Mayor Lester Miller and partners will announce the Macon Violence Prevention (MVP) Strategic Plan at a news conference on Wednesday, December 8, at 9:30 a.m. in Commission Chambers in City Hall (700 Poplar Street). The public can watch the announcement live on Macon-Bibb County’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/maconbibbcounty.

MVP was announced on June 10 and included hundreds of people supporting the need for a community-wide, multi-faceted strategy to reduce violence and improve public safety.

“We all know someone whose family has been directly affected by violent crime. Every story we read and every statistic we hear is someone’s child, someone’s brother or sister, or someone’s mother, father, or friend,” Mayor Miller said at the announcement. “This is personal, and it impacts every single one of us. And it will take each one of us giving and doing more to fix the problem.”

In the weeks following, more than 1,100 people came out to 14 public forums and more than 700 surveys were submitted online, all letting Macon-Bibb and its partners know of the issues families and neighborhoods were facing. Participants also talked about resources and strategies for addressing those issues. The MVP Leadership Team held a day-long retreat to use the information to identify the goals and strategies that the community said would reduce violence.

The MVP Strategic Plan will be the guiding document for agencies and community organizations to apply for grants that will fund programs and initiatives that will reduce violence.

“This very important work will be done by more than our government and partners; we will fund our community to be part of the work so that we can make long-term and sustainable change,” says Mayor Miller.