Nashville

Sagamore’s Nashville field office director, Will Acuff, is one of America’s leading social entrepreneurs – and a former frontman for a band!  Please read about his work below as well as other Sagamore research and consulting projects, to enhance human flourishing across the Volunteer State.

One Big Thing: Will Acuff, co-founder of Corner to Corner, is scaling a model for neighborhood-based economic growth that has helped launch more than 1,800 entrepreneurs and generated $37.2 million in local impact in 2024 alone—driven by his core belief that ownership is a primary pathway out of poverty.

  • Will founded a technology company, Kingdom Founders, to help local churches empower their underestimated neighbors.
  • Will is the author of the book No Elevator to Everest, which covers his journey integrating emotional health, self-awareness, and faith.
  • Before pivoting to social entrepreneurship, Will performed as the frontman for a widely touring alt-country band. 

Will Acuff

Senior Fellow

Director, River Prosperity Project

HUMAN FLOURISHING

Tennessee Human Flourishing Initiative

Tennessee’s Governor Bill Lee says that “Government alone cannot solve our greatest challenges.  The people are the answer.”  To put that vision to work, he created the Tennessee Human Flourishing Initiative to help citizens in distress find hope, healing, and pathways to prosperity.  Sagamore fellow Will Acuff is directing the Williamson County pilot via Church of the City in Franklin, TN.

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Read about Will's Work

HUMAN FLOURISHING

Agents of Flourishing

Senior Fellow Dr. Amy Sherman appeared on the Nashville-based podcast No Small Endeavor to discuss her book Agents of Flourishing.

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COMMUNITY RENEWAL

KG’s Kids Literacy Initiative

KG’s Kids, founded by NFL tight end Kylen Granson, is dedicated to empowering young minds through literacy, providing books, educational resources, and opportunities that help children succeed in the classroom and beyond. As Kylen begins a new chapter of his NFL career in Nashville, KG’s Kids continues to expand its impact through its partnership with Sagamore, which supports innovative literacy initiatives, community engagement, and technology-driven solutions that connect students, families, and educators with the resources they need to thrive. Together, KG’s Kids and Sagamore are helping create brighter futures by making literacy and educational opportunity accessible to more children across the country.

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COMMUNITY RENEWAL

The River Prosperity Project

Nashville is at a defining moment. A new NFL stadium, 33 acres of downtown development land, and billions in planned investment are reshaping the riverfront — and Sagamore is working to make sure that transformation lifts the whole city. The River Prosperity Project brings together neighborhood, civic, and regional leaders to forge a shared agenda that channels Nashville’s development momentum into expanded opportunity for historically underinvested communities. With nearly half of Nashvillians rent-burdened and a shortage of over 53,000 affordable housing units, the stakes couldn’t be higher — or the opportunity more urgent.

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OWNERSHIP ENDS POVERTY

Corner to Corner & Kingdom Founders

Sagamore’s work in Nashville is anchored in a shared belief with two of the city’s most innovative organizations: that ownership ends poverty. Corner to Corner is a community-led nonprofit that equips historically underestimated Nashvillians to launch small businesses through The Academy, a proven entrepreneurship program that has graduated nearly 1,800 entrepreneurs since 2016 and generated tens of millions of dollars in local economic activity. Kingdom Founders takes that same conviction into the local church — equipping faith communities to deploy their business leaders as coaches and walk alongside neighbors through a 10-week entrepreneurship curriculum, turning congregations into launchpads for economic and spiritual renewal.

Together, these partners represent the kind of faith-rooted, enterprise-driven approach to poverty that Sagamore champions across its national network.

Kingdom Founders
Corner to Corner

Impact Investing in Nashville

Sagamore is collaborating with the Belmont Innovation Labs to advance ideas and innovations to scale impact investment across Nashville.  Sagamore made its first investment in CHRP.ai, a Franklin-based company that heightens human performance and emotional well-being via AI-powered dashboards.

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CHRP.ai

One Big Thing: Clarence Carter leads the Tennessee Department of Human Services — the state’s second-largest agency — overseeing a $3 billion budget, nearly 4,000 employees, and services reaching close to two million Tennesseans annually across all 95 counties. He brings to Nashville one of the most extensive careers in public human services in the country.

  • Carter is a National Academy of Public Administration Fellow, a frequent Congressional witness on human services policy, and a member of Sagamore’s Secretaries Innovation Group — a national network of current and former state human services commissioners advancing best practices across the country.
  • Carter’s 30-year career spans every level of government — serving two presidents, four governors, and a mayor. He directed the Arizona Department of Economic Security, served as Commissioner of the Virginia Department of Social Services, and managed the $16.5 billion TANF program at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under both the Bush and Trump administrations.
  • At TDHS, Carter oversees 17 programs spanning nutrition assistance, employment, vocational training, and child protective services — and chairs the state’s Families First Community Advisory Board and Child Care Task Force, focused on collaborative innovation in human services delivery.

Clarence Carter

Member, Secretaries Innovation Group