MACON, Ga. — In 2022, Macon-Bibb set a record for homicides: 70 deaths.
However, in the past year, homicides dropped by 40%, with 2023 ending with only 42 homicides.
Macon Violence Prevention groups could be helping with that.
Dominique Johnson said, two years ago, the Pleasant Hill area was different.
“At that time, there was a high level of crime there,” Johnson said.
Not just any type of violence, though.
“The year before we got there, there were six or seven killings — or shootings, I should say,” he explained.
Johnson runs Cure Violence, a program that aims to detect, interrupt, and change patterns of gun violence and its culture.
“The science behind the program is to pick a particular neighborhood, work that neighborhood to show the decline in violence,” he said.
So, the Pleasant Hill neighborhood was picked for its crime rate. But, they also say it was because there were people who wanted to change that.
“We know that 9/10, anytime violence is perpetrated, there is a retaliation,” he said.
So, their clientele are folks that are high-risk individuals, or victims of the perpetrator.
“We work with those who are either returning citizens or those who have been known to perpetrate crimes themselves,” Johnson explained.
Their headquarters is in a house right in the neighborhood. So, they’re there in any type of situation.
“Amongst the guns and the violence. We’re amidst life with them. We go to homes, we're in the community, we do canvassing, they're able to come to our house, we're able to do the case management work. So, we are there,” Johnson said.
He says they've helped young people and men get their pride back.
“We went from six homicides to two. So, we've seen a significant increase. We've helped young people get into school, go to college, people find jobs– all of that too,” he said.
Johnson says they still want to get numbers down to zero, but it is an encouraging sign.
“It shows that the work is working,” Johnson said.
We spoke to several folks in the Pleasant Hill area.
They would not go on camera, but all of them told us that they've noticed the violence drop in the past few years.
They say there used to be more random shootings, but now, there's much less of it.
Last June, over 30 nonprofit and faith-based organizations received more than $800,000 in the second round of Macon Violence Prevention grants.
Back in October 2023, the Bibb County Commission allocated $1 million for another round of MVP grants. The recipients of that round have yet to be announced.