The community and area businesses have an opportunity to support a project designed to help young CSRA men and women in their late teens to take their next step.
Bridge Builder Communities (BBC) has launched an engraved brick campaign as part of its overall capital campaign.
“Each brick is $200, three lines of 20 characters each, and we submit a certificate with it,” Dr. Jackson Drumgoole, BBC’s founder and executive director, told ABD. “You will be able to come by the community during our ribbon-cutting ceremony, or whenever you want to come by the community, you’ll see your brick there on site.”
The bricks will be included in the Serenity Pod Plaza, which is part of the tiny homes community BBC is developing on Merry Street. The $3 million project will provide homes for 18-year-olds aging out of the foster care system with little to no support to transition into their new life.
“Corporations can buy them and give them as gifts to employees. Churches can purchase a block of bricks and give it to their congregation, local organizations, local nonprofits, and community partners can purchase a brick in honor of their partnership with Bridge Builder to let the young adults know we’re here for you every step of the way,” explained Drumgoole.
While providing housing support for these young adults is important, it is also important to recognize that they represent the next group of potential employees entering the workforce pipeline.
That is why the BBC collaborates with the school system and Augusta Technical College to get residents trained in in-demand careers. They also partnered with businesses, including Piedmont Augusta, Wellstar MCG, and Chick-fil-A, to have jobs ready.
“I want to reach out to our businesses and our economic development infrastructure here in the city of Augusta,” said Drumgoole. “You want to plant those seeds for these young adults to let them know that we’re partnering with youth from every step. Not just housing, not just life skills, not just education, but workforce development as well.”
The tiny homes community is starting with ten homes, each with furniture, kitchen appliances, and supplies for the kitchen and bathroom. There will be support staff and a home for an on-site manager.
In addition to the foundation of housing and education supplied by the community, the engraved bricks will serve as a tool to show the young residents they have people supporting their future.
“That was the exact thought process behind everything that we’re doing, that these young adults know that they’re supported, and that people are thinking about them,” said Drumgoole. “Folks have been thinking about them and praying for them and rooting them on from day one.”
The goal is for the community to ultimately expand to 25 tiny homes. It is being built on a two-acre tract that previously served as a city park.
Drumgoole said the tiny homes project is a community-wide initiative to help young men and women not be left behind as they grow from teenagers to adults.
“We’re all partnering together to ensure that they transition successfully into adulthood,” he said. “Because if we don’t help now, we could lose them forever.”
The deadline for ordering a brick is July 14. The link is on the BBC website: www.bridgebuildercommunities.org/
