Community leaders in Macon spent part of their weekend brainstorming ways to improve schools in the Tindall Heights and Unionville neighborhoods during a meeting for the Macon Children's Promise Neighborhood project.
MCPN is one of 15 promise neighborhood projects nationwide, and the only one in the Southeast, that received a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Donations bring the total to more than $800,000 to create a 5-year plan that prepares students in the the two neighborhoods for college or a career.
About 75 people, including Mayor Robert Reichert and County Commission Chairman Sam Hart, started work on the plan Saturday. They split into groups focused on various areas like health and safety, and early childhood.
The 5-year plan will focus on Ingram-Pye and Hartley Elementary schools, Ballard Hudson Middle School, and Southwest High School.
Peter Brown, co-director of MCPN, said people in the neighborhoods will start seeing changes like more technology access even before the plan is implemented.
"We're also looking at making this entire neighborhood a wi-fi center and ensuring that every and ensuring that every student has a computing device at home to get the same kind of access that we all know is so important," Brown said.
Next fall, Brown said they will apply for a grant of up to $30 million to implement the plan.