Back the families of 15 teens and Macon
Bibb County had to bury their child last
year after losing them to gun violence.
The loss of those teens will have ripple
effects beyond their homes and their schools.
And sadly, the numbers keep climbing.
Tonight we start our series
caught in the crosshairs,
the risks and remedies of teen violence.
With these reports,
we hope a spotlight on the problem
will surface some solutions.
We start at the top with Mayor Lester
Miller and his vision for preventing
the violence before it starts.
Lester Miller has deep
roots in the community.
Think about the old Shoney's
restaurant used to be upstairs,
and my cousin worked there.
My family worked there.
He's a proud product of South
Macon and spent a lot of time
growing up inside the Macon
Mall. You know, coming here with
my family but also all my friends
and and and coming here to shop for
back to school was always something
we look forward to each and every
every time going to the Toys-R-Us
and and having a wish list there.
And he remembers a time when
disagreements among young.
People escalated and then
were quickly resolved.
Ohh. I mean, we set them on the
playground and then we just forgot about
it. Today's headlines
spin a different story.
A tale in which teens settle
scores with deadly weapons.
We don't really have a lot of
conflict resolution between people.
Their first just think now is the be
bigger and better and pick up a gun.
And I think that's that's kind
of where we went off track at.
And he believes revitalizing them all
can help get young people back on track.
I think it's a place where we
can get them off the streets,
get him in a good jobs.
Here I'll place that people can go
shop and and and communicate together.
He's also optimistic his multi
pronged making violence prevention
program can make an impact on young
lives sooner rather than later.
We realize that we need to get
into the hearts and the minds and
and the activities of those youth
as early as elementary school.
By the time they get to high school
that's pretty late in the game.
They've already decided they're
going to join a gang where
they're going to pick up you know,
illegal drugs and substances and where
they going to pick up a firearms,
Miller admits some criminal
elements will always be out there.
You're always going to hear about
crime is always going to be there.
Some of this is not preventable,
but we have to attack it early on,
and that's what we're trying to do. One
strategy the mayor firmly believes
in engaging young people head on.
You got to get in their face,
you got to let them know that
there's a connection there.
It's hard to ignore someone
who's struggling and has some
problems if you, if you meet
them with the goal of
changing and saving lives.
If you ask me,
what keeps me up at night is,
is losing the life of someone,
particularly a young person,
knowing that I probably could not
have done anything about that,
but trying to learn.
From what happened to see if
we can do something about it,
change that trajectory.
Now, one of the things we just
touched on Mayor Miller's campaign
to combat violence in Bibb County,
the Macon Violence Prevention program.
Let's take a closer look tonight at
how it started and where it stands now.
The mayor announced the MVP
program back in June of 2021,
making Bibb County is experiencing
an unacceptable spike in crime.
It united elected officials,
community leaders, agencies and
organizations in the fight.
Next, they asked folks across
the county for their opinions
on the causes of crime and for
some possible solutions. Because
that's really the only way we can
attack this violence is if we empower
community members who have a vested
interest in seeing the change.
More than 1800 people attended
14 meetings or completed.
Survey online based on those comments,
in September 2021, the MVP leadership
team identified 18 strategies.
Those strategies included improving
education and youth activities,
expanding mental health resources,
building relations between law
enforcement and the community,
fighting blight, reducing homelessness,
and engaging the faith community.
The county released this strategic
plan in December of 2021.
This is only the beginning.
This is a very fluid program.
Next they went to work implementing it.
Nearly a year later, in October of 2022,
the mayor updated the County
Commission and the public on MVP.
Today, we're here to provide you an
update. He talked about
millions of dollars in investments,
including five million for the
Brookdale Resource Center,
2.5 million for the Community Foundation
of Central Georgia, 1.6 million to
the Violence Interrupters program,
$700,000 for making mental health matters,
and nearly $3 million on code enforcement.
And fighting blight.
At that October meeting,
representatives from several programs
talked about how MVP grant money helped
protect abused and neglected children,
helped develop youth activities
and brought jobs to town.
Another part of crime prevention
holding businesses accountable.
Since last April,
the county filed 6 lawsuits and
complaints against motels and
stores accused of breeding crime.
Despite the progress,
the mayor knows it is a long road ahead,
the
root causes of violent crime
that runs deep true long term.
Conventions require that politicians
have the courage to invest.
In solutions that may not
bring fruit immediately.
We'll be exploring the root causes
and solutions of teen violence
throughout the month and beyond.
You can find these stories right now
on 13 wmaz.com and our mobile app.
Just look for the section
called caught in the crosshairs.