Tell Macon-Bibb County Leaders: We Need a Real Behavioral Health & Homelessness Action Plan

To the Mayor, Macon-Bibb County Commission, Bibb County Sheriff, District Attorney for the Macon Judicial Circuit, behavioral health providers, healthcare systems, public safety officials, and community leaders:

We, the undersigned, are asking Macon-Bibb County to take immediate, coordinated action to address the growing intersection of homelessness, mental illness, substance use, public safety, and the impact these crises are having on vulnerable individuals, residents, employees, visitors, and local businesses.

This is not a petition asking Macon to criminalize homelessness.

It is a petition asking Macon to stop accepting crisis as normal.

People experiencing homelessness deserve dignity.

People living with serious mental illness deserve treatment.

People struggling with addiction deserve access to recovery.

And the people who live, work, visit, and operate businesses in our community deserve to be safe.

These things can all be true at the same time.

Why This Matters

Too often, people experiencing serious behavioral health crises cycle between the street, emergency rooms, temporary shelter, and the criminal justice system.

Meanwhile, downtown employees and small business owners are increasingly being placed on the front lines.

They are being asked to respond to psychiatric crises, de-escalate volatile situations, address aggressive behavior, connect people with services, protect customers, and sometimes deal with the same individuals repeatedly.

Small business employees are not social workers.

Business owners are not mental health professionals.

Police officers should not be our first line of defense as a behavioral health response system.

And people experiencing serious mental illness should not have to deteriorate on a sidewalk until their behavior becomes dangerous enough for someone to intervene.

We can do better.