Housing Authority of Bowling Green EnVision Center and local police department partner to mentor girls

P.O.W.E.R.G. participants cooking and bonding together.

P.O.W.E.R.G. participants enjoy learn self-defense techniques and building their self-confidence.

In November 2018, Bowling Green Policy Department (BGPD) (www.bgky.org/police) Deputy Chief Penny Bowles (www.bgky.org/police/administration) attended an event at the Housing Authority of Bowling Green (HABG) EnVision Center and noticed on their list of programs they offered, there wasn't anything specifically structured for mentoring of girls. Officer Bowles had previously been a big sister for Big Brothers Big Sisters and was interested in doing something similar but maybe on a larger scale.

That larger approach kicked off last year in January 2019, when HABG Executive Director Abraham Williams and his staff began meeting with Bowles and P.O.W.E.R.G. came into creation in February 2019.

The all-female program called Police Officers with Educated Responsible Girls, or P.O.W.E.R.G., seeks to empower mentees by providing support, self-awareness, personal and professional growth, collaborative effectiveness, accountability, as well as to strengthen kids' outlook on police officers

P.O.W.E.R.G. meets on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month during the months of August - May, taking a break during the summer months when the girls are out of school.

"We have been able to do a lot of different projects, trainings and outings in this almost year of the program. The girls toured the jail recently and I think they took A LOT away from the tour," said Bowles. "We have been bowling, out to dinners, toured both juvenile and adult jails, but mainly we have had a lot of fun. This program has been a great opportunity for our female officers as well. They have really bonded with the girls, and it has given them a renewed spirit of camaraderie with each other."

P.O.W.E.R.G. took some getting used to for some of the girls, like Bowling Green Junior High School seventh grader Areionna Martin.

"I didn't know about it at first," said Areionna. "I mean, they got a gun." A few meetings in and Areionna was warming to the officers and to the mentoring program. "It's really helping people because the more you get to know them, you get more comfortable," she said. "They give you self-confidence when they talk to you to see how you feel."

The interaction with the young girls has benefits for everyone, according to veteran BGPD officer Donitka Boyett.

"As a police officer day-in and day-out, most of our contact with people is going to be a negative one," said Boyett, who is in her 16th year with the police department. "To do this on the positive side of things has been phenomenal. You find yourself getting to be a teenager again. A lot of laughing and cutting up goes on. We're slowly beginning to learn each other. They definitely get to see us as humans outside of the uniform."

"I hope this program will be one that will continue far after all those who created it are gone," said Deputy Chief Penny Bowles. "The BGPD is very fortunate to have the relationship we have with the Housing Authority of Bowling Green."

Attribution: Bowling Green Daily News

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