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NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Our Place Nashville (OPN) is delighted to announce that Jordan Collins will assume the position of executive director effective March 17, 2025.
Our Place Nashville’s former board Chairman Avi Poster secured the promise of Co-Founder and Executive Director Carolyn Naifeh that she wouldn’t retire until OPN’s sixth Friendship House community opened. It opened March 14, and Naifeh’s last day on the job coincides with the first leases being signed.
The organization led a national search to hire an associate director in 2021, with the intention of moving this person into the top job when Naifeh retired. Out of 36 applications and six finalists, Collins was the group’s first choice, and the board voted unanimously to offer him the position.
OPN’s mission is to empower adults with developmental disabilities to live independently in affordable housing, with meaningful jobs. Half of the residents are neurodivergent (“friends”) and the other half are neurotypical (“housemates”). The natural supports provided by this model allow all the residents to thrive. In the past three and a half years, OPN has more than doubled: from 70 residents to 110 in spring 2024 to 160 now with the opening of the sixth and newest Friendship House community.
Founded in 2015 by Naifeh and Vanderbilt Divinity School professor Jaco Hamman, Our Place Nashville is the only private pay provider of affordable housing in Middle Tennessee. Two other nonprofits began providing private pay housing in 2024— one at five times the cost for five residents with developmental disabilities, the other at 10 times the cost for eight residents with developmental disabilities.
One father, whose son moved into an OPN Friendship House last year, had this to say about Naifeh: “Thank you for being a blazing pioneer and passionate force of nature for these adults. I don’t have enough resources or time to offer an equivalent gift in return for what you have done.” A mother, whose daughter is moving in this month, said, “I can’t believe a place like this exists, and I’m so grateful we now know about it.” Another mother, whose son moved into a Friendship House in 2019, said, “There aren’t any words to tell you how much you have made a difference in our family’s lives.”
Naifeh says she is grateful to have a person like Collins, who has the ability, enthusiasm and vision to lead Our Place Nashville into the future. “Jordan has spent the past 10 years working in the nonprofit world—both locally in Nashville and in South Africa, where he was born. He has honed his skills and earned his chops. It’s wonderful to enter retirement knowing that Our Place is in such good hands.”
While the OPN family is sad to see Naifeh leave, her legacy is one of hope, something Collins has every intention of continuing. “I was privileged to be there at the inception of Our Place Nashville nearly 10 years ago, moving into a Friendship House as the first resident director in the very first community,” he explains. “One of the words that quickly became the cornerstone of our Friendship House was community, a word I became intimately acquainted with while growing up in South Africa. uBuntu is a Zulu word that roughly translates into ‘I am because we are.’ Our community is an example of uBuntu’s interconnectedness where the importance of kindness, respect and collective responsibility makes us—all of us—our best selves.
“It has been incredible to witness Our Place Nashville’s growth over the years—not just in the reach of its branches, but also in the depth of its roots,” Collins adds. “Under Carolyn’s leadership, Our Place has become a respected voice in both disability and affordable housing conversations in Tennessee and in the southeast. I am truly honored to have the opportunity to build on our foundation as we enter our second decade by continuing to provide opportunities for our friends with developmental disabilities to live their best lives in affordable, inclusive communities.”
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For further information, contact:
Melissa Mathews / melissa@mathewspr.com
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