While door-knocking last week in Carey Park, Atlanta City Council District 9 hopeful Charles Bourgeois kept hearing the same concern from residents: The kids aren’t alright.
Several Carey Parkers said they’re worried about students skipping school, getting trapped in poverty, and turning to crime, calling it a persistent problem in parts of District 9, which extends west from Atlantic Station to the Chattahoochee River.
Cedric Haney, 50, said he’s concerned about teenagers dropping out of school and resorting to scamming or theft. He added that Councilmember Dustin Hillis, the two-term incumbent, hasn’t been present enough. “I’ve never seen him in the community, walking around or anything,” Haney said.
Thanks to such concerns, Bourgeois is mustering an unusually competitive challenge to an incumbent, in an election where half of Atlanta’s 15 council members are running unopposed. His campaign has gained considerable momentum, raising nearly $207,000, mostly in small to medium-dollar donations, according to his Sept. 30 campaign finance disclosure. That compares to Hillis who has raised $232,000 to date.
Keeping kids in school
For Haney, an HVAC instructor at Atlanta Technical College, the root cause of youth crime is a lack of opportunity. “It’s a poverty problem,” he said. “We’ve got to get people who’re in poverty to change their mindset and get into the trades.”
Bourgeois agreed. “When we start talking about kids [doing] petty crime, that’s because these kids have no hope. They don’t have a vision,” he told Haney. “The parents work two and three jobs. They’re not around to make sure the kids are getting the education … so they skip class, and they go do petty crime, because they just want a couple bucks.”
Chronic absenteeism, defined as missing 10% or more school days, is high across Atlanta Public Schools, affecting nearly a third of all students in 2024. But Frederick Douglass High School, which serves most of District 9, had an even higher 47% chronic absenteeism rate.
Mayor Andre Dickens’ administration has attributed a 23% drop in youth crime in 2024 to the Summer Youth Employment Program which provided 5,000 summer jobs to youth ages 14 to 24 — but some District 9 residents, like Haney, say more is needed.
“Douglass is one of the worst schools in APS, and the mayor of Atlanta has a house less than a mile around the corner, and you mean to tell me [he hasn’t] gone by there and said: What could we do?” Haney said.
Bourgeois is proposing a fix — a pilot program called “Perfect Attendance, Best Behavior,” targeted at the city’s lowest-performing high schools. Students with a 2.9 GPA or above and perfect attendance would be matched with summer trade apprenticeships and receive a $4,000 grant for their family.
The idea, he said, is to incentivize parents to keep their kids in school, while equipping students with marketable employment skills. “Right now, people are only prioritizing athletics, social media and entertainment. So when you talk about giving kids real options, it’s to learn certified trades,” like plumbing, welding and electrical work, Bourgeois said.
Local businesses would donate the money for the $4,000 grants, Bourgeois said, adding that he’s already spoken to several that are on board.
The ambitious proposal would require buy-in from the Atlanta Board of Education, but it resonated with voters like Haney, who agreed to place a Bourgeois sign in his yard.
Hillis points to infrastructure wins
Hillis is running on his record on infrastructure improvements, which includes creating more parks and trails for District 9. He said public safety was his top issue in the 2021 and 2017 elections, but now crime is down in Atlanta, thanks to leadership from Mayor Andre Dickens and Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum, whom he called “the best police chief in the Southeast, if not the US.”
Hillis added that reducing truancy and youth crime is better addressed by APS, not the city council. “APS is going to have to step up and address truancy issues, and crime at its core — especially juvenile delinquency — is on Fulton County. That’s something that people need to be bringing to their county commissioners’ attention,” Hillis said, adding that City Hall can’t keep taking on responsibilities outside its purview.
The top issue now for District 9 is tackling stalled infrastructure improvements, Hillis said, speaking to Atlanta Civic Circle Tuesday evening at a neighborhood “pet election” in Whittier Mill Village, right by the Chattahoochee. Hillis was greeting residents casting their votes for a pet to be the “mayor” – a community tradition to promote early voting.
Hillis pointed to accomplishments like adding funding for District 9 to the citywide Trails ATL master plan, as well as the long delayed resurfacing of Perry Boulevard and West Marietta Street.
That infrastructure focus has won him support in Whittier Mill Village, where Hillis yard signs dominate. Residents said the 100-year-old sewage system, which used to chronically back up, has been updated.
“Sewage from the church near my home used to back up and flow into my yard,” said Judy Pratt, a grandmother who has lived in the neighborhood for 42 years. She’d already cast her ballot for Hillis, and she was also hoping her Jack Russell Terrier “Happy” would be elected mayor of Whittier Mills.
James Henderson, a 34-year-old pharmacist, agreed, praising Hillis for his responsiveness to the community’s needs. “He just lets us know we’re not falling on deaf ears,” Henderson said.
Early voting for Atlanta municipal elections runs through Oct. 31. Election Day is Nov. 4. To find out more about the candidates, and their responses to Atlanta Civic Circle’s candidate questionnaire, visit our Election Hub.
Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated the money raised to date by Dustin Hillis’ campaign.
