MACON, Ga. — This week, Macon Judicial Circuit District Attorney Anita Howard and Lundy Chapel Baptist Church are coming together to open a satellite location for the DA's R.I.S.E program. The hope is to ensure people across Macon can access resources in their backyards to help children make good decisions in life.
For more than 20 years, Pastor Anthony Corbett has led Lundy Chapel Baptist Church off Forest Hill Road.
"Let me start with the north Macon area; it has changed tremendously; the demographics have changed totally and completely, not only that, but a little crime has changed a little bit," Corbett said.
Today Pastor Corbett uses his church to help people, and now Lundy will house a new resource.
"Lundy has always been a church about community, and when we were contacted about the possible partnership, I was excited to jump at the possible opportunity," Corbett said.
"R.I.S.E. is an initiative that addresses unmitigated trauma in our youth," Howard said. R.I.S.E. stands for restoring inspiration by success in education and was launched back in 2021. Kids as young as three years old can use this program with the hopes of bettering their future.
"We will be at Lundy two Tuesdays of the month; we will have non-traditional hours of 10 to 7, so individuals will have the opportunity to come in and learn more about our rise initiative and our victims' service unit, we will have a victim advocate who is there," Howard said.
The R.I.S.E program is a labor of love with people like Safety Net R.I.S.E specialist Jeremy Raines working with his team to make an impact.
"We gather these at-risk kids from 3 to 17, and what I do is we process them in, and once we get them, we contact the parents, we set up meetings, interviews, sit down and talk to them, basically explain what the rise initiative is all about," Raines said.
Pastor Colbert knows this office will make an impact by contributing to the work already done at Lundy.
"I'm excited about the growth we've experienced together, and I'm looking forward to bigger and better things not just for our church but for our community as a whole," Colbert said.
If you want your child to be signed up for the R.I.S.E program, you can follow this link.