The HUB for Community Innovation, a project designed to revitalize the Harrisburg and Laney Walker neighborhoods, marked a major milestone April 6 as officials broke ground.
Instead of just turning over some dirt with ceremonial shovels, project officials placed the soil on a newly planted tree on the site at Fenwick Street and Chafee Avenue.
The tree “symbolizes the growth the HUB will make possible,” said Shell Berry, the president and chief executive officer of the Community Foundation of the CSRA and project co-leader.
The Community Foundation, Medical College of Georgia Foundation and the Boys and Girls Clubs of the CSRA are part of a coalition to bring the center into existence. Fueled by a $10 million gift, announced in November 2020 by the Augusta National Golf Club, in association with AT&T, Bank of America and IBM, the design and construction will be funded through a combination of federal grants and private contributions, according to a news release.
Two buildings will be constructed as part of the first phase of the project.
The Boys and Girls Clubs of the CSRA had been running out of space at its Milledge Road location for a while, said Kim Evans, the organization’s CEO, and was looking for space to grow its program.
Evans said the club has 70 years of proven success in the area with many leaders growing up in the neighborhood it has served.
The club will occupy a 16,000 square feet space.
Another 33,000 square-foot building on the western side of Chafee Avenue will house Augusta Locally Grown, the Augusta University Literacy Center, Harrisburg Family Health Care and RISE Augusta (formerly known as Communities in Schools).
A video describing the services offered by these entities was played during the ceremony.
The HUB will be built on the site of a former Kroger shopping center. When the grocery store closed in 2017, it created a food desert. Augusta Locally Grown works with local growers to provide healthy food options as well as education.
Nearly half of Harrisburg’s residents don’t have a high school diploma, said Kaden Jacobs with RISE Augusta in the video.
The Augusta University Literacy Center provides free tutoring services and RISE Augusta links literacy, mentoring and basic needs services to children and their families.
The Harrisburg Family Health Care program provides free medical care to more than 3,000 uninsured and under-insured Augusta area residents.
These two buildings are scheduled to be completed by spring 2022.
Other phases of the project include housing, but with a “bottom up process rather than a top down one” said Berry.
The goal is to keep residents in the area, not price them out of it.
Berry expressed her excitement with the project saying it was extraordinary what could happen when groups came together on a common goal.
To find out more visit www.communityhubaugusta.org.
Charmain Z. Brackett is the Features Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach her at charmain@theaugustapress.com
