Gov. Brian Kemp praises community collaboration in Augusta during visit
Abraham Kenmore
During a roundtable Thursday in Augusta, Gov. Brian Kemp applauded The Hub, a collaboration between multiple organizations in Augusta to create a community center for the Harrisburg and Laney-Walker neighborhoods.
"It really makes you feel good to see so many people at the local level working together to address real problems we have in communities across the state, really across the country," Kemp said after the meeting with a number of people involved in the project. "The thing I like about this is it's not just addressing one problem, right? It's addressing an array of problems, wrap around services, whether it's mental health, workforce training, obviously making the university and that gateway something that is desirable to people to want to come to Augusta, to want to come to the CSRA."
The event included representatives of a variety of organizations involved The Hub as well as local elected and appointed officials. The Hub is a partnership between the Community Foundation of the CSRA, MCG Foundation, and the Boys and Girls Club of the CSRA that includes two buildings – one to house the Boys and Girls Club, the other that will hold Augusta Locally Grown, the Augusta University Literacy Center, Harrisburg Family Health Care and RISE Augusta.
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Ian Mercier, MCG Foundation president and CEO, said the project started with the medical college's plans for expansion.
"All of this property is at the gateway of the health sciences campus of Augusta University, and so we wanted to develop this for many many years to make it an attractive campus for AU, but we know it's surrounded by two of the most critically underserved and underinvested communities not just here in this town but also in the state of Georgia," he said.
The Hub is one part of a multi-phase project to grow the campus while providing services to the community around education and literacy, food, health care and mental health care. Originally scheduled to open by Master's Week 2022, Mercier said that it has been delayed due to supply chain issues. They still plan on a ribbon cutting the first week of April, and for The Hub to be operational by early summer.
The project received $10 million from the Augusta National Golf Club and three other corporations in November of 2020. Through tax credits, they were able to raise funds of up to $20 million to cover construction costs, and are working to raise $15 million for an endowment for the organizations to do their work.
"(The Hub) is just the beginning, and it's the seeds and roots of community collaboration at the genesis of this project," said Shell Berry, President and CEO of the Community Foundation during a Q&A.
Earlier this year, the organizations won a $450,000 planning grant from Housing and Urban Development to solicit input from residents of the neighborhoods and plan a revitalization. Steven B. Kendrick, Augusta tax commissioner and mayoral candidate, spoke about the HUD grant, and Augusta's hope of getting a $30-40 million implementation grant when the planning is completed.
"We want to send a message that Augusta, Georgia is working together across railroad tracks, across highways, in neighborhoods, in public housing, and in the university as well," Kendrick said. "All of that is going to be required to make us continue to be the most vibrant city in this state."