KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — For its inaugural home build project, the nonprofit Socially Equal Energy Efficient Development held the groundbreaking ceremony for its new home development on Earth Day.

Everyone at the event sang happy birthday to the Earth as they celebrated this new type of house. SEEED COO J.D. Jackson, his team, and their supporters gathered for the groundbreaking of what he says is a “new solar-powered home with a future.”

The house will have concrete walls, a tankless hot water heater and a backup battery in case of power outages. These features combined will create a highly insulated house with a low-cost energy bill. Jackson wants this type of technology to be available to the lower-income areas in Knoxville, creating housing equity.

There’s no reason why the communities that I grew up in and communities where the people look like me can’t have can’t enjoy these same benefits.

J.D. Jackson (COO of SEEED)

SEEED is a nonprofit organization that wants this house to be the first of many, showing the importance of addressing the climate change crisis. This house will also be the beginning of the support for low-income families SEEED plans to provide.

SEEED wants to build more homes like this in marginalized communities with the opportunity for students and young folks to obtain a job and move from what Jackson says “generational poverty to generational wealth.”

Executive Director Stan Johnson wants to leave a better earth for the upcoming generations, and wants to lead the way in giving opportunities to those in lower-income areas to better their futures.

We are going to leave it either a better place or worse place for our kids. How are we going to make a difference?

Stan Johnson

SEEED hires young kids to gain experience in the work force and to put them on a path to have a successful career while building homes with greener, cleaner technologies for low-income families.