Nashville. The commissioners will plant wildflower seeds on a couple of plots within their Council districts. Then next year will be the year it really takes off. That’s when NDOT will plant wildflower seeds in areas that are hard to mow or maintain. The point of it is to not only increase pollinators, increase overall vibrance, and prevent stormwater issues but also save operating expenses because it cuts down on mowing costs if we implement this right. It’s a win-win for everybody.
And the extra priority item that I didn’t know I was going to be needed for is related to the skills I bring from my day job. I work in healthcare IT. And before Thanksgiving, I pulled a bill off third reading. It was about an IT contract where I had a lot of questions. It put me into a good position to do something about the Metro website, which I’m pretty stoked about. We now officially have a Metro UX UI (user experience user interface) Committee comprised of myself, Dave Rosenberg from the Mayor’s Office, and a representative from the Metro ITS (Information Technology Services). We’re going to revamp Nashville.gov.
In your day job you are the Director of Product Management for i2i, population health. which is “the nation’s largest population health technology company serving the underserved, safety net market, through community health centers (FQHCs), critical access and community hospitals, primary care associations, and managed care organizations.” How does your job translate to your work on Metro Council and with the city?
We work directly with FQHCs, Federally Qualified Health Centers. That has given me a very close and personal look into the overall process with Medicaid right now in America. We’ve got clients in Nashville [and across the country]. We deal a lot with health disparities, especially around social determinants of health.* Those are really important in ensuring that we are improving patient outcomes.
Our company essentially takes the data from health records, and we aggregate that into a manner that helps providers and FQHCs to make decisions in regard to the overall health and well-being of their patients.
This work ties in with my committees, specifically the Public Health and Safety Committee, which deals with the public health and well-being of the people in Nashville. It’s been really interesting to compare the disparities like access to grocery stores [in different areas]. We’re setting up people for failure in this country. It’s disgusting. I believe in a better way, and I know a lot of other people do, too. And that’s what I’m going to continue to fight for.
Besides the Public Health and Safety Committee, you also serve on the Homelessness Planning Council (HPC). What are achievable goals you think Metro should look into over the next couple of years to improve outcomes for Nashvillians who live on the margin of our community?
Number one I think is that we have to increase our initial housing options for our unhoused friends. We are not expanding at the rate at which we need to right now. And we also [need to set] realistic goals. We’re having success with OHS (Office of Homeless Services) in regard to getting folks into transitional housing. So, the process, I mean it’s not perfect right now, but at least it shows some promise. Especially from the HPC side it’s really good to see the process working and see good outcomes with this.
But I definitely think that building more housing and also securing more funding for mental health and substance abuse services [are crucial]. I think the mental health piece is going to be at the state level. But I believe there is an appetite for that. It’s not just for Nashville, and it’s not just to address our homelessness issue, but it’s in regard to [the fact that] we need to expand our mental health care in the state of Tennessee because it’s needed.
Also, I think in the next four years, this [Metro] Council needs to figure out and get behind a solid plan to fund and get Nashville General Hospital moved and opened. That seems to be a very attainable goal, and I look forward to that conversation. I was just over there a couple of weeks ago, and it’s embarrassing that that’s our city hospital, and that we let it get to that condition. In regard to your question and what we are going to do for the marginalized, that right there, ensuring that there is a hospital for you when you get sick that is clean and that looks nice. We have to do that.
In regard to the overall mental health, I think some low-hanging fruit I’m going to look at is to continue to partner with our Parks Department and expanding things that they do through their Greenways and Bikeways programs. It’s always good for mental health if you stretch your legs a little bit.
Finally, the biggest and most obvious thing we can support overall is expanding transit. I had a conversation with one of the union apprenticeship schools about an idea [to offer] quick entry into the construction trade for the unhoused people in Nashville. The biggest impediment was the lack of [access to] transit. That’s unacceptable in a city like ours. So, It’s going to be very important that we support the transit referendum. When it comes up in Council, I can assure you, I’m going to vote for it. And if it passes, then it will go on to the voters of Davidson County.
The nation is in an affordable housing crisis that affects those with low incomes the most. What are some measures you would like to support to address the affordable housing crisis in Nashville?
We have to at least bring 30,000 units [for low-income people] online by 2030 just to keep up with the need. The number one thing we need to do is build right now with [developers] that realize that this is a serious, serious issue and that something has to be done. And they’re out there. I know because I’ve talked to them.
Right now, nothing is getting built fast enough. The people who are homeless in Hermitage and the people that OHS will see, they’re brand new. Where do they come from? And the answer, I’m convinced, is that the overall rent is just absolutely ridiculous. People are losing their homes.
Doing nothing is not an option. But there are also some things our hands are tied on due to the state of Tennessee. Hopefully, they can help us. They have done some things this session that show that they could be open to conversations. I’m definitely looking forward to those [conversations] when they take place.
You collect political memorabilia, what is one of the most interesting pieces you have and why does it stand out to you?
I’ve got a lot of cool stuff. I’m a nerd. My office is wall-to-wall political memorabilia. It’s a little museum.
I collect primarily LBJ, FDR and Teddy Rosevelt. Those are my three specialties. I’ve got other stuff that are older, unique things. One item is a delegate metal from one of the nominating conventions from Tammany Hall, from around 1904, I think. And I have a couple of different pins from the SNCC, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee from the Civil Rights era.
Anything else that you would like to add?
The most important thing I have not talked about is my family. My wife Lesley, who is definitely the rock of our family, and our son Will, who just turned 2. We live off Chapel Road in Hermitage and we’re glad to always see The Contributor folks out there selling papers. They’re part of the community. We really appreciate what you all do.
*The federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC) defines social determinants of health as “the nonmedical factors that influence health outcomes. They are the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age, and the wider set of forces and systems shaping the conditions of daily life.”