Woodville — The Mercy Project, Inc. was established in March of 2007, to meet a need and implement various programs geared toward assisting at-risk youth.

The youth today are infact the leaders of tomorrow Mercy Project officials say.

This fact led to the need to establish projects such as the Mercy Project.

According to officials with the Mercy Project, the statistics clearly showed that a significant portion of Wilkinson County’s youth had begun to drift away from the desire to obtain an education, adhere to a higher level of moral conduct and ultimately got lost in the penal system or turned to a life of drug use, if not worse.

“The Mercy Project, in conjunction with its partners on the local and state level, are here to help restore the fabric of our society, our youth,” Kenyon Jackson, president of Mercy Project said. “The goal of this partnership is to implement a comprehensive plan of action which address various needs of our youth covering a broad range of areas.”

The Mercy Project plans to touch as many at-risk youth as allocated resources will permit.

Currently, Mercy Project has announced that they have partnered with various national, state and local agencies such as Southwest Adolescent Offender Program, Children of Prisoners Mentoring Program, Families First Resource Center and the Boys & Girls Club of America.

The program employs 12 people.

Through Mercy Project partnerships with various agencies the youth of Wilkinson county have had the opportunity to participate in several events, Youth Gospel Explosion Conference in August of 2007, Rip the Runway Fashion Show in March and the General Missionary Baptist State Convention in Jackson in July.

“Mercy Project is dedicated to saving our youth while serving the community by laying a foundation to ensure that we do not lose another generation to negative influences which hinder their future success,” Jackson said.