NASHVILLE, TN — Governor Bill Lee has named Knoxville businesswoman Tennion Reed to serve on the Tennessee Housing Development Agency Board of Directors.
Reed is the co-founder of Knoxville Renaissance and Knoxville Renovation Services, Inc., non-profits that seek to help black and lower-income communities develop in a holistic manner. The organizations provide mentorship, create space to educate community members on community initiatives and available resources and host community conversations and events.
Through her work, Reed focuses on developing partnerships and strategies to enhance opportunities for growth and development within Knoxville’s low-income communities.
“As someone who loves my community and the state of Tennessee, I am grateful for the opportunity to serve on the board for the THDA,” Reed said. “I hope to use my experience to help enrich the lives of my fellow community members through the programs and services provided by THDA.
“My hope is to make an impact that is positive and use my experience working directly with members in the community who have struggled to understand housing and the home buying process as an added value to the expertise that is currently serving on the THDA Board and within the administration.”
“We are pleased to welcome Mrs. Reed to the THDA Board of Directors,” THDA Executive Director Ralph. M. Perrey said. “Her experience working in low-income communities and helping communities of color in a variety of innovative ways will help our Board and THDA better serve all Tennesseans.”
In 2017, Reed and her business partner Nikki Frank founded Knoxville Renaissance and Knoxville Renovation Services, Inc. Through her work with Knoxville Renaissance, Reed has focused on making a positive impact on K-12 and higher education, financial literacy, home ownership, and business development within Knoxville’s black community. Knoxville Renaissance has helped provide mortgage assistance, utility assistance for residents who exceed the income limit for other resources in the community and has hosted events and conversations to create actionable plans to impact issues concerning the black community.
A Knoxville native, Reed graduated from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tenn. She lives with her family in West Knoxville.
THDA was created by the State Legislature in 1973 to provide loans, grants, tax credits, and other financing opportunities to encourage the construction, repair, and preservation of affordable housing and to help ensure the housing market meets the needs of every Tennessean, regardless of income, disability, or age.