With a concept in mind and a blank canvas, the (soon to be "HUB Collaborative") group met in Atlanta in August 2019, settling on a plan to apply for a HUD Choice Neighborhood planning grant while concentrating on serving the immediate community during the planning process. This visioning session, led by Doug Neil and Rob Hazelton, and including the Community Foundation for the CSRA, Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Augusta, Medical College of Georgia Foundation, the City of Augusta, Good Neighbor Ministries, E3 Leadership Foundation, and Turn Back the Block, confirmed the decision to fully invest in bringing positive change to the Harrisburg and surrounding neighborhoods.

 

Throughout 2020 and 2021, the group refined the vision -  and leveraging the incredible generosity of donors, the Collaborative launched the construction of the HUB for Community Innovation campus. While planning for the HUB was underway, the City of Augusta - under the direction of the Collaborative, secured a Choice Neighborhoods planning grant, leading it and the Housing Authority towards a comprehensive community plan. Simultaneously, the Community Foundation identified and led a small group of grassroots nonprofits working in the Harrisburg community, and walked them through a visioning session of their own.

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Since its construction, the HUB has served tens of thousands - through the work of the partners, serving as a Red Cross Disaster Relief site, and the only FEMA recovery center in Richmond County just after Hurricane Helene. 

 

In the near term, the Collaborative is focused on helping provide the neighborhood and surrounding communities access to healthy foods throgh a grocery store partner. The HUB is also working to help develop affordable and mixed-income housing, and expand the educational and wellness activities of the HUB farther into the surrounding neighborhood.