The Salvation Army Augusta opened its First Stop Family Resource Center last month, consolidating a host of social services to make a dent in the issue of homelessness in the Garden City.
“We’ve heard it a thousand times before that most all of us are about a paycheck away from being homeless,” said Chris Bailey, Augusta Salvation Army’s public relations manager, noting the First Stop center on the KROC Center Campus is primarily focused on homelessness prevention services.
The Salvation Army already has working relationships with several agencies to help address locals in dire straits, including United Way, the CSRA Economic Opportunity Authority and the Richmond County Division of Family & Children Services, or EOA.
About six months up to the First Stop’s opening, the nonprofit began working on setting up offices where people in need can have a one-stop location to handle various needs or to get information.
The United Way of the CSRA operates from offices in one L-shaped half of the First Stop building, and from there also operates its 211 emergency line, where people may call in for rent or utilities assistance, Lyft rides and more, or to find out about the resources offered.
Employment services are also available on the campus, and through First Stop, due to the Salvation Army’s recent partnership with First Step Staffing, a nonprofit staffing company based in Atlanta that will find work for job-seeking felons.
“They’ll actually assume the risk of hiring that employee,” said Bailey. “They’ll pay through their system, that way that person is still able to get full time job.”
First Stop’s emergency utilities services are funded through Project SHARE, Georgia Power’s charity program. Bailey notes that the KROC Center and Salvation Army’s Augusta Command are looking to expand staffing for that program, as the need for fast help with utility bills have greatly increased, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic.
“A lot of people unfortunately will not call about that kind of thing until it’s gotten to the point, let’s say three or four months behind rent,” he said. “If you don’t fix it within a set amount of time, you’re out of a home, and then the process becomes an issue.”
Meeting various needs is an incessant challenge for all the agencies seeking to help those in need. Many on edge of losing their homes, or their jobs or are nearing financial catastrophe will go to the Center of Hope, the homeless shelter, which is a different problem, Bailey said.
“I tell somebody ‘Well, now you call here, now you come over here to talk to this guy.’ We’re full of contacts. We may not offer everything here, but we know someone who does,” he said. “There’s people doing all kinds of stuff, and we just wanted to bring it all under one roof.”
The First Stop Community Resource Center is located at the KROC Center Campus, at 1763 Broad St. For more information, visit https://southernusa.salvationarmy.org/augusta/first-stop.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering business for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
