Augusta parks, recreation and youth programs are the recipient of $9.6 million in grants announced by Gov. Brian Kemp Thursday.
The five grants are among 142 totaling $225 million funded by the American Rescue Plan Act and intended to improve neighborhoods disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“With our partners on both the local and state levels, we’ve prioritized helping Georgia’s communities further recover from the pandemic with a bottom-up approach,” Kemp said in a statement.
The Augusta grant awards center on and around downtown, with one exception, Boykin Road Park near Hephzibah.
Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Augusta and the Salvation Army of Augusta each were allocated $2.2 million for youth facilities located in close proximity in the Harrisburg community.
The Boys and Girls Club plans to renovate its 1903 Division Street facility with an eye toward creating “exposure to sports that underserved communities traditionally do not experience” such as golf, soccer and tennis, according to the project description. The completed site will provide access to multiple ball fields and courts, a walking track, gardens, a park and playground, it said.
Next door, the Salvation Army Kroc Center will develop a recreation area that includes a playground, ball field, outdoor restrooms and walking path. Currently the Kroc’s primary facility for children is its indoor pool.
Augusta Parks and Recreation will receive $1.77 million to improve heavily-used May Park. Located behind the former jail being demolished at Walton Way and Gordon Highway, the nearly 12-acre park needs repairs to its ballfields, fences and its outdoor tennis and basketball courts, according to the project description. The facilities are not ADA-compliant and the community center needs renovating, it said.
Augusta will receive $1.77 million to improve a “central connector” in downtown Augusta, Jones Street. The street and Jones Street Alley, which runs about to the midpoint of the Common, will be used to “create an extension of the Augusta Common and linkage from the Common to (Augusta Marriott at) the Convention Center.”
The project, at one time associated with the Downtown Development Authority, includes milling or removing asphalt, new curbs and sidewalks and relocating dumpsters, according to the description.
The final award is $1.7 million to improve Boykin Road Park. The sparse 2.3-acre rectangle of baseball field, basketball court and dirt parking sees little athletics use so is being eyed for a “passive park,” according to its description. New features will include a parking lot, restrooms, a dementia garden, sustainable playground, interactive water feature, benches, grills and more than two dozen new trees, it said.
Other grants awarded in the region included $2.2 million for Thomson and McDuffie County to create a three-acre recreation facility known as the Blind Willie McTell Park and Amphitheater, named for the blues legend born there. The park will include an amphitheater, two playgrounds, interactive fountain, covered structures and a walking trail, according to its description.
