Enterprise Team

Skills Training Program

There is no existing organized plan to take the homeless off the streets of Augusta and prepare them to return to society. The Salvation Army plans to change that.

The Salvation Army "Enterprise Team" Skills Training Program has now accepted this challenge by joining together a coalition of non-profit programs to one location and one program. The Enterprise Team, managed by The Salvation Army, has brought together the Augusta Economic Opportunity Authority, Veterans Administration, the United Way of the CSRA, the Central Savannah River Land Trust, Junior Achievement, Augusta Urban Ministries, Fireside Ministries, and the Augusta Task Force for the Homeless. All of these organizations will be teaching to their strengths, in a unified effort to take our city's homeless population off the street and into a home and a job - equipped with the skills to stay there.

Enterprise Team students are chronically homeless males currently staying in our emergency shelter and/or referred by partnering agencies (with an emphasis on veterans managed by the Veterans Administration). All students are screened for mental, drug and alcohol concerns as well as their capacity to benefit from the program. A team of sixteen students are selected to be schooled every afternoon in all areas of life needed for a healthy re-entry into society - including a business simulation, education, hygiene, diet, financial responsibility, personal and job skills training as well as ethical and faith education. The program consists of two, three-month phases concentrating on diverse areas of training and benefit to the client and community.

Another issue this program will address is the neglect of some historic neighborhoods in Augusta. In the first phase, the students form a landscaping service (also used for a business simulation portion of the curriculum). The Enterprise Team will adopt eight neighborhoods and provide landscaping and small home repair services to beautify our city at no charge to the residents or the city - while providing job training for the students.

At the completion of the first three month phase, a second class of sixteen begins with the existing class entering the second phase. The second phase program will enhance their skills, with dilapidated homes in a landscape-serviced neighborhood to be renovated and/or rebuilt with the partnership of private contractors. Upon completion, the management of the homes will be turned over to Augusta Economic Opportunity Authority (EOA) as a residential facility with graduates of the Enterprise Team eligible for residency in and eventual ownership of the homes. Students will become apprentices to the contractors, taught construction skills in classroom settings and on the job training, with the life skills component continuing as well.

After completion of the second phase, students will be able to find employment and housing through the assistance of the Enterprise Team program. While the search for employment is ongoing, the third and final phase (optional to students) sees the third phase "team" running a "for profit" landscaping business with all profits used to offset program expenses. The team will be responsible, with close oversight, for the solicitation and maintenance of landscaping contracts, meeting payroll, managing expenses and all other business considerations. During their time in the third phase, the team members are assisted in actively look for stable employment and housing, but not before being evaluated as able to do so. In addition, team members that distinguish themselves as leaders in the program will be recruited for employment with the program as it expands.

This is the program as it is now - but with great plans to expand. With the completion of the Kroc Center, the Enterprise Team will play a pivotal role in the facility. In addition to the classrooms in a Kroc Center, there will be a Teaching Kitchen, a Banquet Hall, a mini-mall with stores, maintenance and landscaping staff all comprised of Enterprise Team students and graduates. This program has both potential and need; which is why so many non-profits have come together to support it. We encourage your support, both funding and volunteering. There are many of our homeless who have been asking for this opportunity to learn - and we are now beginning to teach.

For more information about The Salvation Army's newest program, Enterprise Team, contact Derek Dugan at (706) 826-7933.