Macon is on pace to set a homicide record. Here’s what the county is doing about it

Macon set modern-day records for homicides in both 2020 and 2021, and is on pace to break that violent record again.

A year ago, Mayor Lester Miller announced the county would begin working on a violence prevention, and a year of surveys and planning culminated Tuesday afternoon with Macon-Bibb County announcing more than $800,000 in grants to 25 nonprofit and faith-based organizations through the Community Foundation of Central Georgia.

The money will be used to combat issues often identified as causes or contributors to violence, including poverty, food insecurity and substance abuse. Many of the grants will focus on young people and are designed to teach students about violence prevention and provide after school or summer break services.

A significant percentage of the organizations serve areas of Macon that suffer from high levels of poverty and violence, including Bloomfield, Unionville, Pleasant Hill and Napier Heights. Prevention, not crime enforcement, is the program’s goal.

“We can’t police ourselves out of this situation,” Miller said during the press conference while speaking about violence in the community. “We have to make an investment in our young people right now.”

The organizations are supposed to work together and Macon Violence Prevention (MVP) plan coordinator Jeremy Grissom is responsible for making sure that happens.

“They need to work together to see what each program offers in order to make sure that if there is something lacking in one program, the other program might have that resource,” Grissom said. “As the MVP coordinator, I’m the collaboration piece to make sure the government, partners, community members and organizations are working together.”

MEASURING SUCCESS

The county wants to help break a cycle of violence that oftens spans generations and improve in connected areas like education and transportation. So how will Maconites know these investments have made a difference?

Grissom said the organizations will provide the county with information about what they’re doing and who they’re serving.

“And of course, you have to cross-reference that with the number of violent events that you have compared to what happened before these programs were put in place,” he said.

Maconites should know relatively soon how successful the efforts have been.

“In six months to a year… I think the data will show us where we are,” Grissom said. “And I think that’s important to allow the community to see that data within six months to a year, because this is not just a government-led initiative, you know, this is a community initiative.”

THE ORGANIZATIONS

Grants range from $5,500 to $90,000, with most between $40,000-50,000 to organizations like Crisis Line Safe House of Middle Georgia, Campus Clubs and Boy Scouts of America. One of the organizations, Unity-N-Community, was founded by county commissioner Al Tillman.

The 25 organizations were chosen from a pool of 57 applicants, according to Miller’s State of the Community address in April. A full list of organizations receiving MVP funding is available on the program’s website.

This story was originally published June 16, 2022 at 5:00 AM.