Goodwill center could bring jobs

Goodwill Industries is within months of deciding where to build an expansive training center that could also become a major employer.

"We will graduate at least 400 people each year and create 350 jobs in the CSRA," said Jim Stiff, the president and CEO of Goodwill Industries of Middle Georgia and the CSRA.

Students will be able to earn certificates, diplomas and eventually associate degrees, he said. Goodwill has applied for a state post secondary school license and plans to apply for regional and national accreditation. If successful, Augusta would be the first Goodwill in the country to have such a license, he said.

Jobs would be created within the facility with Goodwill operating businesses to support the students' training, such as a fine dining restaurant, hotel and automotive center.

"We're a hospitality-based town, given the Masters and all the other events we have going on. Augusta is probably one of the best places they could choose to put this," Augusta Mayor Deke Copenhaver said.

The nonprofit has its eyes on two properties: Reynolds Street at the site of the Golf Hall of Fame and between Bobby Jones Expressway and Wheeler Road adjacent to Interstate 20.

Mr. Stiff said the organization is seeking 10 acres of property near a bus line, with plans to acquire the property by Thanksgiving and begin construction by early 2009.

Goodwill is among three bidders for the downtown Augusta land that is being eyed for a new minor league baseball stadium. The proposals, which include a continual care facility, are being evaluated by the state. The decision-makers won't convene until November.

Goodwill is modeling its 100,000-square-foot Augusta career campus after its training center in Macon, which opened its final phase last year.

"It has really been an asset to our community and people utilize it," said Kathy Bowden, the executive director of the Macon-Bibb County Industrial Authority. "They're helping to prepare a workforce who has real training."

Mr. Stiff said the Augusta center will serve "anyone who has a barrier to employment." This could include a fourth generation welfare recipient, a person with a disability or a job seeker with a MBA, he explained.

"We believe if we can help individuals to develop their gifts and go to work, it improves a family, community and economy one person, one job at a time," he said.

Goodwill Industries began offering job counseling and placement services in 1996 at the South Augusta One Stop Career Center on Peach Orchard Road.

"What we've found is we need to develop more short-term skill training programs in the Augusta region," he said.

Goodwill is conducting a feasibility study to determine job skills needed in the community. The facility would contain schools in different skill areas, such as culinary arts, automotive, skilled trades, horticulture or the medical field.

"Goodwill, like many other colleges in the area, obviously understands the importance of education," said Bonita Jenkins, the director of marketing and public relations at Augusta Technical College.

"It could be competition in some ways for us, but we're confident in what we're doing to educate our students. We welcome competition, as well as the chance to work together with them," she said.

Goodwill will provide scholarships and sliding scale rates for admission. The facility would be supported by sales at Goodwill thrift stores, Mr. Stiff said.

Reach LaTina Emerson at (706) 823-3227 or latina.emerson@augustachronicle.com.