July 2004

Detroit recently launched a novel program to encourage students to graduate from high school and enter careers in public safety and public service.

In announcing the Mayor’s Time Public Safety Academy (MTPSA) on May 12, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick said the program will be “key in keeping our ‘home-grown’ heroes right here in the City of Detroit.”

This fall, about 120 high school students will enroll in the program – which helps meet many different goals of entities working to expand opportunities for youth in Detroit.  “In addition to developing home-grown heroes, to me the ultimate goal is to get more kids graduating from high school so they can move to the next level,” says Lt. Kwaku Atara of the Detroit Fire Department and the initiator of the concept within the city.  “The Academy is a carrot to help them do it.”  And according to Darriell McKeithen, after-school strategist for Mayor’s Time, the Academy offers a new type of opportunity, helping Mayor’s Time reach its goal of raising participation rates of children and youth in Detroit after-school programs to 50 percent.

The Academy will be offered to all Detroit Public School students at either Golightly Career-Technical Center or Randolph Career-Technical Center.  A three-year curriculum, with students beginning the program in the 10^th grade and continuing until graduation, will prepare students in specific technical and practical skills related to public safety.  Upon completion of the program, the students will be on their way to careers as police officers, firefighters, emergency medical personnel, homeland and private security officers and more.

There are other programs around the country to encourage high school students to enter careers in public safety.  But what makes the MTPSA stand out is its comprehensiveness.  “Some programs touch on careers, but they are really more introductory,” says Atara.  “This Academy is much more than an introduction; it immerses the students in the knowledge and technical skills needed in these fields as well as the cultures of the police, fire and emergency medical services departments.”  While other programs encourage careers in public safety, MTPSA is a direct path into them.

Students will spend half of the school day at their regular high schools, and then half at one of the career-technical centers.  In addition to learning technical skills and the culture of the public safety professions, students will receive life-skills training such as hygiene, health, nutrition, self-esteem, etiquette and public speaking.  

A particular hallmark of the program is that students can receive twelve hours of credit (for classes with a grade of “C” or better) towards articulation at Wayne County Community College District.  They will also be qualified for entry-level positions in a public safety field.

The program will also offer significant out-of-school time opportunities.  The program will include job-shadowing opportunities in the summer and winter breaks.  Third-year students are eligible for paid internships.  And, students who need extra academic help can receive after-school tutoring from firefighters who are also certified teachers.

The development of the Academy was more than a year in the making, and it required extraordinary cooperation from Detroit Public Schools, Mayor’s Time, Detroit Fire Department, Detroit Police Department and Wayne County Community College District. 

Atara brought the idea to Mayor’s Time Executive Director Grenaé Dudley, who convened the group, because he knew “The Mayor could get all the players at the table.  The challenge was to get everyone together to realize it could work.  All partners worked hard for a year to put it together.”

The partners have signed memorandums of understanding, and there will be much collaboration regarding curriculum and instruction (several members of the police, fire and emergency medical services departments are certified teachers).  For its part Mayor’s Time will provide, in addition to its facilitation role, communication strategies to increase visibility for the program and to recruit volunteers.  It will also provide resources for an evaluation of the program.

According to McKeithen of Mayor’s Time, the Academy is already proving so popular that other entities in the county government and private sector are interested in becoming partners.  “We’ll have 120 students enrolled in the first year,” McKeithen says, “but everyone is committed to expanding the program, and there’s such enthusiasm among the students, that we could easily double enrollment in the near future.”

For more information on this website about Mayor’s Time, click here.  For more articles on this website about after school opportunities, click here.