Jackson Free Press

Albert Wilson has spent his adult life trying to reach out to the next generation. Now he wants to reach them from the Jackson City Council.

The 47-year-old candidate for the Ward 3 seat is the founder of Genesis and Light Center on State Street in the Georgetown community in North Jackson, a non-profit, community-based organization who self-proclaimed goal is to address obstacles confronting at-risk youth and their families.

Wilson started Genesis and Light in 1992 in Aurora, Ill., but moved the organization back to his hometown of Jackson in March 1994. The program targets kids in the Virden Addition, Broadmoor and Shady Oaks communities, whose families face financial burdens.

Wilson was born in Ward 3 on Brown Street, and lives in the area with his wife of 18 years, Kim, his son, Bryson, and his two daughters, Brittney and Victoria. He graduated from Wingfield High School in 1984, holds a bachelor's degree from Jackson State University (class of '89) and is currently pursuing a master's degree in education from Mississippi College.

Why are you running for city council?

I'm running because I have a love for the people of Ward 3. This is the area I grew up in and the area I've lived in my entire life. I know we can help. Right now we have businesses leaving, our education system is poor. We have no shopping centers, no movie theaters, no skating rinks. It's sad to see our city, and our ward specifically in a situation that because of stagnation and neglect nothing has happened over 25 years positive. No business growth streets terrible crime rampant youth disengaged. I know from experience running my center that I can bring some life back into this community. This building we are in right now was an old abandoned warehouse. Now there's beauty and functionality.

How can we keep kids from dropping out of school?

We have to engage our kids and give them something to do. That's one thing that's missing in Jackson. We don't have enough outlets for our kids. I'm talking about movie theaters, skating rinks, and functions for our teens like dances and other things they like to do versus roaming the streets, watching TV or getting caught up with the internet. It doesn't even have to be an attraction. It could be something like a shopping mall. Kids love to shop. Lake Hico is a lake right here in my ward that I would like to see used more efficiently. We have a zoo. We have golf world over here. The only other places we have are in Madison and parents don't have the means to take their kids and do these things. What we do here at Genesis and Life is to have functions that involve our kids and keep them on the right path. We do a full-scale stage play dealing with issues that appeal to them, like alcohol, drugs and bullying. ... We've performed these plays at the Alamo Theater, the medical mall and here. We've had as many as 300-400 people who have attended. The other thing we do is let the kids take (the play) to the schools and perform for their peers. We need more events like that, under the umbrella of the city, so we can do more for our young people.

Does that disengagement from our youth help explain our crime problem?

It does, especially during the summer time. There's a spike in youth crime during the summer because they are doing things to make up for that time. A lot of car burglaries and thefts happen because they are taking cars for joy rides. They aren't trying to sell or strip the cars; they are just taking them for joy rides. Northside Drive is just a big hangout spot that is taking place, and when you have a bunch of kids hanging out with no supervision and nothing positive to do, it can and has caused disturbances. An idol mind is the devil's workshop, and after school hours a lot of our kids get in trouble because they have nothing to do. That's what we're trying to do here at Genesis and Life is give the kids outlets to express themselves.

How can we make Jackson into a more appealing place to live and keep our young talent?

We have to bring more arts programs to the city and market our art programs that we have going on right now. There's a lot of different arts programs we have going on and museums downtown. We need to expose our community as a whole to the arts. Not just the kids, but also the adults. The out-of-town shows and programs that come in are sometimes too expensive, especially for our people in Ward 3, so what the city needs to do is offer grants and scholarships and try to market some of our local artists and showcase our local talent. The city could be sponsoring some of these events and spearheading them.

How can we market Jackson to businesses and keep our existing businesses from leaving?

Our two main problems in Jackson is our economy and how we don't engage our youth. When it comes to our economy and bringing business to Jackson, we have to deal with the other problem first. I talk to parents who want to come to Jackson but don't want to bring their children here to go to school. If we don't have citizens here, the businesses aren't going to come. The city has to work with the schools to pull more funding to the schools and provide more resources. We have to assist our schools to come up to level, and once that happens more people will come back.

It isn't the crime that makes people move, it's education. Why would we want to put our kids into a system where they aren't going to be successful in their future? ...

To speak directly to the business aspect: First, we have to market the business we have here. We have businesses right here in my ward, but outside of E&L Barbecue, our businesses aren't known outside of this part of town. Then, we need to see what we can do for our businesses to help them improve. I'm not talking about spending a whole lot of money. Sometimes it's as simple as buying some paint and some new chairs for a restaurant. We can create a booklet that shows off our quality businesses and get people back shopping here in Jackson. I'd like to see us bring in a big store, like a Walmart to be an anchor store, which will create business so other stores will come. We have so much vacant space in this ward, but we don't have the vision right now to get an anchor store to come here.

What is your message to voters of Ward 3?

Eighty percent of our ward is not engaged. I hear them that they are not voting because they are not happy with what is going on, and they think by just not showing up they are kicking back against the system. That isn't the way to bring about change. ...

I want to encourage people to vote. There are too many people who have gone through too much to give you the opportunity to vote for you to not vote.

Email Tyler at [email protected].