MACON, Ga. — If you're someone working to prevent and reduce violent crime in Macon-Bibb County, there's a grant available for your cause.
The Macon Violence Prevention grant is meant to help fund organizations working toward that goal.
Up to $800K will be awarded to organizations focused on combating violent crime.
Those who apply must participate in an orientation Thursday, April 4 at 1 p.m. over Zoom.
If you miss it, Maynard said it'll be recorded; you must watch the recording before applying because the application will test you.
The deadline to apply for the grant is May 10 at noon.
Since 2021, the Community Foundation has partnered with the county to help fund local organizations that have that objective in mind.
That's around the same time when the Girls Dig Deeper Initiative started collaborating with the county with the intention to help stop the spread of violence and crime.
"If you wanna make a difference in the community to help drop the crime rates, the homicide rates, then be a part of MVP so you can see the change," Najiva Timothee said.
Timothee, the founder of GDDI, said her organization's mission is to help the youth in the community achieve their highest potential.
"Whether it's providing mental health services, education services," Dairus Maynard from the community foundation said. "If they're out there and they're working in the community to prevent violent crime, and help address the root causes of violent crime, then this program seeks to help them complete that work."
The MVP grant is helping fund GDDI, and a number of other local charities and clubs, Maynard explained.
It's tremendously helped, Timothee said.
"Now, I felt like I can truly go out and help and do something," she said.
"We are in this for the long run, the long term," Maynard said.
One of the ways they do that, Maynard explained, is to address problems at their root.
"A lot of our young people are facing poverty, families are facing poverty," Timothee said.
"What I've noticed is incarceration, it's either mom and dad are incarcerated or one of the parents are incarcerated," she added. "Behavior issues affecting academics in school and attendance."
The collaboration effort isn't easy, but it's a step toward in the right direction.
"It's hard, and it's not something that's going to happen overnight, but we encourage them," Timothee said.
"To everyone seeking to be involved, this is not something that we're looking to resolve overnight, this is not an easy task, this will not happen in such a quick a fashion," Maynard explained. "That is really driven by the compassion and passion these organizations and individuals have for the people in this community."