A friend called me last week and said, “For your article, you should really go and talk with Ashley Brown at Turn Back the Block. They’re doing great work.”
After speaking with Brown for nearly two hours at the headquarters of Turn Back the Block at 1924 Battle Row, I’m convinced that it is indeed doing good work.
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Turn Back the Block is a 501(c)(3) organization designed to literally rebuild Augusta’s Harrisburg neighborhood by renovating derelict properties and building new homes for area residents to buy at market value with guidance from the organization.
“We are a family here,” said Brown, executive director of Turn Back the Block. “Our homeowners, they join our family. Someone from our committee checks in our homeowners every month and it’s more than a ‘Hey, how are you?’ We want to know what their specific needs are, how we can help, and just reinforce that neighborhood feel we are trying to rebuild.”
Since the program began in 2010, nine homeowners have worked and paid their way to a home renovated or built by Turn Back the Block. And there are 25 vacant lots owned by the organization just waiting their turn to be transformed.
How does it all work? For an applicant to be considered, there’s a list of requirements. They must demonstrate an existing steady income, complete a homebuyer education class, attend credit / budgeting counseling sessions with the CSRA Economic Opportunity Authority, pay $2000 in a down payment, maintain monthly mortgage payments and put in the requisite 350 sweat equity hours.
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Those sweat equity hours are TBTB’s version of community service hours. An applicant must complete 200 of those hours themselves, and 150 can come from community donation. For example, if I had my co-workers come out for a day of volunteering and 15 of them put in a 10-hour day, I’d have those 150 donated hours complete right then and there. The rest of the hours are still my own responsibility.
“People may think it’s a simple yes or no process, but it’s not that way. It’s very tough,” Brown said. “And there are questions about your budget and your credit card debt and nobody wants to talk about that, but we have to do that to find good fits for the program that will be able to be successful homeowners.”
It’s a two-pronged approach of revitalizing the area, with a future homeowner buying the property from TBTB (interest-free), which promotes more home-ownership and neighborhood-building in the Harrisburg area, and this is after putting time and energy into rebuilding the community in a personal way via sweat equity.
“It’s just so fun, driving down these streets on my way to work and seeing homeowners we helped make it there and they’re sitting on their porch with their families waving at me in the morning,” Brown said. “I just can’t tell you how good that feels, to see that progress being made.”
TBTB’s most recent homeowner, Ladonna Doleman, took three years to complete the process. For some applicants, it takes six months. It takes however long it takes.
“Turn Back the Block gave me tools and information to work on my credit so I could better myself. Everybody wants the American dream,” Doleman said. “I am so grateful and humble. They changed my life. My parents and grandparents talked about owning your own home, owning land. My mother wasn’t able to do that. It was such a big accomplishment for myself, my family and my two boys.”
Individuals and organizations in the community aid Turn Back the Block in a monetary way, and according to Brown, those monies go directly into building and construction costs to further the organization’s efforts.
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Volunteers from around the CSRA supply the physical efforts. In fact, Turn Back the Block has a team of FROGs, or “Friendly Retired Old Guys,” that meet twice a week to work together on the current renovation project. They’re the backbone of the renovations, bringing decades of expertise to action twice a week as a project transforms from a house in disrepair or an empty lot into a home ready for new ownership.
The organization also holds “block parties” every couple of weeks, where volunteers from a school, business, or an open call to the public goes out in order to coordinate a community meal or a trash and tire pick-up, for example.
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Going forward, TBTB will partner more with Studio 3 Design Group in Augusta to gain a better understanding of the historical architecture of Harrisburg and use that knowledge to inform their future projects.
If you’re reading this and want to get involved, Brown said that’s an easy fix.
“Email me at Ashley@TurnBacktheBlock.com. I’ll put you to work.”
Tyler Strong is the Business Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach him at tyler@theaugustapress.com.
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