College of Coastal Georgia Serves Up Success Seasoned with Economic Boost
The College of Coastal Georgia continues to generate waves of economic influence throughout the Golden Isles with the recent openings of two instructional centers in downtown Brunswick. The College opened a satellite location of the Art and Lindee Lucas Center for Entrepreneurship in February 2024, and the College’s Culinary Arts program has been holding classes inside the new teaching kitchen downtown since August.
These expansions into downtown Brunswick reveal a bright horizon for the continued advancement of opportunity throughout this community and the impacts are meaningful. Over the past five years, the College has contributed more than $500 million to the local economy and attracted more than 3,000 students each year to this area, many of whom decide to stay and keep their positive vibes reverberating throughout Coastal Geogia after graduating.
Where Business is in Bloom
The Art and Lindee Lucas Center for Entrepreneurship shares space with the Golden Isles Development Authority at 209 Gloucester Street, which offers easy access for downtown business owners and entrepreneurs. Inside this beautifully restored building, participants gain knowledge of business planning, finance, growth strategies, human resources, and more, to help them start and sustain a business. By utilizing the skills of volunteer mentors, decades of experience are readily accessible to participants. Mentors and other business owners describe that they, too, find support and new ideas for their own endeavors through partnership with the Center. Through the Center for Entrepreneurship, the College has worked with more than 500 entrepreneurs in less than two years and inspired about 150 people to become mentors.
Serving Up Success
Many locals may recall the former Village Oven restaurant at 1407 Union Street. It is now the downtown home of the College of Coastal Georgia Culinary Arts Kitchen, offering students hands-on experience in food preparation and service. Dr. Michelle R. Johnston, president of the College, is excited about the newly opened laboratory kitchen in downtown Brunswick. While the culinary building is primarily used for instruction, Dr. Johnston described that additional special events are planned that students will host to showcase their culinary talents.
The Culinary Arts program is a fitting match for the Golden Isles. The area is replete with excellent restaurants and the tourism element in the local economy means program graduates have immediate employment opportunities.
Investments in Community Health
The College of Coastal Georgia offers more than 20 other majors, maintaining prominence with its premier School of Nursing and Health Sciences degree programs. Through a cohesive partnership with Southeast Georgia Health System (SGHS), aspiring healthcare professionals learn in both academic and lab settings. As nursing shortages challenged communities across the entire nation, SGHS and the College banded together to solve this problem regionally, underscoring that an investment in nursing programs is an investment in the health of the community.
The College’s partnership with SGHS resulted in an increase of faculty, the ability to accept more students into the nursing program, the addition of a Student Success Counselor dedicated to tutoring, coaching and supplemental instruction, and financial assistance to qualified students who choose to join the regional health system after graduation. Aided by a $16 million influx of funding from the State of Georgia, the College is expanding the Hugh and Miriam Nunnally Health and Science Building on campus, with plans to add a simulated intensive care unit (ICU), pediatric ICU and radiology department.
From healthcare to hospitality and from entrepreneurship to bolstering business, graduates from the College of Coastal Georgia are entering every phase of local industry, contributing to a growing economy in the Golden Isles. Through partnerships and by joining hands with industry and community leaders, the College’s influence is not bound by the borders of its campus. Rather, it reaches across the region to help make coastal Georgia better. “It takes a village,” the saying goes. In this case, it takes a College.
THE COLLEGE OF COASTAL GEORGIA is more than an academic institution. It is a proving ground for emerging business leaders, entrepreneurs, healthcare workers, educators, scientists, and tourism professionals. The College adds to the well-being of the Coast as graduates move from campus to community.
The College welcomes support from everyone who believes in its mission and who appreciates its important role in the area’s quality of life.
Joining the Navigator Society is a meaningful way to increase the College’s efforts to chart the course toward an even stronger Golden Isles. Please consider becoming a Navigator today with an unrestricted gift of $1,000 or more. Learn more at ccga.edu/navigator or email advancement@ccga.edu
