The Daily Citizen, Dalton, GA

Local News

Related Photos

  • Amy Howell, commissioner of the state Department of Juvenile Justice, speaks with Elbert Shaw at the youth dentention center in Dalton that bears his name. (Misty Watson/The Daily Citizen)

    howell at ydc2.jpg

Discussion

Welcome to our online comments feature. To join the discussion, you must first register with Disqus and verify your email address. Once you do, your comments will post automatically. We welcome your thoughts and your opinions, including unpopular ones. We ask only that you keep the conversation civil and clean. We reserve the right to remove comments that are obscene, racist or abusive and statements that are false or unverifiable. Repeat offenders will be blocked. You may flag objectionable comments for review by a moderator.
comments powered by Disqus
September 29, 2011

Juvenile Justice commissioner says community is vital to department’s mission

Shaw calls detention center staff and volunteers ‘best of the best’

Charles Oliver charlesoliver@daltoncitizen.com

Having a close connection to the community is vital to the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice’s mission, says Commissioner Amy Howell.

“Our function is to keep our communities safe and our young people safe and to turn them out in better shape than they came in,” Howell said Wednesday during a visit to Dalton’s Elbert Shaw Regional Youth Detention Center (RYDC).

Howell said having close ties to local law enforcement personnel and people in the court system is important for facilities such as the detention center but having a strong connection to its citizen advisory board and to local volunteers is crucial. She said the volunteers help provide mentorship and services that augment those offered by the staff of the detention center. And just as important, they help tie the facility to the community, she said.

“If the community isn’t aware of the needs of our young people and the opportunities and potential that they possess, they come out to a hostile environment that is hard for them to fit into,” she said. “But when you have a community that has been inside the facility and has helped contribute to their success, that is aware of the challenges they face and ready to serve, it gives those young people a real opportunity as they come out.”

Howell lauded Elbert Shaw, the man the facility was named for four years ago. Shaw has been ministering to and counseling the youth at the facility as a volunteer for some 35 years. He still visits three times a week to work with the students.

Shaw, in turn, praised the staff of the detention center and the other volunteers, calling them “the best of the best.”

“They take the time. They care,” he said.

Volunteer Steve Champion has been volunteering at the detention center for about 12 years.

“I really just spend some time with them, letting them know that someone is there for them,” he said. “All the time, I have people come up to the community and say, ‘Do you remember me? I met you in the RYDC.’”

Champion said it thrills him to find out how many of those youth now have families and careers and are doing well with their lives.

Text Only
Local News