The SEED House Project: Tackling Youth Homelessness With Garrett Underwood

 Youth homelessness is an ongoing social epidemic that affects our country. People are pushing back against this tide, and bringing hope to those in need. In this episode, Yanet Borrego tackles homelessness and taking it on with purpose with entrepreneur and founder of the SEED House Project,  Garrett Underwood. We hear from Garrett how SEED House came to be, his mindset as an entrepreneur and how it impacts his mission, and why we need to be explorers and creatives. Full of heart-warming insights, this is one show that is not to be missed.

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The SEED House Project: Tackling Youth Homelessness With Garrett Underwood

We have a super inspiring guest, Garrett Underwood. Thank you so much for being here in the With Clarity & Purpose podcast.

Thank you so much for having me. I'm super excited to be here.

This podcast is all about purpose-driven initiatives and purpose-driven careers and Garrett is the embodiment of that concept. Garrett is the Founder and Executive Director of the Seed House Project where he and his team partner with homeless shelters to provide career development and employment opportunities for those who may not have that capacity or that opportunity. They also have a housing facility where they housed at-risk youth. Garrett, I cannot wait to hear the story of how you got where you are right now.

It's been a long journey, a lot of ups and downs, and different hoops of understanding how to figure out and meet the needs of the youth that we work with. I could start when I first came up with the idea of starting to employ at-risk youth. I started a business before going into this field. I had a for-profit business. We did a bunch of different images. It was a faith-based clothing company.

What we did is for every purchase, we donated to different shelters, group homes, and things like that. We donated a hygiene kit. We started off doing that for a couple of years. We gave thousands upon thousands of hygiene kits. I became a little bit more curious about the youth and seeing the influx of individuals experiencing homelessness. In LA it's growing bigger and bigger because of the housing market. Employment opportunities are decreasing especially since the shift to the pandemic. I saw a lot of youth that were experiencing homelessness.

The first individual that I had an interaction with was living on Skid Row, which is a popular area in LA where a lot of individuals are experiencing homelessness. He was in our line to get hygiene and food while we were passing these items out. He was about the same age as me at that time. I was about 22. I asked him a little bit about where he came from and who he was. He was telling me his story. He opened up and told me that he was going to school at USC but living in a tent right down the street from where we were.

He was sharing that he went through the foster care system. Once he turned eighteen, a lot of the resources were no longer available. The group home he stayed at told him he had to leave and he couldn't find a place in time so he had to stay in shelters. Because of his schedule at school, they have curfews so he couldn't manage everything. I'm a fixer. When I see certain things, I'm trying to figure out the solution and the problem. I found out about 30% of individuals experiencing homelessness come from a foster care background. I thought that was a huge amount given the fact that the influx is continually growing.

After the clothing company, I realized that I wanted to do something that's more long-term. Not just a hygiene kit but how can I create something where it's a lasting change? I started this employment program called Save A Penny. The concept behind it is sometimes we walk past pennies every day and never think to pick them up.

The situation of homelessness is very complex. It's not a one size fits all type of concept, but there are many systems that are in place that start someone off in a bad space that doesn't necessarily help them to grow.

 

This is a reminder that there are a lot of youths that are experiencing homelessness that we may walk past and never think to pick them up. This product was pretty interesting because they would put their names inside the pennies. On the penny, it has a capsule with a little story that they can share about their journey. Our whole goal was to transform traumas into missions and help people to be able to understand that your story has a bigger purpose such as your show.

I'm inspired.

That was the start of that. We employed about 98 young adults within the first year. The turnover was high and youths were bouncing from shelter to shelter. Their phones were being turned off. I made the decision that my next phase was to find a home. Before that, I was working with one individual named Cameron. He excelled tremendously in our program and he ended up getting housing, a new car, and all of that. He also had a substance abuse background. Within a couple of months of him being placed in his apartment unit, he relapsed. When he relapsed, he lost his job. I let him stay with me for a little bit to get on his feet. He stayed with me for about a week and then he went back to his apartment. This is an individual I kept mentoring.

He's on your website. I was reading his story too.

Thanks for reading that. A couple of months later, I texted him to see how he was doing and he sent me, “Not good.” When he stayed with me for that week, it was a lot to take on. Anybody that goes through relapse, their anxieties are high, they can't sleep, their eating patterns are off. You're monitoring all this. It was a lot for me within that week. When he texted me that, I was afraid to give my heart again because it was so much. Maybe 24 hours later, I see on my newsfeed, “RIP Cameron.” He passed away alone by himself.

That was more of a catapult of making the decision to move a little bit faster with the housing portion. I ended up donating my childhood home. I was living in it at the time. I had roommates. I told them all to move out. I gave them one month. Six months later, we started taking on youth into our home. I lived in a trailer so I got to experience what it felt like to be homeless for a little bit. I didn't have electricity and a bathroom. I had to take showers at the gyms. These are little details that we take for granted. At the age of eighteen, being able to manage all that and trying to find your way is a lot.

It's overwhelming. I love everything you do. I can see the passion behind that. What is your story? What is the thing that inspires you to even work for this clothing company and donate to those kids? What was your childhood like? What is that thing that you will always have within you that has inspired you to do what you do right now?

A lot of us have this experience of trying to find ourselves at a young age. Many different things influence who we become, whether it's your parents or the economy telling you that you have to make a certain amount of money to do a certain amount of things. We get into all these fields that aren’t who we are. We do it because it's something that's influenced. I have a whole little program that goes through how someone can find their purpose and who they are. If anybody's interested, there's a free sheet where it has five steps. It’s at [email protected].

I went to school for kinesiology, the study of human movement. I was looking to do physical therapy. I was big into sports when I was younger. When you go to college, you start to disconnect from a lot of the people that you're normally around and it gives you space to figure out who you are. During that time, I got into spirituality. I went into Christianity. I got connected to the way Jesus moved, how His actions were, and His metaphors like, “When someone hurts you, give them the other cheek.” Different things like that. I was like, “This guy's amazing.”

I was striving to shift my mindset of not focusing on myself but focusing on everyone else. When we're navigating to try to find who we are, we all realize that who we are is here to commune and help other people. When we have our first child, we're here to help other people. When we get married, we're here to support that person. There are all these different layers that we don't see. We're here to help other people.

My life shifted once I got deeper into His way of life. You start to see how much He was giving. It made me shift into that space. Once I started doing that, I started thinking of different ways to be able to express myself. That's how I got into the clothing. I then wanted to figure out how I can give. Those are different things. A good book is Start Something That Matters by Blake Mycoskie. He’s the guy that created TOMS Shoes. That was a book that shifted my whole thought process. Whatever you do, make sure you give back a one-for-one concept. It was inspiring to read his story.

For anyone out there that's trying to figure it out, take some time to know yourself, peel back the layers, understand your worldviews and take some personal assessment courses. We have that on the sheet that I sent out, a bunch of personal assessments for you to be able to find yourself and understand what matters to you and not with your parents, your family, or your surroundings but who are you?

I always tell everyone that the answers that often we are seeking outside are always within ourselves. The outside world is a reflection of what's going on inside. What we perceive is a projection. I love that you brought that up. I love that you also brought that giving concept and the truth about giving. Often, in society, we are programmed to believe that when we give, we have less. It’s the total opposite. When we give, we get even more. We are here to serve. We have similar values in that regard so I appreciate you sharing that.

That was the inspiration. When you met Jesus in college, you started resonating with His message and you started to figure out, “How can I model that? How can I give? How can I serve?” You then started your clothing line. You met that homeless guy in the line and that inspired you. Did you create the Seed House Project immediately after that?

It started a couple of months after. Realistically, I started Save A Penny, which was the employment program right after.

In terms of homelessness, I do feel it is a complex society issue. In Houston, there are a lot of homeless people, mainly downtown. Like you, I always start thinking in my head, “What are the root causes of all of these?” It sounds like a lot of it is systematic too for people in foster care that they don't have the resources. What are your thoughts? What do you think the root causes are? What can we do? If someone is reading this, what can each one of us do to contribute to that cause?

Non-profits are so complex, especially if you're working with individuals. You really don't know what's going to work. You have an idea what might work, but it may not work.

 

The situation of homelessness is complex. It's not a one-size-fits-all type of concept. Many systemic systems are in place that starts someone off in a bad space that doesn't necessarily help them to grow. There are many different ways to attack it. The more people that start nonprofits that attack it on their own experience helps a certain demographic of youth or demographic of individuals. Because their experiences are similar to most other people, they probably experienced the same thing. If we make more of these programs that meet certain people where they're at, you can change it.

I don't believe homelessness starts with housing. I believe homelessness is the absence of hope. If someone does not have hope, that's what you may see where you see someone may be talking to themselves and accepting where they're at. When you have hope, you no longer accept where you're at. You believe that where you are is temporary.

At Seed House, we help individuals find that hope by creating various ways of expression but also coupling supportive services such as, how do you create a nonprofit? How do you build out a clothing line? We bring all these resources within our programs so that once you understand what your purpose is, now you have someone to sit down and execute how to create it in a tangible way in this world. One of our youth went through a lot of things where he saw his mom get shot by his dad at three years old and then he saw his older brother get killed at ten. He's been to 50 other group homes. He came to an understanding, “I want to transform this trauma into a life mission.”

What does that look like for him? He's learning how to be a public speaker, how to make money off of being a public speaker, and meeting other youth that are experiencing the same thing. We call it purpose therapy where you go through the normal mental health therapy program but you're also using those traumas to build up your purpose and figure out what that purpose is. That catapults a whole different thing. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of Maslow's law of hierarchy.

I have.

A lot of programs focus on the basic deficient needs, which are shelter, safety, and food. For us, we focus on those things but we also focus on love and belonging, self-esteem, and self-actualization. Maslow's law is the theory of motivation. If you have motivation, you will only experience homelessness for a temporary time. Tyler Perry and all these different people that had a mission lived in their car. Jim Carrey lived in his car. Tyler Perry lived in his car. They had a bigger vision, a bigger purpose. They believed that they were going to become this person. That's our way of attacking.

You are helping these young people find their purpose instead of telling them, “These are the boxes that you need to fit in.” Instead, it's highly customized for them to understand what makes them feel fulfilled, that they belong, and then create a journey out of that. That's such a beautiful thing. Do you know Tony Robbins?

Yeah.

He says that it's not a lack of resources, it's a lack of resourcefulness. I truly believe that whenever you have that vision that is pulling you to move forward, you're going to figure out a way. That seems to be the catalyst that your mission is centered on finding that vision so you can move out with intention and purpose. That's such a beautiful thing that you're doing. I'm proud of you and your team.

Thank you. I appreciate it.

Would you say that most of these young people are from foster care? What would you say is the breakdown in terms of where they come from or their situations before getting into that situation of being homeless?

We get all types of youth going through our program. Most of them have experienced the homeless foster care system before experiencing homelessness. You’ve got to imagine what that looks like without having a family foundation. You're still trying to find your identity. You're also dealing with mental health. Even when you think of an animal or any species that's been taken away from their family, you're going to have some type of trauma effect to it. You have that attached to them as well. There's social anxiety that happens. There are trauma bonds that happen. When they go into work and work somewhere, anyone else that works at a restaurant is dealing with ten times higher PTSD than the normal person. The statistics show that anybody who went through foster care has eight times higher PTSD than a war veteran that had been in a war.

It's a lot to carry. That's why the percentage is high. 30% of youth that is experiencing homelessness are coming from that background because of that.

Thank you for sharing that. That's something that I didn't know. It's important to get educated on all these social issues so we can do something about them. In your journey, you saw something that you believed in, which is helping all these young people. You decided to start your nonprofit. What would you say were your biggest challenges and highlights in starting a nonprofit for the first time? Is this your first time starting a nonprofit?

Yeah.

If someone is reading and maybe they have a cause that they are motivated for and they want to start a nonprofit, what is the advice you would give them? What were the challenges? What were the highlights? How does that work? I don't have any idea.

Sometimes you don't know what's on the other side of the hill until someone has helped lift you over the wall.

 

Be clear on the profile of the individual that you plan on serving. We can get such a big heart to want to serve everyone and that's a good heart to have but you want to be an expert in the field that you're in. A variety can pull you back from that when you have too many different pain points that you have to reach when it comes to the demographic that you work with. My advice would be to be clear on the profile that you're going to be working with so that you are laser-focused on what you're going to be attacking within that individual.

I have this awesome sheet, five steps to figure out how to build out this nonprofit. One of those is researching the gaps within the industry that you're looking to serve. The first question that you had as far as what were some of the things that I learned, that was one of them, being able to hone in on the profile that you're looking for.

When I first opened up the home and opened it to everyone, it was a disaster at that point. You’re getting all different types of backgrounds. There are too many pain points to meet. At that point, for me, I didn't have all the funding that I needed to be able to bring in the different experts to support those pain points. That was a learning process.

There are bureaucrats and politics to everything. When you're coming into a certain space, you have to research what those politics and what all that looks like so that you can navigate it in the way that you want. There’s a lot of different funding out there but they want you to do it their way and not necessarily your way. You have to figure out how you are going to fund this in the way that you want it to be rather than taking on the funds that come your way and then it becomes a whole other program that you didn't necessarily think about.

You have to have strong integrity to move away from those different opportunities. You could even get donors that also have their own requests and beliefs on how things should be. That's great when they have those certain ideas and you want more ideas but they're not in the trenches with you. You have to know what your focus is and have the integrity to be able to move in the way that you want to move.

Whenever you have that vision, you can differentiate between an aligned action and instruction. It’s exactly what you're saying. The money they're offering is great but maybe we don't have the same values or maybe we are not aligned in certain aspects. I love that you said that because we experience that in every aspect of our lives.

I was at a networking event and I met a nonprofit consultant. She was telling me that most people that start nonprofits don't have an idea of the business side of a nonprofit. I love everything you said because it sounds like it's like running any other business, knowing your ideal client, and getting clear on what you want. It sounds the same. Do you see any differences? You are running both or you have run both. What would you say are the main differences between profit and nonprofit?

You want to make sure that you have a business sense going into a nonprofit. If you have all heart but no business side, it will crash. One thing that I learned with nonprofits is there are two ends of service that you're providing. With a for-profit, it's one end of service. Someone buys your product and then that's it. You don't know much about them. You might follow up with customer service emails or different things like that but you're not managing their mental cycles of what's going on in life.

With nonprofits, on the other end, you are managing the services you should provide for the individuals that you work with. You're also managing the services that you provide to the individuals that donate because you have to build a relationship with them so that they can keep supporting your vision and plan. You have both ends that you're pulling. I will say that nonprofit is a whole other beast but the reward is much bigger.

She told me that a nonprofit is like a corporation on many levels. I was like, “I didn't have any idea how that works.” It seems like most people starting nonprofits need loans, that's what she was telling me about. That's when they reach out to her because they don't know how anything works business-wise and what they need.

The long piece would be probably more later down the line. Because nonprofits are complex especially if you're working with individuals, you don't know what's going to work. You have an idea that might work but it may not work. You want to keep plugging and playing until you have a certain amount of outcomes that are met with what you expected to happen. I wouldn't suggest getting a loan at the beginning because you got to pay that back. You want to make sure that what you're doing is right. That goes even with the business. I would never jump into it with a loan unless you're getting into real estate or something. Other than that, you don't want to jump into it.

Keep in mind that that's something you got to give back and is not something you need. Can you be resourceful and figure it out any other way? Do you still run the Save A Penny and the Seed House Project?

Save A Penny, we still run. That's more in-house. If you go to ShopSaveAPenny.org, you can see the necklaces that our youth make. They have a name inside of it with a penny and their story is attached to it. You can check that out. That is a way for them to create employment within the home. We also coupled that with the purpose of therapy, the coaching, and all that stuff too. They get paid for the hours of career development, purpose therapy, and coaching. With eighteen and over, you always need to have an incentive.

I love eighteen and over. We need to have an incentive too. What is your vision for the Seed House Project and everything else? What is your 5 or 10-year vision? What do you want to accomplish as you move forward?

I would love to build more homes for the youth. Specifically, we're looking at doing an international home. Having that international exchange, a lot of youths that are coming through foster care and homelessness never got the opportunity to be able to travel outside of the country. I love traveling. It opened up my eyes and possibilities and understanding of different cultures. We would look at doing some type of social enterprise with Save A Penny in another country but they would be going out as mentors for a couple of months for a quarter. The youth that was in the other country will come to America and be able to do the same thing.

What countries are you looking at? I'm curious.

If you shoot for the stars, you end up in the clouds.

 

We haven't figured it out yet. We're seeing where the need is but also the most creative as well. We haven't figured out the actual place. I like Thailand and even the Philippines. Those are cool places.

I haven't gone to any of them yet but I heard that. I was thinking of Costa Rica, Spanish-speaking and everything.

Costa Rica is a cool place too. That's another one on our list as well.

Are you planning to stay at the LA Center or are you planning to expand in the States? How does that work? What are your thoughts?

The main focus is LA because the needs are high. New York is another area where there's a high rate of at-risk youth that are experiencing homelessness. I'm a strong believer in focusing on the environment that you know. As things become more self-operated, you can move on to other areas to discover and study that area.

I want to know more about personal Garrett. We are talking a lot about business. How do you manage your mindset as you are constantly faced with young people who have had rough challenges? How do you provide that safe space? That’s something I'm super curious about. I'm a coach. I'm sure you have a lot of more traumatic events that they talk about. How do you manage that safe space for them and you?

We have a good amount of staff now and a lot of staff do that one-on-one connection with them. I more so play the oversight but I also coach a lot of our staff on how to navigate some of these different conversations. With those one-on-ones that they're having as a staff, we do a lot of self-care activities. We try to do those different things. We also focus on highlights for the month. We have a staff meeting where we talk about highlights but it's about filling up the positive tank because our mind goes straight to the negative all the time. We have to constantly feel that up as much as possible.

Our youth have ups and downs but it's important to focus on, one, what's the purpose here? Two, let's focus on the positives, and three, this is their life too. We can't want it more than them, they have to want it more. We support them wherever they are in that walk. For me, what I do is a lot of self-care, meditating, journaling, and sometimes getting away for a little bit. I love nature. Those are a couple of things. I reflect. I also strongly encourage getting coaches. I have about two coaches right now and ranging from 2 to 3 sometimes depending on what the need is.

Coaches need coaches. It depends on what you need, the person, and the scope. I love that.

If you can't afford a coach now, find people that are going to shift your perspective because that's the biggest thing. We only have our perspective and that's what eats us up. Sometimes when we're dealing with different problems, losses, or whatever the case might be, we can only look at it from one side. If you bring in individuals that help you be able to look at it from the other perspective, it creates a different energy that you experience after switching it.

Sometimes you don't know what's on the other side of the hill until someone lifts you over the wall to be like, “This is a whole new perspective. The grass is greener on the side.” That's mainly what I use my coaches for, like, “Here's the problem. I need help changing into perspective. Give me empathy on this,” or, “Help me to see opportunity in this because I'm depleting.” That’s my answer.

It's important because whenever we are going through a situation, we are enclosed there. Sometimes we don't see the whole picture. We don't see it at a more strategic level either. I love someone who provides you with a different perspective. Did you always have this intrapreneurial mindset? I am in awe at everything that you have built. I’m like, “Where did this come from?” Did you always have that as a child? How did that come to be?

Every entrepreneur is mainly born creative. For me, I was just born creative. I always wanted to understand how something worked. Even with fashion and things like that, I always say, “Why can't you wear it this way? Why can't it be this way?” As we get older, we suppress that why mentality, always having why because people are telling you no. Gratefully, I grew up in a family that didn't necessarily suppress the why so much but encouraged it.

For anyone that is feeling wanting to get into entrepreneurship, practice asking yourself why, like, “Why not start something? Why not be this? Why not try this new food? Why not this?” Break yourself out of that box so that you can become creative again. Everyone starts as a child and children are all creative. We end up suppressing it because society tells you, “You have to do this. You have to get a job,” and all these different things. I don't think life is about that. We need to be explorers and creative.

Same here because my journey has been trying to fit into that box and knowing within myself that I didn't fit and that's not what I wanted. Peeling those layers back and going back to the core and understanding what my why and my purpose was. I love that. That’s awesome. I'm curious about this whole journey. You had this idea of the nonprofit and then you have built a team and staff. How did you get there? From having your idea, just being Garrett yourself to having a group of people and a team of people support you. What was the key there? What is the secret?

I don't know if there's any secret. A lot of people can get stuck looking at the big picture and that can be overwhelming. It puts you in this paralyzed mentality. It's always good to have the big picture and be inspired by the big picture but don't put too much pressure on yourself for not being able to obtain it. I'd say that I'm a visionary. I focus on the big picture and I can see it. It doesn't overwhelm me but it excites me. I'm not a super perfectionist so I don't get fixated on it being this way perfectly.

My whole concept is if you shoot for the stars, you end up in the clouds. Let's make something up that you can shoot for but don't beat yourself up if you don't make that accomplishment. Going back to focusing on brick by brick as you're building this thing, focus on making the best brick possible and then start the next brick.

Back when I started the clothing line, I started making shirts for myself, and then people liked them, and then I made one for someone else. Another person wanted it and then turned into, “Those are my bricks.” Once you understand, “These bricks are holding steady. What's the big picture here?” “Maybe I could start a whole clothing line? How am I going to get the money? How much do I need?”

I’m big on vision board. If you put how much you need on a vision board, the universe takes you there and then you end up getting the money randomly. Big pictures are there for you to imagine so that you're putting that energy out there so that the people and the money that you need come to you. Don't get held up on, “I’ve got to do this by the end of the year or three years from now, five years from now.” Use it as a tool to be able to gravitate for that next level that you're going to but don't make it something huge that you don't start anything.

Don't get too attached to the outcome and even strive for perfection. There is no perfection anywhere and even if perfection existed, how are you going to get there if you don't start? There is so much that you learn in the journey and then you get feedback and you get better, that step by step you get to that vision. I love that.

This has been inspiring for me. What you're doing is life-changing. You have shed light on such a big socio-economic issue that sometimes we don't talk much about. I see it in the streets but I don't know much about it. I love getting educated in that topic. Anything else that you want to share with our readers? How can they contact you? If you have a free resource, you gave the website but anything else before we conclude?

Anyone that's looking into making a difference, download the Five Steps of Creating Your Own Nonprofit. It's a quick roadmap. It's a free tool, SaveAPenny.org. It's something that helped me and I wanted to give it out. If you're interested in other things, my website is SeedHouseProject.org. My information is listed there. I want to help other people be able to make a mission and a purpose in life because if we can do that, we are in harmony with the world and ourselves. What we give out is what we want.

Cheers to uplifting the world because that's what we're here for. We're here to serve and lead purpose-driven lives. Garrett, thank you so much for your time. I feel grateful that we got to connect. This is the first time that Garrett and I see each other on video. I love technology and how we can make connections with like-minded individuals and purpose-driven individuals. Thank you so much for reaching out, Garrett. I appreciate it.

Thank you so much for having me on the show.

Take care. Everyone, visit Garrett's website and find a free resource. It is going to change your life. I'll see you next episode. Bye-bye.

 Important Links

• Seed House Project
• Save A Penny
• [email protected]
• Start Something That Matters
• ShopSaveAPenny.org

About Garrett Underwood

Garrett Underwood is the founder/Executive Director of Seed House Project and the owner of Malachi Clothing, a well-known Christian Clothing company in Southern California. Mr. Underwood graduates at Cal State Northridge with a Kinesiology Degree and also attends Azusa Pacific enrolled in the graduate program for Sociology of Organization Development.

Mr. Underwood is exceptional in leadership development and mentorship. He plays as the outreach coordinator for all of the downtown as well as the program manager for outreach at PATH. Mr. Underwood oversees all programs within the Seed House Project. His goal is to reinvent the transition for youth to adulthood. Using technology and new innovative ideas to create change within the homelessness in LA.