Families, students and young adults in Augusta, Evans, Martinez, Grovetown, North Augusta, Aiken and across the river region can work with a Blackburn mentor by video. Each person is matched with one dedicated mentor, meets weekly or more often in Eastern time, and has text and phone contact between sessions. Our team is in Los Angeles, so Augusta mentoring is entirely online, on whichever side of the Savannah River you live.
A river city in two states
Augusta grew up on the Savannah River, and the metro still straddles it: Richmond and Columbia counties on the Georgia side, Aiken and Edgefield counties in South Carolina. The economy has a distinctive mix. A large Army post with a growing cyber and communications mission, a deep health care and medical education sector, energy and nuclear facilities across the river and steady manufacturing all employ people from both states. Downtown, the Riverwalk and the old canal frame a revived Broad Street, while Evans and Grovetown keep adding subdivisions for families who want space.
Every April a major golf tournament fills the city with visitors, and traffic, rentals and short-term jobs follow. For a teenager that can mean the best-paying week of the year; for a parent it can mean a week when nothing on the calendar goes as planned.
Session times from Augusta
Augusta and Aiken both keep Eastern time, three hours ahead of our mentors in Los Angeles all year.
| Slot | Augusta (Eastern) | Mentor (Pacific) |
|---|---|---|
| After school | 4:00 pm | 1:00 pm |
| After the drive across the river | 5:30 pm | 2:30 pm |
| After a hospital or plant shift | 7:00 pm | 4:00 pm |
| Latest start | 8:00 pm | 5:00 pm |
Early-morning sessions are available for military parents and shift workers who start before dawn, and weekend sessions work during tournament week or a busy training cycle. Every session is 60 minutes.
Augusta by the numbers
- A big young adult population. About 13.7% of people in the Augusta-Richmond County metro are 25 to 34 years old (ACS 5-year 2023, via CensusDepth). Many are new soldiers, medical trainees or young workers who moved here alone, and a mentor can be a steady adult while they build a life in a new place.
- Military, trade and work paths are common. 28.8% of adults in the metro hold a bachelor’s degree or higher (ACS 5-year 2023, via CensusDepth). Plenty of young adults build strong careers through the service, apprenticeships and technical training, and a mentor helps them choose a path on purpose rather than by default.
- Rent that makes independence realistic. The median gross rent is $1,075 a month (ACS 5-year 2023, via CensusDepth). A first apartment is within reach with a plan, and mentors help young adults put the budget, credit and savings pieces together.
- Budgets are tighter for many households. The median household income is $69,344 and the poverty rate is 14.9% (ACS 2024, via Data USA). Sessions are scheduled around work and family, not the other way around.
- Many young Georgians are still at home. 34.4% of Georgia adults ages 18 to 34 live with their parents, a state level figure, against 32.9% nationally in 2025 (FinanceBuzz analysis of ACS data). Mentoring often helps a family agree on what the next step out of the house looks like.
Two states, two school calendars
Families near the river can live with two different school calendars. On the Georgia side, districts generally open in early August; in 2026, twenty metro Atlanta districts started on Monday, August 3 (Atlanta News First, August 2026), and Augusta-area families should check their own district’s date. On the South Carolina side, state law says schools may not open before the third Monday in August, except year-round calendars (S.C. Code 59-1-425). We suggest Georgia families start mentoring in mid to late July and Aiken-side families in early August.
Summers are hot and long, so mentors help teens move exercise and outdoor work to early mornings and give the break a project with a finish line. Winters are mild, spring brings pollen and tournament week, and fall brings the start of football and the first progress reports.
What Augusta families ask about
- Military moves and deployments. A teen who has changed schools twice needs one relationship that does not change. See mentoring for military families and our guide to military kids changing schools.
- Career direction for a young adult. Health care, energy, cyber and manufacturing all hire here, and a young adult may not know which training leads where. See career coaching for young adults.
- Two calendars in one family. A parent working in Georgia and a student in an Aiken County school can mean two different spring breaks and two different August starts.
- Evening sessions after long shifts. Many parents work hospital, plant or base schedules, and evening slots keep the plan steady.
Situations that come up often around Augusta
- A high schooler in Grovetown whose parent just deployed and whose grades started slipping the same month.
- A young adult in North Augusta weighing a technician apprenticeship at an energy facility against a two-year degree; see how to get an apprenticeship.
- A new soldier’s spouse in their twenties trying to start a career after the move; see military spouse careers.
- A teen who works tournament week every April and then struggles to get back into the school routine.
- A medical trainee who moved to Augusta alone and needs structure outside long clinical days.
Where a mentor fits
A mentor is one steady adult outside the family who helps set goals, break them into weekly steps and follow through. Mentors are not tutors, therapists or admissions counselors. For teenagers, a parent or guardian can join the intro call and receive updates when needed; see mentoring for high school students. Read how video sessions work on the online mentoring page, or see mentoring in Georgia and mentoring in South Carolina.
Related
- Online mentoring in Columbia, South Carolina
- Online mentoring in Atlanta
- Online mentoring in Greenville
- Online mentoring and coaching in Georgia
Common questions
Do you serve Augusta, Evans, Martinez and Aiken?
Yes. We work by video with families and young adults across the metro, on both the Georgia and South Carolina sides of the river. In-person mentoring is available only in Los Angeles.
Can mentoring continue through a military move from Augusta?
Yes. Because sessions are online, the same mentor stays with a teen or young adult after new orders, and sessions shift to the new local time. That continuity is often the reason military families choose a video mentor.
What time are evening sessions in Augusta on Pacific time?
An evening session from 6:00 to 8:00 pm in Augusta is 3:00 to 5:00 pm for the mentor in Los Angeles. After-school, early-morning and weekend sessions are also available. Everything is scheduled in Eastern time.
How do you handle two school calendars in one family?
The mentor plans around whichever calendar the student follows. If a parent’s work or a sibling’s school runs on the other state’s schedule, sessions simply move during those breaks.
How are parents kept informed?
For high school students, a parent or guardian can join the intro call, help agree the goals and get regular progress updates. For young adults over 18, family updates happen only with the client’s permission.
Get started
Thinking about a mentor for someone in Augusta or Aiken? Call (888) 305-5422, email contact@blackburnmentoring.com or start with a short assessment. A member of our team reviews every assessment personally and sets up a free intro call.
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Free, by video, 20 minutes, with a member of our team. Weekdays 9 to 5 Pacific.