A new local organization is seeking to help the community help itself.

The Butler County Concerned Citizens (BCCC) aims to appeal to that community during a town hall meeting on Thursday, Nov. 9 at 6:30 p.m. from the Lomax-Hannon Bible College auditorium, located on South Conecuh Street.

According to founder Kenneth Crum, Butler County Concerned Citizens is a grassroots organization, meaning that it’s ordinary people coming together in an effort to achieve an extraordinary goal—empowering citizens through unity.

The secondary goal, Crum said, is informing that public that involvement is necessary for positive change.

“Our goal is to be able to go to all of the meetings—city council, board of education, civic leagues and county commission,” Crum said.

“By attending those meetings, we gathered information, and we were able to bring it back to the community.  We were able to get on the agenda in each meeting and introduce ourselves and what we were there to do. We also let them know that we were there to help in any way to improve the lives of the constituents in Butler County.”

The BCCC has already seen change occur in some small but meaningful ways during the organzation’s relatively young lifetime.

For example, BCCC members have partnered with Butler County Schools to develop a mentoring program within Greenville Middle School and Greenville High School, with eventual plans to expand to McKenzie and Georgiana.

“We’ve gone in, and we’ve made great strides,” Crum continued. “We’ve helped some of them feel better about themselves, and we’ve encouraged others to be better students.”

“We want to emphasize that one of the main parts of this equation is that we really want parents to be involved in students’ lives as we conduct our mentoring.”

Thursday’s event is partially meant to introduce the BCCC to the public, but the main focus of the town hall is the extend the opportunity for participants to give feedback in an open-mic session.

And the most important demographic of all, Crum said, is the youth.

“I firmly believe that this young generation is the best generation that God has created,” Crum said. “They have so much talent. They have so much to express and contribute to our community, and we need to let them exercise that.

“We want to hear what’s on their minds—their aspirations, their goals and their concerns, and how we can help them. 

“We’re going after our youth—vigorously—to bring out what’s in them that’s going to help our community be better and do better.  As we continue to initiate different programs and expose them to various activities, it’s going to be good for Butler County.”