Thursday, Nov. 8, 2007
When Catherine Taggart-Ross was just 11 years old, she organized students to fight issues with the time school lunches were served and the time students had for recess in her hometown of Tuscaloosa, Ala., in 1969.
She got into trouble with the school’s principal as a result. And, when she got home, her mother said something that has echoed in her mind ever since.
‘‘Catherine, you have too much Martin Luther King in you,” her mother said. ‘‘You can’t save everyone.”
She replied, ‘‘Yes, but I can die trying.”
Taggart-Ross, a Clinton resident, didn’t realize exactly what her mother meant at the time. King was assassinated one year before in 1968. But looking back, she realized her mother’s words had prepared her for a lifetime of service to her community.
Her hard work over the years was manifested when the Sisters Enhancing Sisters Networking Fellowship presented her with its Phenomenal Woman of the Year award for 2007 on Oct. 27.
‘‘Catherine has been doing great things in the community, especially with youth in the D.C. area,” said Jacqueline Duncan, a member of the organization. ‘‘She plays a major part in pulling together youth in the community.”
To win the award, a resident must show leadership and give something positive back to the community. She also must display integrity and be an advocate for education, Duncan said.
The organization is intended to help develop relationships among women of all ages and races to last a lifetime and to educate women in matters of business so they can achieve their goals.
After high school, Taggart-Ross moved from Alabama to the District and took a job as a security guard with the State Department to help with college expenses at Howard University.
While she was in that job, Taggart-Ross realized she no longer wanted to go to nursing school. So she decided to move into law enforcement.
‘‘I say that everyone is not a criminal,” Taggart-Ross said. ‘‘And that everyone need not be locked up. That might sound strange coming from a law enforcement officer.”
But, for Taggart-Ross, her vision of law enforcement was more about making connections with the community than just enforcing laws.
After 10 years with the Metropolitan Police Department, in 1995, she was promoted to community relations officer.
With a knack for finding a connection with youth between the ages of 15 to 21, Taggart-Ross was assigned to teach 21 female gang members from Ballou High School in the District.
The group was called Umoja, the Swahili word for unity.
In 2004, Taggart-Ross brought the Umoja program to Surrattsville High School in Clinton, where she lived when she worked as a Metropolitan Police Officer.
She taught 45 students each hour from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. about women’s issues like social skills, ethics and sexuality.
The next year, after she retired from the MPD, Taggart-Ross started volunteering with the Prince George’s Police Department. She was named Managing Volunteer Coordinator for the Volunteer Police Program. She still holds the position.
She brought Volunteers in Police Service (VIPS), a national program that trains citizens to do deskwork so police can stay out on the streets, to the county.
‘‘After being an officer and seeing Prince George’s trying to bridge the gap between the community and police, I thought the VIPS program would be good,” she said. She saw a disconnect between citizens and police in the sense that citizens wanted to do more to support police but didn’t know what they could do.
Carolyn Lowe, vice president of the Williamsburg Estates Civic Association in Upper Marlboro said Taggart-Ross has done everything she can to unite the community with local police.
‘‘She is a tireless worker for our community,” Lowe said.
Lowe and Taggart-Ross are also co-facilitators of the District 5 Coffee Club, a resident organization that addresses issues with Prince George’s County Police District 5. The group meets at 9 a.m. every Wednesday at Safeway in Clinton.
Lowe said that through the coffee club, the VIPS program and work through Surrattsville High School, Taggart-Ross does a lot for the county.
‘‘I don’t know when she finds time to sleep, honestly,” she said.
E-mail Ryan McDermott atrmcdermott@gazette.net
