Gunna and the Black Music Action Coalition have announced a new initiative that will provide a monthly stipend of $1,000 to over two dozen families in the rapper’s hometown for one year. Named the Gunna x BMAC 30349 Guaranteed Income Program, it will choose grantees in the specific zip code in the city of South Fulton, Georgia, right outside Atlanta. Recipients will also receive mentorship across music, film, fashion, and tech. Families can apply online.
The program is being facilitated by Gunna’s Great Giveaway Foundation in partnership with BMAC, a non-profit group of artists, songwriters, managers, producers, lawyers, and other music executives that began racial justice work after the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor sparked a social movement against anti-Blackness. “BMAC’s mission to achieve systemic equity must begin with economic justice,” said Willie “Prophet” Stiggers, the organization’s Co-Founder, President and CEO. “Black Americans are too often locked out of critical opportunities and pathways to climb the socioeconomic ladder despite being central to every cultural and financial movement in this country’s history.”
Gunna has built a steady track record of service around Atlanta; he teamed up with another organization, Goodr, to create a free in-school clothing and grocery store at his former middle school in College Park, where he grew up. In 2017, once-unincorporated areas of College Park became absorbed into the newly incorporated South Fulton, a representative tells Rolling Stone. Gunna has hosted other grocery stores in the community and held a free festival there while he was jailed in Atlanta’s lingering RICO case against members of his label, Young Stoner Life. He was freed in December 2022 after spending most of the year behind bars, maintaining his innocence while accepting a plea and the consequences of a guilty verdict.
“When I launched Gunna’s Great Giveaway, my goal was to uplift my hometown by providing resources that could make a tangible difference in at least one household,” Gunna said in a statement. “Partnering with BMAC to introduce the Guaranteed Income program in South Fulton is a significant step toward enhancing these communities and transforming the economic landscape of the city.” This year, the rapper has followed the success of his 2023 smash A Gift & a Curse with the album One of Wun and the Bittersweet tour with guest Flo Milli. He’ll headline ONE Musicfest in Atlanta in October.
The Gunna x BMAC 30349 Guaranteed Income Program will launch on September 18, two days after South Fulton’s “Gunna Day,” which the city honored him with in 2021. “The partnership between Gunna, BMAC, and the City of South Fulton represents a transformative step in addressing the economic disparities that some of our residents’ face,” said Mayor Khalid Kamau in a statement as well.
