It started with a culinary school, then a healthcare services component was added and now, Augusta’s Helms College prepares for its first class of HVAC students to graduate.
On March 18, officials with Goodwill Industries of Middle Georgia and the CSRA and Helms College held a ribbon cutting and dedication of its new HVAC labs at its campus on Washington Road. The event highlighted a new mural on the building. Under the direction of teacher Franklin Delgado, students from John S. Davidson Fine Arts Magnet School painted the mural highlighting Helms and its graduates.
“Goodwill started with a trade school,” said James Stiff, president of Goodwill Middle Georgia and the CSRA.
HVAC is an in-demand field that will create 35,000 new jobs between now and 2033. Helms College in Macon started its trades training program about five years ago.
“It’s so successful that we’re turning students away,” he said.
Joining the HVAC program in the fall will be an electrical program and plumbing will follow.
The former shopping center on Washington Road has been undergoing a transformation since 2010, when Goodwill acquired the property.
The first phase of the Washington Road center included the retail training piece which follows the familiar Goodwill model of donated used clothing being sold to create jobs. Phase I also included a Job Connection center to help people find employment.
Helms College’s first school is its culinary school, which not only teaches students to become chefs but provides real world training through its hospitality arm which includes Edgar’s Bakehouse, Edgar’s Grille and Edgar’s Above Broad.
That’s the same model planned for the HVAC and trade school.
Students will receive their classroom and lab training with certified instructors, and then receive real world experience through Good Building Facility Management. The management company will oversee the HVAC, electrical and plumbing needs of the Goodwill retail stores and other properties in the Middle Georgia and CSRA region. Plans are to have the business contract with other commercial entities in the future, Stiff said.
Students will be able to put their skills to use and start building their resumes.
Stiff said they are currently in Phase 4, the final phase of the property upgrades and the final component of the college. The instructional space is still a work in progress with classrooms and educational labs still under construction.
Phase 4B will be the final piece and will include a clinic on-site as the business model of the health services program.
Stiff said other Goodwills in the country are looking at the educational/practical experience model in Macon and Augusta and hopes are that other Goodwills will have branches of Helms College.
“Our goal is that in 2028, we will have at least one branch in another Goodwill,” said Stiff.
Charmain Z. Brackett, the publisher of Augusta Good News and Inspiring: Women of Augusta, has covered Augusta’s news for more than 35 years. She’s won multiple Georgia Press Association awards, is the recipient of the 2018 Greater Augusta Arts Council’s media award and was named Augusta Magazine’s best local writer in 2024 and 2025. Reach her at charmain@augustagoodnews.com. Sign up for the newsletter here.
