Program for black teens called ‘one of the best examples of community policing’

The Greater Achievement Youth Empowerment Academy, a nonprofit group led by executive director Willie Mae Callaway, helps high school students improve their scores on college entrance exams.

Approximately 100 students from LaGrange, Troup County and Callaway high schools participated in the program’s inaugural year during 2016-17, including 92 black teens.

Out of the 47 students in the program who took the SAT this past year, 37 scored better than 1000, program coordinator Glenn Dowell told the Ledger-Enquirer. And those students were accepted into institutions such as the United States Military Academy, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Alabama and Tuskegee University, he said.

Dowell’s idea for the program came from a gathering with family and friends. He shared it with LaGrange Police Chief Lou Dekmar, who fostered it to fruition.

“Here is a Southern lawman who is making sure our voices are heard,” Dowell said in a news release. “We needed high-level cooperation, and he pulled it together.”

That’s not surprising to those familiar with the connections Dekmar has made during his 23 years as the department’s chief. Under his leadership, the department and community partners created:

▪ A community outreach unit.

▪ A committee of 40-50 community members, comprising faith leaders, governmental leaders, nonprofit organization leaders and neighborhood leaders.

▪ A mental health court.

▪ A homeless warming shelter.

▪ A domestic violence shelter.

▪ Then in January, in what is believed to be an unprecedented act among Southern police chiefs, Dekmar publicly apologized for the department’s 77-year-old failure to protect a black teenager, Austin Callaway, who was abducted from the city’s jail and lynched by a white mob.

In an interview with the Ledger-Enquirer, Dekmar declared, “Police are most effective when they develop partnerships.”

Dekmar spoke via phone more than 4,000 miles away in the Netherlands while attending a conference representing the International Association of Chiefs of Police as the incoming president. In that role, he will lead approximately 30,000 of his colleagues from 141 countries.

Dowell noted Dekmar considers this tutoring program “one of the best examples of community policing.”

“The chief is emphatic in saying that collaboration and dialogue are key to a healthy and productive community,” Dowell told the Ledger-Enquirer.

Dekmar convened a meeting of local school officials to gain their cooperation with the program. “Without his continued support and advice,” Dowell said, “the program probably would not have gotten off the ground.”

The LaGrange police also provided office and meeting space for the academy’s staff, contributed computers for students to use in the program, and helped secure funding for the program from local businesses.

“The cost was under $5,000 for the entire operation, including the purchase of insurance and copies of the Princeton Review Study Guide,” Dowell said. “The average cost per student enrolled in a commercial SAT/ACT program, however, would be not less than $650. This is on the low end of the spectrum. Costs can run up to $3,500 or more per student.”

The academy, starting its second year, conducts the free program on six Saturdays, from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., in Turner Hall at LaGrange College, where college students provide tutoring and mentoring for the high school students.

“We intentionally requested students who were not honor students,” Dowell said, “rather those who were on grade level, to emphasize the point of hard and dedicated work being key to success.”

LaGrange High School graduate Chris Ridgeway, 18, improved his SAT score by 30 points while in the program and was accepted into Georgia State University.

“The people really cared about us and really wanted us to succeed,” Ridgeway said in the news release. “I really appreciated how they helped us.”

Dowell appreciates the positive attitudes the students displayed.

“Students were getting there before we were,” he said. “We were very excited.”

Dekmar described the program’s impact this way: “These young men and women are coming from primarily economically disadvantaged families or may have other challenges that would interfere with them being able to get the kind of support this program offers. Each one is an important story for us.”

LaGrange City Council member Willie Edmondson praised the program during a recent meeting.

“If we just give our kids some attention, this is what happens,” Edmondson said, according to the news release. “I’m just so ecstatic with these results.”

LaGrange Mayor Jim Thornton told Dowell, “We are very appreciative to what you are doing in our community.”

Dekmar gave the Ledger-Enquirer a set of statistics to put this program in perspective: Each year on average, American police make more than 100 million contacts with citizens, arrest 11-12 million and less than 1,000 of those result in deadly force encounters.

All of which has prompted the chief to conclude, “Police work is social work.”

This story was originally published September 6, 2017 at 6:36 PM with the headline "Program for black teens called ‘one of the best examples of community policing’."