The grant will help repurpose the old Douglass High School into 52 senior apartments with solar energy. A new plant-based food program will provide meals and education to up to 40 families. Watch the video to understand the need for affordable housing and food security in Dewy city.BROADCAST SCRIPTAffordable housing and food security go hand in hand in Dewey City."90% of the people that are in what we call persistent poverty, meaning that they've been in poverty for several years, that's Dewey City," said Williams.I'm diving into a $200,000 grant aimed at addressing both with two crucial projects: affordable housing and food insecurity.Dewey City is one of Thomasville's oldest neighborhoods, but today it faces challengeslike access to affordable housing and food.Earl Williams, Executive Director of the Thomasville Community Development Corporation, tells me why the project is so vital to this area."It's a lot of barriers that we have to deal with in a lot of these neighborhoods. They've been structurally disinvested, and it's time for us to put resources into those neighborhoods to bring them back up," said Williams.Williams says only 30% of homes in these neighborhoods are owner-occupied, while 40% are vacant or dilapidated.With many vacant homes, revitalizing the area is crucial.One major step is repurposing the old Douglass High School into 52 senior apartments, addressing the 200 people currently on the waiting list for housing.Half of the grant from Drawdown Georgia will go toward ensuring the apartments use solar energy, helping to reduce electricity costs for residents."People in communities like that, the food that they can access is usually fast food or snack food," said Williams.Dewey City lacks easy access to fresh food, with the nearest grocery store three miles away, making it tough for those with unreliable transportation to get produce.To help, Williams is partnering with Rendall Mash, owner of Marathon Marketplace, to source local produce"We'll be sourcing it from local farmers who I already work with to provide vegetables and fruits and different things to this market, and doing that on a bigger scale," said Mash.A local caterer from Dewey City will prepare and deliver plant-based meals to up to 40 families in the area.Along with serving meals, the initiative will help neighbors understand how these foods can lead to healthier lifestyles and track their health to see how it improves over time.All are part of Williams' mission to create generational wealth and prosperity in historic Black neighborhoods in Thomasville."I truly believe that if we can bring Dewey City up, Stevens Street up, Fletcherville back up, the entire city comes up," said Williams.Williams tells me construction on the apartments is set to begin this spring and will take about two years to complete, while the plant-based food initiative will start serving meals by April 2025.