Our History
The original idea for Men About Change (MAC) dates back to 1993, when Dr. Clowers joined forces with other male teachers at McEvoy Middle School (Macon, Georgia) to form an innovative mentoring program to positively impact at-risk boys. After years of brainstorming and meticulous planning, progresses and setbacks, Dr. Clowers, a lifelong educator and mentor, formally found Men About Change, Inc. in 2014--eleven years later--initially focusing on supporting at-risk adolescent boys in an afterschool setting.
In collaboration with Roger Jackson, the executive director of the Motivating Youth Foundation of East Macon, and local pastor John Herring, they established the learning center within the then-vacant ancillary facilities of the Glorious Hope Baptist Church in Macon, Georgia's Bellevue neighborhood.
MAC’s story since its founding has primarily been defined by continuous expansion, including the programs, service offerings, and target demographics. Its story is also one of increasing inclusiveness. As the number of program participants quickly rose throughout the years, MAC soon learned the community's demand for similar services existed for at-risk girls also. In response to this need, MAC expanded its programs to include at-risk boys and girls, forming what can now best be referred to as Men About Change | Women About Change.
Additional community demand for children of all ages prompted the organization to expand its services to youth in all grade levels, from Pre-K through 12th grade. The expansion required MAC to increase and diversify its staff and modify its facilities to further broaden the scope of its programming to include daycare/childcare and early learning.
Responding yet again to community need, MAC would begin operating a full-day summer program, providing youth with the same programs and services offered by the afterschool program, while also expanding the number and variety of educational, recreational, and character-building activities and workshops for the kids to participate in, coordinating exciting field trips and outings, and ensuring our kids are fully nourished through a comprehensive nutrition program that provides each child with two hot meals per day.
In 2020, MAC undertook a massive effort to combat local food insecurities prompted by the loss of school meals due to COVID-19-related school closures. The Meal Assistance Program that formed to address and meet this need provided comprehensive, nutritious meals for pickup and/or delivery to local families in need, at no cost.
In Autumn 2020, MAC embarked on its most ambitious project to date, the Virtual Learning Academy. The Academy is a dedicated learning environment with high-speed internet access; lendable computers and other technology; 26 educational, childcare, and nutrition specialists; and a comprehensive daily meal program to clients whose families find virtual learning within the home to be unfeasible, inadequate, or undesirable.