MPN Pilot Solutions

During the previous planning period, Macon Promise Neighborhood and its partners piloted several new strategies in the zone that not only continues the mission of supporting the children of the Unionville and Tindal Heights communities, but also integrate services and share accountability for results. The strategies include the following:

• Big Brothers Big sisters of the Heart of Georgia is utilizing Mercer's Office of Leadership and Volunteerism to train and place 60 Mercer students as mentors for neighborhood children.
• Mercer University has partnered with Communities in Schools to provide 78 tutors in reading and math and Ingram-Pye Elementary School, Monday-Friday. Last school year, 96% of the students were promoted to the next grade.
• Communities in Schools has placed site coordinators at two of the four MPN schools (Ingram-Pye and Ballard Hudson Middle School) to coordinate intensive support services for the 10% of students identified by the schools as the highest need population
• The BCSD Gear Up program has partnered with Mercer professors to train and engage 106 Mercer students as tutors in AVID programs at 4 middle schools, including Ballard Hudson and Bloomfield.
• In partnership with the Workforce Investment Board, Southwest High School counselors, and the local business community, MPN partners have implemented a year-long internship and mentor program for 21 11th grade students at Southwest High School.
• Central Georgia Technical College has partnered with Communities in Schools to offer adult learning opportunities to the parents or older siblings of at-risk children identified and served by Communities in Schools site coordinators in elementary and middle schools.
• The Macon-Bibb County Economic Opportunity Council and Tift College of Education are working together to organize and resource a neighborhood childcare network focused on early learning.
• Tift College of Education and Ingram-Pye teachers are beginning the first steps towards developing the MPN target schools as Professional Development sites.

These pilot programs are only the first steps in improving children's achievement in school and ending generational poverty in the Macon Promise Neighborhood.