Downtown business owners try to keep smiling amid pandemic - 1736 Magazine, Summer 2020

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PROFILE ‘NEW KID ON THE BLOCK’ Augusta native takes helm of Turn Back The Block revitalization organization By DAMON CLINE Just a few weeks into her role as executive director of Turn Back The Block, Ashley Brown needed a permit for a home the nonprofit planned to build at 1922 Battle Row. Such a routine task is part and parcel of leading an organization dedicated to revitalizing Augusta's historic Harrisburg neighborhood. There was just one little hitch: Brown had never applied for a building permit before. No problem – Brown is not only used to adversity, she's a quick learner. “Never did I feel that inexperience would hold me back,” Brown said. “I'm not afraid to say, ‘I don't know.’ ” The former schoolteacher, sales rep and community relations manager for Goodwill can roll with the punches, a skill that will come in handy as she works to advance the 10-year-old organization's mission to “turn back” blight in one of the city's most storied neighborhoods. The 45-year-old Augusta native was named executive director in June of the grassroots organization that grew out of the faith-based Fuller Center for Housing in 2010. The volunteer group uses donated labor and supplies to build affordable housing in the inner-city neighborhood where more than one in five homes are vacant or abandoned. The once-stable, working-class neighborhood started to decline in the 1970s as families moved to newer suburbs. Originally developed in the 19th century to house employees of the city’s textile mills, Harrisburg’s deterioration accelerated in the 1990s as the industry shrank and eventually disappeared. 50 | 1736magazine.com
Augusta native Ashley Brown was named executive director of Turn Back the Block, a Harrisburg revitalization nonprofit, in June. [SPECIAL/TURN BACK THE BLOCK] 1736magazine.com | 51
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Downtown business owners try to keep smiling amid pandemic - 1736 Magazine, Summer 2020

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