We were lucky to catch up with Sean Bryant recently and have shared our conversation below.

Sean, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you share an important lesson you learned in a prior job that’s helped you in your career afterwards?

I spent ten years working in a small, impoverished community that was controlled by crime and hardship, daily struggles and loss of hope when I first arrived at their little elementary school. This is where I learned the importance of unity and that “community creates change”. During those ten years, the community dramatically changed and became a beacon of hope, a place where community became apparent and many people of great difference found their way to work together to make a better living space for all involved. While I was not responsible for these changes, my lessons and social work skills. became instrumental to learning about gaps and needs, partnering with 36 outside agencies to provide support, and eventually empowering the community to take its own lead in realizing and becoming its own identity. It is important to note that this process took nearly a decade to bring about because trauma, previous perceptions of the community and lack of visible success had created a situation that made this community appear as a “forgotten” community in our city. The value attached to it had become diminished from its truth.

The most important lessons that I learned about people include:
1. When a person is living in survival mode, a “day to day” or “one moment at a time” mentality, they do not have space to explore their dreams for the future, let alone bring that about for themselves.
2. When we provide the most basic needs for those same persons, they know and want to move toward exactly what they want to become, despite all of the previous obstacles they have encountered that they often feel powerless to overcome.
3. When multiple groups of people or agencies align their agendas, missions and resources around a common goal related to truly providing for and helping a community or group of people, there becomes a great power to create lasting change that benefits everyone.

In order to put these three lessons into place, someone has to become the leader that unites and aligns those entities via a common purpose. The common purpose must originate from the source, or group of people who are in need.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

When I founded Bryant’s Bridge, it was in response to looking at data in our city about the crisis related to youth homelessness. I looked at numbers from our Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) for the two quarters before we began. In the third quarter, we had 191 homeless youth and had housed 7. In the fourth quarter, I saw similar results with 208 homeless youth and only 8 housed. This was alarming to me, and I felt compelled to help, even in a small way. I had been searching for a way to help LGBTQ+ youth because I knew they were overrepresented in these numbers, often due to being kicked out of housing and family situations due to their LGBTQ+ status. All of our residents are young adults, being emancipated 17-24 year-olds, completing their stay at age 25.

I had personal experience with this homelessness in my youth, found myself healed from much trauma related to that, and had the desire to give back or help others in this situation. I had become a successful adult with a thriving career and family, and I knew that others had that potential to heal and develop as well. I also now had learned lessons that I thought might be beneficial to this process.

Following some research, I decided to try something that I believe has not yet been done in the way we are doing it. I decided to set up a house where seven people would live communally with a resident assistant who could guide them in their development, manage the day-to-day tasks of running a home, and provide emotional support that might help these young adults move successfully into adulthood. The plan was to use a “housing first” model while simultaneously attempting to create a sustainable affordable housing model at some point. Allow me to explain what this means here:

A Housing First model is an evidence-based method of dealing with chronic homelessness that operates on 5 pillars, or core principles. To my knowledge, it has not been researched fully as a model with youth, but it has a successful track record. The five principles are as follows:
1. Immediate access to permanent housing without housing readiness requirements, which means that we offer safe, stable housing for the time needed to heal and develop into full adulthood (exceptions being violence or keeping illegal drugs in the home related to legal restrictions and safety needs). Residents do not need specific skills in order to access our house.
2. Participant choice and self-determination: Residents are offered a multitude of services that could assist them on their journey. They are their own guardians and are supported to freely choose when and how to access services with which we can link them.
3. Recovery orientation: All of our residents have experienced significant trauma and abandonment. Many have been abused and have addictions or other events that significantly impair their ability to function in daily life. Six of seven of our current residents are transitioning to the opposite gender of their birth, for example, and need specialized services in the areas of health and mental health that are related to specifically to this process. As an all volunteer team, we do our best to offer positive support within, and connect them with agencies outside of our walls that can further affirm and support them.
4. Individualized and participant-driven support: Again, based on individualized client goal sheets, we attempt to make linkages that are requested by our residents to support them on their journey. They identify, request and arrange services for themselves based on their own dreams and goals, at times with our encouragement and assistance. These sheets are updated each quarter to reflect changes and new needs.
5. Social and community integration: We seek to partner and work with outside agencies who offer affirming and healing opportunities for our residents to build community connection, take leadership roles, participate in advocacy activities and other ways for them to reintegrate into the larger community.

A second prong, or goal of Bryant’s Bridge is to eventually create a sustainable, affordable housing model where each of our homes can be fully supported by resident rents, which are a consistent 1/3 of their income to a maximum of $300 for rent and utilities regardless of how long they stay in the home. While this means that if there is no income, there is no rent, if residents can accomplish this maximum, the home would continue to flourish without outside assistance; thus, it would be a model that could be replicated in any home to pay monthly mortgage, utilities, insurance and expenses required to maintain the residence. We have not yet determined how long it will take for our residents to reach the stage of independence required to fully realize this goal, hence the 1-5 year stay. We are completing our first year of operation on December 22, 2022.

The combination of the housing first model and the affordable housing structure make us a unique organization, and a bit of an innovative, experimental structure to add to current structures within the homeless provider network that have yet to make a dent in YOUTH homelessness in Knoxville. The challenge for us is that most large housing grants require 2-5 years of housing experience in order to apply. This means we must exist through our most challenging start-up time solely on private funders and donations from the community. Our expansion will depend on outside factors to get us to that point.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

The idea of Bryant’s Bridge is based on a true story, my story. My story is full of resilience, as are most. Bryant’s Bridge was envisioned and developed in honor and memory of my mother, Dorothy Bryant, who “stood in the gap” for many, loving and providing for them until they could find their way to acceptance with their families. It was created to stand in the gap where young people come out to their families and are in some way abandoned for a time due to societal pressures, belief systems or other life experiences that prevent families from offering unconditional acceptance. We do this by providing housing, a safe place, a long-term option with the goal of making linkages to agencies and services that can help them to heal and grow through the gap until they can become fully functioning, stable adults with a promising life ahead of them. We offer a hope until they can potentially reunite with family and other support systems. The journey to start Bryant’s Bridge was one of my stories of resilience.

Let me first say that I believe patience is one of the most important aspects of becoming resilient. The ability to experience and move through dark times, the unknown, and fear with patience and self-compassion are the keys. Realizing that we are all both independent and interdependent allow us to open to new opportunities and experiences that lead in the direction of our dreams.

With regard to Bryant’s Bridge, I had only a dream and an idea that I would start this organization. I had done research and realized that there was very little happening in Knoxville to adequately house youth who were homeless. It felt like a very big thing to try, and a pretty hopeless situation for our city. Following a conversation with our city mayor, I decided to take the first step. In December of 2021, my friend Christine linked me with her father, an attorney who helped new 501c3 organizations get started, and he laid out the process and agreed to help. I chose and contacted a group of people to serve on the board and we met to establish bylaws and a beginning structure. We submitted the application to the IRS, and… there was a LONG wait due to complications from the pandemic. This was an opportunity to stop or just wait. I did not stop, but I did wait, hence the need for patience.

My best friend Missy soon showed up with a helpful lead from her friend Chelly, who wanted to send her recently transitioned son’s female clothing to New York to a charity there. She informed her friend of my desire to begin something in Knoxville.
Chelly happened to be part to a family whose business was the largest provider of affordable homes in the Southeast U.S., Clayton Homes. I met with her and their foundation, who offers grants in the areas of housing and education. Their response was that they would love to help, but were at a standstill until we received a 501c3 approval. Again, the need for patience showed up.

A couple of months passed, and Chelly reached back out. She asked me to meet her son Nico, who in turn wanted to help with Bryant’s Bridge as part of his senior capstone project in high school. During this meeting, she asked me to remove all of my limitations and envision what I really want. This was a life changing conversation, and I began to see a very big, long-term vision of a supportive community. Meanwhile, Nico and I talked about acquiring some data, getting started with learning about community needs, etc. I waited for him to decide on a direction for the capstone project, which unfolded over the next few months. Patience.

Suddenly, just before the IRS approval came through, I received a message from Chelly. She simply said, “Nico is going to purchase a house that we will rent to you for $100/mo. until you are able to establish what you need as an organization, and we can go from there. This way we can begin serving the youth who need us.”

Recognizing and receiving the blessings and opportunities that come from without is the other half of resilience. Here it was! I chose to accept this with gratitude and prepared to move forward. The IRS approval arrived almost immediately! We began the search for a house. Chelly found some options, we viewed a few, and Nico’s place suddenly appeared as the perfect space. On November 10, 2021, Nico purchased the house for Bryant’s Bridge to use and has been involved with the residents ever since in a supportive, off the grid way that is perfect. The house was beautiful, but empty. Patience and receiving…

Sinead and Heather, our board members, decided to do a wish list campaign on social media to see if we might get a little help to furnish the house. Much to our amazement, the community came together in a way that I could not have imagined. Box after box of furniture showed up on the front porch, day after day, so fast that I almost could not manage to get it all inside. Youth groups and service groups showed up on Saturdays to build furniture and set up the house. Within several weeks, the entire house was furnished and ready to begin accepting people, just in time for Christmas. They even decorated it with a rainbow holiday theme! Receiving graciously and abundantly, being thankful became all that I could do. It was overwhelming.

And Bryant’s Bridge was born. We took our first resident on December 22. He even received gifts and had a place to go on Christmas for lunch and to socialize. I could have given up on this, my dream and my life purpose many times then and since, but I carry this same spirit today that I did then. I remain committed to the vision of a supportive community, the eradication of youth homelessness in Knoxville, TN, and to creating safe spaces for young people who find themselves with nowhere to go, regardless of their circumstances. It is my desire that everyone has a safe place to land when they face a failure, a place they can call home even if it cannot be with family for a time, and a chance to learn more about resilience. My thanks to all who have and continue to help me to learn the lesson of what it means to become resilient.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

The story of Bryant’s Bridge is a bit magical. Every step of the way, things would just appear as they were needed. But the following is that part of the larger story: I had been researching, as I mentioned earlier, and had told some of my closest friends what I intended to try to do as it slowly became a vision. Shortly after I arranged for that initial board and submitted an application to become a 501c3 agency with the IRS, Chelly Clayton, an amazing and powerful visionary in Knoxville with a history of fundraising and working with our local zoo, sprung into action. She arranged the meeting with their foundation and began talking with others about the best way to help.

From the story above, Nico decided to make our initiative his senior capstone project for his pre-graduation requirement. I had no idea what this ACTUALLY meant in terms of the home purchase. In late November, with a gift from the Clayton family, we launched what we expected to be a small social media campaign to see if we could get help to furnish it. Within several weeks, the entire house was furnished via a wish list, teams of youth showed up to build furniture, floods of emails of support and requests to volunteer appeared, and we were able to open our doors on December 22 so that our first resident did not have to spend Christmas alone in a shelter. A committed social work student from the University of Tennessee, whose dream was to work with homeless youth showed up and agreed to move in to become our first “resident assistant” to help manage the day-to-day needs.

Community groups and outside agencies began referring individuals to the home, and we decided to take those in greatest need first. By January 22, we were full with a waiting list. We found ourselves staring at 7 individuals who had absolutely nothing: no income, no public assistance, no health insurance, health care, mental health care, few life or job skills, and no concept of what it requires to be a successful adult in this world. But this was only the beginning, and our community has graciously provided enough financial support through events, fundraisers and congregational collections to help us to get through the first year.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.bryantsbridge.org
• Instagram: @bryantsbridge
• Facebook: Bryant’s Bridge Inc.
• Other: TikTok: @bryantsbridge0

Image Credits
Thank you to the Clayton family for providing the photos.