The Augusta Homeless Task Force is preparing the final action plan to present to the Augusta Commission.
The task force, formed after homeless veteran Willie Walker was found frozen to death on the street in December 2020, expects to present a draft plan to commissioners at the Feb. 22 meeting.
“We’re going to give them a week to look at it. My understanding is that the commission wants a training on it, so we’re going to do a day-training,” said Lynda Barrs, chairwoman of the task force’s action plan committee and Resource Development Director for CSRA Economic Opportunity Authority. “You know, what does all this mean? So, they can really understand when they adopt this.”
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After a plan is adopted, Barrs said they want to make quarterly reports to the commission to update where it stands and what the task force needs from commissioners.
“Because this is a community plan, we got to change our community. It’s going to take all sectors,” she said.
At the Jan. 20 meeting, task force members heard from Darlene Schultz, CEO of Georgia Works, a program that started to help homeless men in Atlanta in 2013. Men participating must be clean of drugs and alcohol. They go through a training program lasting six-to-eight months and are placed in jobs with partner businesses and agencies. A second location opened in Hall County in 2018.
Schultz was brought to the meeting by District Attorney Jared Williams of the Augusta Judicial Circuit, who sees it as a way to cut down on crime.
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“I think that any time we have an opportunity to take people from the criminal justice system and make them productive members of our society, that is one fewer case. That’s one fewer victim and one fewer opportunity for someone to get hurt or to be victimized,” he said.
The hope is to be able to bring the program to Augusta.
“We need to find a place to house the men with enough space to have case management. Then, we need to partner with our business organizations in Augusta and explain to them that every man that they employ is taking them off the streets of Augusta and saving taxpayers’ money,” Schultz said.
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Barrs acknowledged creating a transition center or affordable housing, so-called “bridge housing,” is one of the task force’s primary considerations.
“We do need bridge housing. That’s a question for developers. One of the things that’s going to come out of this is a much stronger housing sector team that is truly going to work on those issues, surrounding housing and how to bring it. So, we’re going to start connecting these dots,” she said.
More information about Georgia Works is available on its website.
The task force is scheduled to meet again on Feb. 17.
Dana Lynn McIntyre is a Staff Reporter with The Augusta Press. You can reach her at dana@theaugustapress.com
