Nearly $250K committed to this Macon park for improvement, revitalization. What we know
A quarter of a million dollars is being poured into Fort Hill Community Park in East Macon as a result of a handful of new grants and contributions.
Keep Macon-Bibb Beautiful received $50,000 Thursday from the James M. Cox Foundation to add new park benches, decorative trash cans, game top picnic tables and outside exercise equipment to the park, according to Asha Ellen, executive director of Keep Macon-Bibb Beautiful.
“This project here at Fort Hill Community Park will help not only revitalize the park, but also the surrounding neighborhood,” said Caryn Frey, Cox Communications market vice president.
Cox was the first private industry to reach out to Ellen when it was announced that she was the new executive director of Keep Macon-Bibb Beautiful, Ellen said.
“Since that day, almost three years ago, Cox Communications has been a very significant supporter and contributor to Keep Macon-Bibb Beautiful,” Ellen said.
In addition to the grant from Cox, earlier this week, local commissioners and administration approved close to $150,000 for park and ground improvements, according to Stanley Stewart, District 3 commissioner. He said his next goal is to rehab and renovate the Willie Ballou building that’s located on the park’s corner.
“This building is named in honor of the brave Macon PD officer, Mr. Willie Ballou,” Stewart said. “We will turn this building into a resource center so students like Kayla, who lives just across the street with her little brothers will, as in her words, have a safe place to come eat (their) snacks and do (their) homework.”
Keep Macon-Bibb Beautiful also received $15,000 through the 2024 AARP Community Improvement Grant, which enabled the organization to plant shade trees, fruit bearing trees and berry bushes, according to Ellen. The group also was able to commission a local artist, Kevin Scene Lewis, to create a Northeast Raiders, Eastside Out Loud mural on the basketball court with the help of the Macon-Bibb County Parks and Beautification Department and AARP volunteers, Ellen said.
“We could not be successful without the support of private industries as well as our local government and citizens of Macon-Bibb County,” Ellen said.
Ellen said she also developed a strong working relationship with the Fort Hill East Macon Neighborhood Watch Association through this process.
“Sometimes, as leaders, we make decisions based on our wants and needs, and sometimes we exclude the people,” Ellen said. “I was determined ... and intentional to make sure that whatever was done in this park, that the feedback from the community was needed and was vital and was necessary.”
Park improvements are supported by the Macon Water Authority too.
“I’m here today to offer the additional partnership of the Macon Water Authority in carrying out the mission of uplifting our communities. This one has needed it a long time,” said Elaine Lucas, MWA board member and former District Three commissioner. “I’m all in on this and any other project that this group undertakes to uplift Macon, especially east Macon.”
This revitalization project originated with Charm Myers, founder of Grow Macon, Inc. and fifth-generation resident of this East Macon community, who contacted Ellen about her plans to start a community garden at this park in 2022.
Soon after, about 50 volunteers from the Fort Hill community and various parts of Macon met for a community clean up in the park one Saturday that Spring — and that was the start of revitalization project.
After that, Myers started her nonprofit organization, Grown Macon, Inc. Since then she has received multiple grants, including the Macon violence prevention grant, and as a result, there is now a community garden that has been in the Fort Hill Community Park for nearly three years.
“My grandfather’s grandparents bought land here, and we still have land here as a family, so I want to maintain the area and keep it safe and make it nice for all the children and the generations to come up,” Myers said. “My child is the first generation to not live in this actual community, and I have a problem with it. So I have a personal interest in dedication to making sure that this area is safe for every person and every child, that everybody feels seen and heard, even if, it’s just through a community garden.”
This story was originally published March 20, 2025 at 4:24 PM.
