Page 3 - Florida Sentinel 10-13-17

Feature
Ida Walker: Aide To Tampa Police Chiefs For 25 Years, Gives Back To Her Old Neighborhood By Mentoring Youths
BY KENYA WOODARD Sentinel Feature Writer
ROBLES PARK – For 25 years, Ida Walker has man- aged the schedule and office for Tampa’s police chief.
This year, she expanded her role in public service to include some of the city’s lit- tlest citizens with her mentor- ing program, C.O.R.E.
Launched this summer, students meet after-school for four weeks at the R. I. C. H. House at Robles Park to learn the principles of the program: community, originality, rela- tionship, and expression.
The goal is to teach stu- dents character-building through team exercises and group discussions.
Ultimately, students learn not only how to boost their self-confidence and self-es- teem but also how to help others do the same.
“They have positive things
Tampa Police Chief Aide, Ida Walker and students in her C.O.R.E. mentoring program. The students listen to a message from Tampa Bay Rays player, Mallex Smith via computer.
Tampa Bay Technical High School, she hired Walker in 1983 as her assistant.
For the next three decades, Walker worked her way up through the depart- ment and held positions in risk management, informa- tion technology, and purchas- ing before being named in 1992 as executive aide to then-police chief, Eddie Gonzalez.
Walker said helping the chiefs be successful is her fa- vorite part of the job.
“It’s never a dull mo- ment,” she said.
These days, her mentoring program students add to her job’s liveliness.
Walker – who grew up poor in a single-parent home – said she shares some com- monalities with many of them and wants to exemplify that, ‘one’s background doesn’t dictate their future’.
“I’m trying to get them to
understand that if they strengthen who they are, they can succeed,” she said. “It’s ok being like you are, where you are living, or the situation you are in.”
Olivia Simms, 8, said she’s already exercising les- sons learned in the program. For example, when she visits the park, she introduces her- self to other children and makes new friends.
Pride in community is im- portant too, she said.
“I learned that you should be respectful to your commu- nity and like your commu- nity,” she said.
to contribute to the commu- nity,” she said. “They have something they can give.”
The program completes a circle for Walker, who not only grew up in Robles Park, but also participated in the police department’s crime
prevention programs for youth.
That experience proved to be life-changing. The depart- ment’s first Black woman po- lice officer ran the crime prevention program. When Walker graduated from
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