Augusta teen workforce center offers free summer career training

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) — A new partnership is working to prepare Augusta teenagers for the workforce through hands-on career training.

The LP Foundation has partnered with the Boys & Girls Club to introduce the E.W. Hagler Teen Workforce Center. The six-week summer program is free to all teenagers and provides hands-on experience in a variety of career tracks.

Eddie Marshall, a single father, said he created the LP Foundation after finding new ways to help his son learn.

“So one day we were riding down the street and I asked him, I had some hip-hop instrumentals playing. I said, oh, repeat after me. One plus one equals two, one, two. And he got it that fast. And by the time we was all the way up I-20, he had his numbers memorized up to the 20s. That was an aha moment,” Marshall said.

Five career tracks

The program offers five tracks: Flight Club, Cinemagic Kids, Design District, Crypto Kids and Beats, Rhythm of Kids.

“We create the workforce before it exist so we find the young talent and help develop them through our programs with aviation, technology, media design, and skilled trades,” Marshall said.

Chante Luckie, Director of the Teen Workforce Center, said the goal is exposure.

“I believe that kids can’t be what they don’t see. So I try to expose them to everything that they want to see so they know that they can be it,” Luckie said.

Each track aims to prepare teens for the workforce by teaching business fundamentals.

“They know the whole economics, the ins and outs of how to run the business from beginning to the end,” Marshall said.

Marshall said the program is personal for him.

“This is where I’m from. And then I would love to build a community back up. So I just created something and be able to bring it back,” Marshall said.

The LP Foundation works with companies including Microsoft and Best Buy. The Boys & Girls Club encourages businesses in the CSRA to partner with them to continue supporting the program and Augusta’s young people.