SEEED Knox the focus of County Mayor's Community Connections series

: CAPTION: Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs (R) interviewed SEEED Knox Executive Dir. Stan Johnson, for the small business Community Connection series. Community Connection Series Features SEEED Knox.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (Dec. 2020) — Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs interviewed Stan Johnson, executive director of SEEED Knox, a local non-profit that focuses on creating and sustaining jobs for young inner-city residents, as well as ensuring that clean energy technologies are available to low-income residents.

SEEED stands for “Socially Equal Energy Efficient Development.” The operation, through an 8-week training program, offers classes on green technology highlighting weatherization, solar panel installation, community gardening, and recycling.

Stan Johnson at the SEEED facility where some of the over 200 students who completed the program are displayed. (Photo submitted, Dec. 2020)

“We want to make sure people get put in the right job at the right time, so they can actually plant a good seed, so they can grow,” said Johnson, adding that roughly 200 students have attended the program.

The interview was part of Community Connection—a spinoff from the Mayor’s small business series that provides owners the opportunity to talk about how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted their families and employees and helping them share any plans they hold for the future.

For the next couple of months, Mayor Jacobs will focus on local charities and non-profits. A new vignette will run each week on the county and Mayor’s various social media platforms.The Mayor and Johnson talked about the effects of COVID-19 on the operation, the major problems facing the local community, and what hurdles young inner-city youth face in the job market.

“With many of our young people, they just don’t know of all the opportunities and career pathways that there are out there,” Mayor Jacobs said. “You try to show them that there (are) all these other pathways open to them that can really make their dreams come true.”

Johnson agreed, “Most definitely (and) we want to break that cycle of poverty,” he said. “Nothing stops a bullet like a job.”

Under the current COVID-19 precautions the facility has been empty since March of this year.

The SEEED Career Readiness program is an 8-week paid program for young adults between the ages of 16 to 24 who need help getting on a productive path out of poverty. The SEEED facility is at 1617 Dandridge Ave. in Knoxville where an average of 2 classes of 8 to 13 students is conducted annually. The classes include life skills, job readiness, GED prep, and opportunities for employment or high education.

To learn more about the program visit seeedknox.com; or Facebook here. SEEED Knox is a not for profit organization. To donate or volunteer contact Executive Director Stan Johnson.