Volunteers will clean the streets of Augusta's Harrisburg

The housing group Turn Back the Block is having its eighthannual Harrisburg Clean and Green on Saturday.

The neighborhood cleanup has a new host location this year at Lamar-Milledge Elementary School on Eve Street. Lauren Dallas, executive director of Turn Back the Block, said 250 volunteers have already signed up to clean the streets of Harrisburg.

"It will truly be a neighborhood-wide event," she said. "Current Harrisburg residents, Turn Back the Block homeowners, those waiting to own a Turn Back the Block home and community supporters will work together and make Harrisburg a great place to live."

The former home to workers in nearby textile mills, Harrisburg is one of Augusta's most centrally-located blighted areas, spanning dozens of blocks between 15th Street and Milledge Road in Augusta.

Founded by Augusta businessman Clay Boardman in 2011, Turn Back the Block is an affiliate of the Fuller Center for Housing, which Habitat for Humanity founder Millard Fuller began in 2005.

The Augusta group has enabled individuals otherwise unable to buy a house to use their own "sweat equity" to move into homes in the Harrisburg area.

A partnership with Keep Augusta Beautiful will provide volunteers with gloves, trash bags and trash containers, Dallas said.

The cleanup begins at 8:30 a.m. Children under 16 must be chaperoned. Online registration will remain open until then at eventbrite.com. Registration will ensure there is enough food for lunch and correct T-shirt sizes, she said.