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Intent to Apply – 21st CCLC Grant Funding
Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Augusta (BGCGA) hereby notifies the local community of our intention to apply to the Georgia Department of Education 21st Century Community Learning Centers program grant to support out-of-school time (OST) programming to students and families in need from the following schools:
· Garrett Elementary School
· Lamar-Milledge Elementary School
· Langford Middle School
· Merry Elementary School
· Monte Sano Elementary School
· Tutt Middle School
· Warren Road Elementary School
· W.S. Hornsby Elementary School
· W.S. Hornsby Middle School
BGCGA is also engaged in a consultative process with private schools located in the Richmond County School District to ensure equitable access to services.
BGCGA will submit the application by January 20, 2022. If granted, funds will be used to support learning time and programming at the Hagler Clubhouse located in downtown Augusta. The purpose of the federally funded 21st Century Community Learning Centers (CCLC) Grant is to support additional learning time for students in grades K-12 before and/or after school and during the summer that provides creative and engaging academic enrichment opportunities that will help to meet the challenging State academic standards; address college and workforce readiness and success, in addition to offer students a broad array of additional services, programs and activities such as youth development activities, service learning, nutrition and health education, drug and violence prevention programs, counseling programs, arts, music, physical fitness and wellness programs, technology education programs, financial literacy programs, environmental literacy programs, mathematics, science, career and technical programs, internship or apprenticeship programs, and other ties to an in-demand industry sector or occupation for high school students that are designed to reinforce and complement the regular academic program of participating students; and offer families of students served by community learning centers opportunities for active and meaningful engagement in their children’s education, including opportunities for literacy and related educational development.
More information about the 21st CCLC Program may be obtained by visiting the following webpage on the website of the Georgia Department of Education: https://www.gadoe.org/School-Improvement/Federal-Programs/Pages/21st-Century-Community-Learning-Centers.aspx. Questions or public input about the 21st CCLC program and grant proposal may be directed to Dr. Shaniquia Stanley, Director of Academic Success, at sstanley@bgcgreateraugusta.org.
Augusta Revitalization Project Breaks Ground
On a Tuesday morning during Masters Tournament week when most of the news occurs on the Augusta National Golf Club property, there was also significant movement afoot in downtown Augusta as a project began to revitalize two neighborhoods.
Groundbreaking was held late Tuesday morning at the corner of Fenwick Street and Chaffee Avenue for a new community center and Boys & Girls Clubs regional headquarters, the first part of a larger, multi-year project called the HUB for Community Innovation. The location is approximately 3 miles from Augusta National in the Harrisburg neighborhood and not far from the Laney Walker neighborhood, two areas pinpointed for revitalization. The plot of land is near the Calhoun Expressway and a massive medical complex that continues to grow rapidly. Ceremonial shovels turned soil Tuesday morning to plant a tree as a sign of growth in an empty field where a shopping center anchored by a grocery store was in place before closing in 2017.
Plans indicate that the two new facilities could be completed by spring 2022, perhaps by Masters week with a ribbon cutting.
The efforts are led by the Community Foundation of the CSRA, Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Augusta and the MCG Foundation, which has been working toward this end for quite some time. An announcement in association with corporate partners Augusta National, IBM, Bank of America, AT&T and others at last November’s Masters moved the ball forward more quickly. The revitalization project was announced to support the underserved minority communities with the partners infusing a combined $10 million, Chairman of Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters Tournament Fred Ridley said during his press conference five months ago.
“This project we are celebrating today, as well the substantial work ahead, has meaningful and authentic support, financial and human,” said Shell Berry, CEO of the Community Foundation for the CSRA and a project co-leader. “There is lots more to come as this moves forward. Today is really about where we are and how far we have come.”
Kim Evans, CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Augusta, and also a project co-leader, called the first buildings “the cornerstone of this transformational project.”
The effort received an international boost when Chairman Ridley made the announcement in November.
“This contribution reaffirms our commitment to the City of Augusta, which has so generously supported us for decades," said Ridley, alluding to the infancy of the Tournament in the 1930s through 1950s. “We are also extremely fortunate to have partners like AT&T, Bank of America and IBM who support projects that are foundational to better educational and economic outcomes for the community.
“And we’re hopeful in April and beyond we can continue to talk about this and make announcements as to more progress to really transform this community.”
The 33,000-square foot community center will house four local non-profits: Augusta Locally Grown, Augusta University Literacy Center, Harrisburg Family Healthcare and RISE Augusta. The 16,000-square-foot Boys & Girls Club building will replace an outgrown headquarters located a few blocks away.
The neighborhoods have produced a number of prominent people in sports and the arts, including professional golfer Jim Dent, Olympic and world champion boxer Vernon Forrest, NFL fullback Emerson Boozer of the New York Jets and opera singer Jessye Norman.
Augusta National and the Community Foundation have annually worked together to support local charities through proceeds from the Masters. In early 2021, they contributed $1 million to support Augusta University and expand local COVID-19 testing, and $1 million to the CSRA COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund, launched by the Community Foundation and United Way of the CSRA.
For information on the project, visit www.communityhubaugusta.org.
Tribute to Jerry Noland
We honor a legacy of service to Boys & Girls Clubs and send our thoughts and prayers to the family of Mr. Jerry Noland, who served the Boys & Girls Club movement for over 40 years.
Mr. Noland passed away February 2, 2021. He was a loving, devoted husband, father, grandfather, brother, and friend. He was very caring and loved working with kids. He was an inspirational mentor who was dedicated to making a difference in the lives of Boys & Girls Club members, and many saw him as a father figure.
Mr. Noland, a native of West Virginia, was a 43 year veteran of the Boys & Girls Clubs movement. After his graduation from Fairmont State University in 1961, Mr. Noland served as Physical Director at the Schenectady Boys Club in Schenectady, New York from 1961-1963. From 1963-1965 he was Physical Director at the Grenville Baker Boys Club Locust Valley, Long Island, New York.
In 1965 Mr. Noland returned to his native state to become the First Executive Director of the Salvation Army Boys Club in Charleston, West Virginia where he served until 1972. Later that year he became the First Executive Director of the Boys Clubs of Escambia County, Inc. in Pensacola, Florida where he served until 1980.
From February 1, 1980 until May 31, 2003 Mr. Noland was Executive Director of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Augusta. Through the efforts of his Board of Directors, the Augusta Housing Authority, the United Way of the CSRA, and Boys & Girls Clubs of America he opened the Dogwood Terrace Boys & Girls Club on May 2, 1994 and he obtained grants and donations to open the Thomson Boys & Girls Club on July 5, 1999.
Mr. Noland was a member of the National Boys & Girls Clubs Professional Association, the Peach State Chapter of the Boys & Girls Clubs Professional Association, and was a certified Boys & Girls Clubs worker. He served as President of the Peach State Chapter in 1986 and was Executive Secretary of the Georgia Area Council for two years.
Mr. Noland was named Peach State Professional of the Year in 1986. He received the Distinguished Service Award in 1991 from the National Boys & Girls Clubs Professional Association, and he was the recipient of the “Light the Path” Award from Boys and Girls Clubs of America – Southeast Region in 2003.
Mr. Noland was preceded in death by his wife of 60 years, Shirley Noland. He is survived by his three daughters, Sharon Norred (Rick) of Pensacola, Florida, Debbie Ash and Ann Noland, both of Augusta; five grandchildren, Tarrah Holton of Pensacola, Florida, Meagan Annis (Jamie Godin) of Atlanta, Georgia, Lindsey Cross (Trey) of Bradenton, Florida, Savannah Ash and Ryan Ash, both of Augusta; four great-grandchildren, Kaylah Holton and Jaylyn Holton, both of Pensacola, Florida, and Denver Cross and Cora Cross, both of Bradenton, Florida; brother, Ron Noland of Augusta.
Augusta National Leads Way for $10M Gift
A donor group led by the Augusta National Golf Club intends to pump $10 million into community development in the city’s historic Harrisburg and Laney-Walker neighborhoods.
Community leaders say a $10 million gift from Augusta National Golf Club and its corporate partners announced Wednesday will provide a much needed boost to two urban neighborhoods in need of revitalization.
Augusta National’s $2.5 million gift, matched by AT&T, Bank of America and IBM, will help build a nonprofit community center known as “The Hub,” as well as a new headquarters for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Augusta, on part of a 35-acre tract owned by the Medical College of Georgia Foundation.
The property at the intersection of 15th Street and John C. Calhoun Expressway serves as a gateway to the city’s medical district and is an intersection between the city’s historic but poverty-stricken Harrisburg and Laney-Walker neighborhoods.
Augusta National Chairman Fred Ridley said during the annual State of the Masters address the gift will “provide the majority of funding needed for this first step in the journey to uplift these underserved communities and, importantly, to promote generational change and the opportunity for economic mobility all Americans deserve.”
“This shared belief with our partners will attract even greater development and investment designed to benefit the residents of the Harrisburg and Laney-Walker neighborhoods, all of which can help build bridges out of poverty and make Augusta, Ga., an even better place to live,” Ridley said.The money will flow into the projects through the Community Foundation for the Central Savannah River Area, which has long been the conduit for Augusta National donations in the metro area.The two facilities – 25,000 square feet for The Hub and 15,000 square feet for the Boys & Girls Clubs office – will help the Augusta University-affiliated MCG Foundation kickstart its years-long, mixed-use redevelopment plan for the property, which was previously occupied by the Kroger-anchored Central Square shopping center.
MCG Foundation Chairman J. Benjamin Deal said discussions began to coalesce more than a year ago after consultants recommended redevelopment plans include facilities that would serve the surrounding neighborhoods. “We shifted our focus to finding ways that not only benefit Augusta University but take care of these residents, whose communities have seen so many years of disinvestment,” Deal said during a post-announcement news conference at Harrisburg’s St. Luke United Methodist Church. MCG Foundation CEO Ian Mercier said gift discussions progressed when the Augusta National rallied around the concept. “Their contribution was much more generous than we were anticipating,” Mercier said, noting that the projects will also be eligible for federal New Market Tax Credits, which can help shave off nearly 40% of project investment costs. Both the Harrisburg and Laney-Walker neighborhoods are listed as historic districts on the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places. The Laney-Walker/Bethlehem neighborhood, to the south and east of the city’s medical district, has been the heart of the urban core’s African-American community since the late 19th century. Harrisburg, which sits west of the city’s central business district, was a stable blue-collar neighborhood that primarily housed families working at nearby textile mills, the last of which were shuttered in the early 2000s. Both historic neighborhoods have undergone piece-meal revitalization initiatives in recent years but still have above-average poverty rates and below-average home-ownership rates for the area.
“These historic areas of Augusta are less than one mile away from Augusta National and just west of downtown,” Ridley said. “What once were thriving communities, Harrisburg and Laney-Walker have experienced decades of disinvestment, poverty, crime and unemployment.”
Officials estimated the construction costs at $13 million. Work on the buildings would run concurrently, with a groundbreaking as early as April.
“We’ve been moving forward at a very rapid pace,” Community Foundation CEO Shell N. Berry said at the post-announcement news conference. “And of course today’s announcement certainly puts a huge amount of gas in the engine to help make this vision a reality.”
The Hub, which is sub-branded as “A Center for Community Innovation,” will “foster innovation and collaborate between community organizations, corporate citizens and residents” to “ultimately transform the future of these historic neighborhoods.” Future tenants would include nonprofits such as Harrisburg Family Health Clinic, the urban gardening advocacy group Locally Grown, and Communities in Schools, a resource for public school children from disadvantaged households.
The Hub is designed to be “the epicenter” for serving “residents who grapple with poverty, a lack of access to basic resources, and generations of neglect and disinvestment.”
The Boys & Girls Clubs of Augusta’s current headquarters, at 206 Milledge Road, is a 4,000-square-foot former bank branch in need of extensive repairs. The new office building would dedicate space for teen workforce-development programs and other youth services.
David Seaton, national chairman for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and a graduate of North Augusta High School, was in attendance at the post-announcement event and praised the gift.
“I’ve gotten an opportunity to talk to a lot of our alums, club kids, from Denzel Washington to our National Youth of the Year today, and every one of them will tell you the Boys & Girls Clubs saved their lives,” Seaton said. “What you are doing here, if you don’t take anything else away from this discussion tonight, you are saving lives.”
