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

BROWN continued from 57
“I had every intention of going back (to Goodwill)
but things kind of changed,” Brown said. “I didn’t take
taking this position lightly. It took me saying to myself
I can do this. Saying I can do what is more than possible.
And that was all Frances.”
Though Brown’s interview was conducted through
a Zoom meeting, her experience – and earnestness –
made an impression on board members who sought a
professional who could relate to everyone from corporate
executives to credit-challenged home applicants
yearning for the American dream.
“I learned so much to be who I am now,” Brown
said. “I think those homeowners are reflective of that
life process as well. What I see as the most successful
homeowners in Harrisburg are the ones we have.
They have been through something and they want this.
They’re proud, they’re determined and they’re driven.”
Brown is the organization’s sole paid employee and
its fourth executive director: the first, Anne Catherine
Murray – who co-founded the nonprofit with Augusta
businessman Clay Boardman – is currently the
Augusta Symphony’s executive director; the second,
Christel Snyder, is now the administrative housing
counselor for CSRA Economic Opportunity Authority,
which helps identify and counsel Turn Back The Block
home applicants; and the third, Lauren Dallas, is now
executive director of Augusta Tomorrow, the downtown
planning and revitalization group.
Much of Brown’s day-to-day work at the organization’s
Harrisburg office – a donated former storage
facility – flies under the radar: interviewing potential
homeowners, picking up trash and working with the
“FROGS” – the close-knit group of home-building
and supply-procuring volunteers whose cheeky moniker
stands for Faithful Retired Old Guys Serving.
“She brings a wealth of experience and knowledge
to this position, plus a love for the people of her hometown,”
Turn Back The Block Chairman Garon Muller
said. “I know our homeowners, volunteers and donors
are all going to appreciate working with her.”
Brown’s overarching goal is to expand the mostly
volunteer- and grant-funded nonprofit through
increased partnerships with corporations and other
community organizations.
“That’s important to take us to the next level,”
Brown said. “We have great partnerships and we
accomplish great things, but we can do much more
by holding hands with more people around us. Do we
wish we could do more? Build more houses? Absolutely.”
With faith, determination and inspiration from a
doggedly determined little girl, Brown envisions the
organization – and Harrisburg itself – turning the
corner.
“Not being there yet doesn’t mean we’re not going
to get there,” she said.
HOME continued from 58
As the neighborhood spiraled downward, so did
Doleman’s personal life. She was diagnosed with type
2 diabetes. She lost her job at the hospital. She and her
husband divorced. And then she moved her children to
a two-bedroom apartment on Wrightsboro Road, aimlessly
bouncing between jobs at restaurants and hotels.
She was distant from Harrisburg physically, but not
spiritually.
“I felt that this was the neighborhood I needed to be
in,” said Doleman, a member of Harriburg’s St. Luke
United Methodist Church.
On July 17, she made it back. That was the day she
signed the closing papers for Turn Back The Block’s
newest home at 2014 Battle Row.
Doleman’s return journey began when St. Luke’s
secretary, Marsha Jones, told her about the Harrisburg
renewal organization’s home-ownership program,
which helps credit-challenged applicants wanting to
live in the neighborhood purchase new and renovated
homes through “sweat equity” volunteerism and
counseling in personal finance and life skills.
Jones and a fellow friend, Kim Hines, executive
director of Augusta Locally Grown, a Harrisburg-
based urban farming organization, sponsored Doleman’s
application in 2017.
Doleman then began working with the CSRA
Economic Opportunity Authority’s Christel Snyder
(a former Turn Back The Block executive director)
to get her personal finances in order while putting in
the required volunteer hours. Three years of dutiful
budgeting and debt repayment eventually boosted
the single mother’s credit score from 519 to 645 – the
minimum most lenders require for a loan.
“Christel was pretty much like my financial adviser,”
Doleman recalled. “I was like a kid in an open field. I
was lost, completely. It was definitely life-changing.”
Doleman’s new home – appraised at $127,500 – comes
with a massive pantry (a bonus for the aspiring chef) and
three bedrooms, which gives her two sons, 15-year-old
Alphonso and 9-year-old Alexander, rooms of their own.
But best of all, she feels like she’s back where she
belongs. And she’s determined to be the best homeowner
and neighbor she can be.
“I want Harrisburg to be the old Harrisburg,” she
said. “Harrisburg helped me rebuild myself, and I
want to help rebuild Harrisburg.”
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