One Infinity Way: Accessible Housing for Nashville

Nashville is a city at a crossroads. We've faced extraordinary circumstances in 2020, a year that held promise that, if we stayed focused, we would see fruition. 

We hadn't reached the Spring before devastating tornadoes wreaked havoc on the city. The areas damaged most were those full of Black and poor people, in North Nashville. The Infinity Center immediately began to work with organizations and families to provide support on the ground because, well, it's what we do.

Then, even as we were assembling recovery kits in our basement for North Nashville tornado survivors, the unthinkable happened: the city recognized that the COVID-19 outbreak threat was real enough to shut down the city with stay at home orders. 

Businesses closed; government services became elusive; schools could not reopen. My son had to graduate high school in the passenger seat of the family mini-van, dressed in his regalia, receiving his hard-earned diploma through a window.

And then, as if to add insult to the injury of living in a growing city where affordability of housing, property, and resources is becoming increasingly scarce, local government delivered a potential deathblow to everyday people who are struggling to keep a roof over their heads:

A whopping 34 percent property tax increase.

I've written countless plays and a couple of movies, and you wouldn't have believed this scenario if I'd written it a year ago.

I'm asking for your help, on behalf of average, working class people, who can no longer afford to live in Nashville.  I'm asking you for the biggest ask I've ever made in my life.

Help me build a community for the visionaries of the future who are being affected deeply by the physical and pandemic storms that have hit our city.

Infinity Center, the nonprofit I founded and work for, has a stellar stewardship record: When people who were formerly living in Nashville's tent city, or sleeping in tents on the ground needed housing, we built it . When youth violence in our city erupted, we pledged to build a facility that would be here for our kids and their families. Not only did we fund and build it, but we re-ignited an amazing Youth Performing Arts Academy  that taught kids how to act out on the stage instead of a street corner.

Now, we're taking a stand for the people who made this city into the space people want to flock to: Creatives, Artists, and Teachers, who can no longer afford to live in the city we love. 

We are going to crowd-fund ONE MILLION DOLLARS to build a pocket community of studio twin housing. It is going to be innovative, self-sustaining, located in Northeast Nashville, and nestled in the woods, with walking trails, a community garden, and a co-work space with shared internet and amenities.

All just minutes from downtown, and around the corner from the spaces where we need our best teachers, artists, and creatives.

One of Nashville's awesome artists, Lakesha S Moore , provided us with a concept design of what this community will look like (it's the cover photo!), and below is a smaller model I personally have walked into at an innovative housing summit in Chicago. We've partnered with the award-winning architectural firm to give us our designs and building plans.

People are already flat-out excited about the possibilities. 


Each unit will be built on solid foundations, to the highest codes standards, with brick exteriors, modern roofs that collect and re-distribute rainwater, and outfitted with appliances and stackable washer/dryers. Rents will be affordable, and young professionals will finally have a place that can keep them connected to--and and residing in--the community.


I know we're underdogs, and it's a big vision. While government dollars go in a lot of directions, they don't often find their way to high-impact, grassroots initiatives like this. The time I'd have to spend playing the politics needed to gain back our own tax dollars is sometimes better spent connecting with good-hearted people who are more interested in just making a change.

That's why you are so important.

I know it's been some kind of year in Nashville. But I also know what happens when good people kick in whatever they can to make a difference. We are here for the underdogs.

Will you help us build this community today with a contribution of any amount? We want to show the world a way to solve the problem of affordability and accessibility, with Innovation. Our goal is to fund this community by the end of the year.

Your contribution will be utilized for design, permitting, infrastructure, and construction. We are a not-for-profit, 501 (c)(3) tax-exempt organization, so your contributions are tax-deductible under the law. Rent funds that come in will be used to fund the programs we do in the community, so it's a sustainable model for community success.

Let's go! It's time for action.

Start us off with a contribution of any amount, then share it with your friends. If you've got deep pockets or if you're a company or large organization, contact me directly to sponsor one of the units. We're going to get this done by every  means necessary.

2020 may have started off with challenges, but with your help, it will end in triumph. 

Let's raise one million dollars, and build a community that will keep on giving, to demonstrate how we can have a city that provides for everyone.

Click. Donate. Share.

-jeff obafemi carr, Founder
The Infinity Center