On Tuesday, June 23, 2021, more than 100 people came together at Steward Chapel AME Church to listen and share their experiences with violent crime during an open and honest conversation facilitated by the Macon Mental Health Matters team. Nothing was off limits. Each pew inside the historic church held someone with a different experience, but all wanting the same thing – change.

“If we’re going find out what’s happening in Macon-Bibb County when it comes to crime, we need to talk to people,” said Mayor Lester Miller. “We can meet with all kinds of people and have forums and put ideas on paper, but we need to hear from you.”

Part of Mayor Miller’s Macon Violence Prevention (MVP) initiative is to go directly to people who have lived through and continue to live through these horrible situations. And not just hear their experiences…but also their ideas that could make Macon-Bibb safer for everyone.

Tuesday’s forum was opened with prayer by Steward Chapel AME Church’s Pastor Levornia Franklin, Jr. and the conversation was moderated by licensed therapist Gloria Cissé with Southern Center for Choice Therapy, Inc. and the Macon Mental Health Matters initiative.

“We have to create a place of healing,” Cissé told guests at the forum. “We need to have these conversations.”

People spoke about their experiences with violent crime, including some who had family members die from gun violence. Their frustration and anger filled the chapel, capturing everyone’s full attention. Among those listening were Mayor Miller, District Attorney Anita Howard, and representatives from the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office, various courts, the school district, community organizations, and more.

“We do hear your voices, and our team is here, not to talk, but to listen. To hear you. You can have all the ideas in the world, but if you don’t have the resources, you aren’t going anywhere,” Mayor Miller told the crowd. “We have the group in here, tonight, to take our city back.”

This was the first of many forums Mayor Miller plans to hold to get more opinions, more personal stories, and ideas from our community because reducing violence is about more than data, more than numbers. Each statistic is someone suffering in our community. As he has said before, it takes more than just one person or one organization to stop the violence in our community. It takes a team. These conversations will lead to actions.

You can stay updated on future forums and be part of the MVP team by signing up at https://maconviolenceprevention.org/.