We've got a bright shiny building!

Hey SEEED family!

I couldn’t be happier about the Career Readiness Program recruitment, y’all! We have 10 applications filled out already, so it’s getting competitive! We have some wonderful, motivated candidates. We will probably not be advertising the program much more for participants since we already have more people interested than we can accept. Interviews will start next week, and then we will have our Fall 2015 Career Readiness Program class ready to go. That frees me up to focus on recruiting instructors. I’m hoping to get a guest instructor in for most of the workshops. There’s so much talent in this community, so it would be great to show these young people some of the great leaders of Knoxville. On that note, check us out in this week’s KnoxvilleNoir blog (link). Our friend Quineka is doing great work keeping talented black folks engaged in the city, so give her some love!

This week the Turnkey building was full of young faces getting ready to learn, but not in the way you might expect. Classes at the University of Tennessee start back next week, and 30 incoming freshmen in UT’s Ignite program volunteered their day getting SEEED in top shape before their school starts back and before ours does, too. The students got started getting the building in shape for our Career Readiness Program students to come in ready to earn while they learn. Outside, the Ignitees trimmed the bushes, watered the community garden, broke down the old compost bins, and took apart the mysterious half-formed pond that was summoning mosquitoes in the back yard. Inside, they cleaned all the floors, organized the supply closet, and took the old tint off the windows. They even organized SEEED’s mini-library, so anyone who wants to borrow a book from us can come on by and find something they like! Altogether, that was hundreds of dollars worth of labor, so we are very grateful!

SEEED runs on volunteers, so if you ever have the hankering to garden, paint, or clean some bathrooms (ok, I don’t think anyone wants to do that last one) come down and see us! You might end up on this blog!