Not everyone would consider it good news to be called before the national director of the FBI, but for Bill Wilkerson it is nothing but an honor for his good works. Last Thursday Wilkerson was surprised by Roland J. Corvington, Special
Agent in Charge of the FBI in St. Louis, with the news that the FBI would be flying him to Washington, D.C., where he will be recognized by Robert S. Meuller III, national FBI director.
This honor comes as part of Wilkerson’s recognition with the 2009
Director’s Community Leadership Award for his efforts as executive
director of Reach Out St. Louis!, an initiative of the Mathews-Dickey
Boys’ & Girls’ Club.
“This is the principle means by which we are able to publicly recognize
people like Bill Wilkerson,” Corvington said. “We are only as effective
as our engagement with the public.”
Wilkerson was recognized for helping to improve the drop-out rates at
four St. Louis Public High Schools – Beaumont, Roosevelt, Vashon and
Sumner – through programs at Mathews-Dickey.
Wilkerson was given a certificate in front of his family and friends at
the St. Louis FBI Office by Corvington, an African American who leads
the FBI in St. Louis.
“Juvenile courts will send students over to Mathews-Dickey instead of
locking them up,” Wilkerson said of the program.
Wilkerson has attracted a diverse group of area resources to address the
drop-out crisis. Specifically, he aligned each high school with a
university, church, company/corporation and a St. Louis Metropolitan
Police Department contact.
He also developed a strategy which involved tracking and analyzing data
in which students were showing early warning signs of dropping out, FBI
St. Louis noted.
Locally the program hopes to reduce the drop-out rate between 5 and 8
percent each year and increase the graduation rate by 10 percent each
year for the next five years.
“We will keep very detailed statistics to see if we meet those goals so
we can see how effective we’ve been,” Wilkerson said.
Wilkerson particularly remembers a 13-year-old girl who was sent to the
program after stabbing a classmate with a pencil. Club co-founder and
president Martin Mathews had her write about why she was angry.
“She was the most angry child I’d ever seen. She wrote for about 30
minutes,” Wilkerson said.
“The real reason she was mad was because she didn’t like her mother’s
new boyfriend and didn’t have a way to communicate that.”
Mathews himself received a Director’s Community Leadership Award in 1991
and again in 2005.
The recognition that Wilkerson has received for his work only motivates
him to continue. The program is receiving support from the community and
the club is currently in the recruiting process for more help.
“What our children go through to get to school is truly amazing,”
Wilkerson said.
“You tell us what prevents you from coming to school and graduating, and
we will do anything possible that’s going to eradicate a problem.”
Mathews approached Wilkerson in May 2008, wanting to improve area
schools but not knowing how to go about bringing change. The two men had
met when Wilkerson worked at KMOX radio in news and sports, as he did
for 27 years.
Wilkerson researched the topic and noticed the alarming drop-out rates,
not only locally but throughout the nation. Wilkerson and Mathews began
the Reach Out program to target why students drop out and motivate them
to graduate.
Starting next year the program hopes to work with former NFL coach Tony
Dungy to get the Reach Out program in every city that has an NFL
football team as a way to illustrate the importance of graduating from
high school, especially to aspiring athletes.
The Director’s Community Leadership Award was formally created in 1990
as the principle means for the FBI to honor individuals and
organizations for their efforts in combating crime, terrorism, drugs and
violence.
Every year, each of the 56 FBI field offices nominates one recipient for
the award.
Other past award recipients in St. Louis include former Cardinals player
Joseph Cunningham (1990), Jean Leible (1993), Pastor Harry Douma (1995),
Karen Aroesty (2006), Pastor B. T. Rice (2007) and Dave Sinclair (2008).
