After noticing a need for youth mentors in Macon, Nijeeva Timothee stepped in to fill the void. Timothee created the Girls Dig Deeper Initiative, to help mentor young girls in Macon.

Timothee’s program focuses on instilling leadership and a sense of self-identity within her mentees.

“For girls dig deeper initiative, for the values come from the word girls. So it’s, it’s grit. Its integrity, its relationships. It’s leadership and service” said Timothee.

Timothee thanks her long-term employment with Walgreens for her extensive background in leadership and leading others.

“I think over those years of working with Walgreens in that executive role, it’s helped me to embark on that, as far as with helping and leading people, and helping people to perform well, and, you know, influencing people and being a good role model that good example for people,” said Timothee.

Timothee says that Girls Dig Deeper Initiative covers a range of topics, such as academics, career planning, and personal finance all of which are free for young girls to participate in.

She says that through outreach to other local programs and groups she is able to educate her mentees on topics that she might not be familiar with herself.

“Because if there’s a way that I can reach to them, or if there’s something that they’re going through, and I know it’s out of my reach, I’ll be able to, you know, give them other resources,” said Timothee. “Some young people who have came to me about some things where it was just like, I had to outsource and, you know, and that’s why it’s so important to build those partnerships.”

Now three months after the announcement of the winners of the Macon Violence Prevention Grant, Timothee sees her program fitting in by supplying much-needed leadership skills.

She believes that through the umbrella of mentorship and leadership she can steer impressionable youth away from the lifestyle of crime and violence.

With her grant, Timothee hopes to expand her program to parents to help better the youth as she believes it all starts in the home.

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