Thursday, July 17, 2014

Young Parents Project: Healing the Community One Family at a Time

They may come from criminal court, where they have been placed on probation for crimes as small as petty theft and as large as attempted murder.  They may come from the child welfare system because their mothers have abused, neglected or abandoned them or because they have abused, abandoned or neglected their babies.   They are as young as 12 and as old as 19. Despite the many differences among them, they all hold one thing in common: All are mothers

In addition, most have failed at school, experienced physical or sexual abuse, and/or suffer from depression, anxiety or other mental health problems. And all are fortunate to participate in the Young Parents Project.

This magnificent program, based on Yale University’s Minding the Baby model, which integrates nursing, mental health and social work support for teen mothers and their children, aims to break the cycle of poverty, delinquency and teen parenthood. It began when Miami Circuit Court Judge Lester Langer launched a program to heal the mothers, help them raise well-nurtured babies, and change the destiny of young families in trouble.

It’s a tall order. The girls, who enter the program either pregnant or already parenting, rarely have had strong, positive role modeling. They don’t know how to make a business call on the telephone.  They don’t know how to deal with the person on the other end ifs he is at all negative or obstructionistic, so they have trouble making appointments and obtaining information.  Even accessing transportation is a challenge.

Worse, for many, trauma has tied one generation to the next.  Violence is often prevalent, and their communities often lack the resources to help. One participant, a 15-year-old with a two-year-old and eight months pregnant, lives in a three-bedroom home where mattresses on the floor sleep 10 – four adults and six children, four of whom are teen parents themselves. This 15-year-old needs prenatal care and an education. Her baby needs quality daycare, healthcare and immunizations. Mom needs to learn and follow good health practices for herself and her child. She needs to connect with the health and social service resources in her community.  And she must learn to understand her child’s needs and nurture him.  Then there are her mental health needs.  Like almost every other teen parent, she has a history of sexual abuse, which she must address before it affects her ability to parent and protect her child.  

“We have a chance right now, at this age, to work through many things with them,” said Barbara White, who directs the Miami program.  “This is a group of young women with possibilities and hope, and if we can work with them over time, we can make a difference.”  

However, If the girls’ problems are allowed to become more deeply seated, they will likely wind up in prison.

And so a nurse, a social worker, and an infant mental health specialist take on the young family, visiting them at home once a week for two years. The intervention aims to give mom the skills to organize her life and access needed services, new strategies for managing problems and stress, an understanding of her child’s needs, the skills to meet those needs, and a head start on processing her trauma. 

Task number one is school for mom and baby.  One in every two girls in the program is not in school at entry, and bad past behavior often makes schools reluctant to readmit her.  So the social worker advocates to get her into school, ideally one that has high quality childcare onsite or nearby.  The nurse makes sure mom and baby have a medical home – an office or clinic that quarterbacks the family’s medical care – that mom is getting routine adolescent and/or prenatal healthcare, that baby is getting regular checkups and timely immunizations, and that mom understands her medical instructions and the information on medication labels. Mom also receives help obtaining needed documentation (e.g., birth certificate) and applying for Medicaid and other needed social services.

For the first three weeks, the entire team visits together so that the teen can see the three professionals work as a team.     At the outset, she is likely to be resistant and distrusting.  Typically, the girls served by the project move frequently.  Phone servicer gets cut off and phone numbers change.  In addition, they don’t know how to act on mail they receive.  For all these reasons, the teens have commonly had bad experience with other agencies. But Young Parents is different.

Whereas other agencies give up, “we are consistent and persistent,” Barbara said in unison with Juanita Armbrister, care coordinator and team leader. They do outreach.  They give the families their cell phone numbers and make themselves available 24/7.  
 

Gradually, the team gains trust.  As the team visits, adults living in the household watch the interaction.  They see that the teen is relating to another adult and so perhaps there is hope for them as well.

“Definitely there is carryover,” said Barbara. “The family is watching.”

One of the most essential components of the program is dyadic intervention.  With  mom and baby on the floor together, the therapist focuses on the development of the mom, development of the baby and development of the relationship between them.  When mom was small, she likely experienced little playtime and too little nurturing communication with her own adult caregivers. In dyadic therapy she learns about play as a way of joyfully interacting with her child.  Working to “hold the baby in mind,” i.e., to think about what every life experience means to the baby, the therapy asks how things are going. She asks,  “What do you think this experience means to your baby,” and “what was that moment like for your child?” 

The therapist also talks to the mom about how she was parented and the differences between what she experienced and what she is learning.  If mom mentions an unhappy experience, the therapist asks, “What was that like for you? What do you think it would be like for your child?” Through this process, mom develops empathy and concern for the baby.  She comes to realize that almost every decision she makes will affect her baby, and so she makes good life choices:  going back to school, dealing with court issues, and getting good healthcare, to name a few.

“We believe the approach will keep the young families safer in the community because the teen begins to take on the role of the parent, identify herself as a parent, and think that her decisions make a difference for the baby,” said Barbara.  

The program is equally intensive as it helps the moms navigate their court experience.  As they transport each mom to court, they talk about the hearing, what mom can expect, how to speak respectfully to the judge, what questions she might have for the judge.  Once before the judge, the Young Parents team member stands with the teen, offering her valuable support. When the mom has trouble expressing herself, she will look to her Young Parents supporter for help.  After the hearing, the supporter helps the girl process what transpired and make sure she understands it. This support helps mom gain confidence in the court process, and as a result she is more likely to express her needs and wishes to the judge.

The Young Parents Project, under the auspices of the Florida State University Center for the Prevention and Early Intervention Policy, has been operating in Miami-Dade County since 2007.  By June 2013, the program has served approximately 200 young families.  Compared to a comparable population, pregnant teens coming through the program have had fewer babies born at low birth weight and fewer closely spaced subsequent pregnancies. While the girls who entered the program from the juvenile justice system (as opposed to the child welfare system) had as many as seven arrests prior to entering the Young Parents Project, 99% had zero arrests during their two years in the program; the University is currently tracking the status of girls who graduated.  As for those in the child welfare system, the number of teen mothers who retain or regain custody of their children has risen.

Barbara attributes success to the intervention itself.  The girls learn they can begin to trust others and they come to learn about and trust the enormous web of community services available to them. They also learn that as they become more appropriate in their behavior, they win the support of others. And they learn that with a baby and keeping the baby in mind, they can change their future.

LJ (who requested anonymity for herself and her son) is the personification of this success.  In foster care from the age of 10, she became pregnant at 14 and gave birth to her son, DJ,  at 15.   She was predictably resistant to Young Parents’ intervention at first, believing she knew everything and didn’t need any help.  But gradually she yielded, and although she has graduated from the program still calls Juanita when she needs help.  Just recently, Juanita accompanied her to look at a new daycare for DJ, and, LJ reported, asked questions LJ herself hadn’t even thought about. 

Equally important, LJ and DJ are on a solid path toward a successful future.  With Young Parents urging, they moved into Casa Valentina, supportive housing for girls aging out of foster care( See "Casa Valentina: Living, Learning, Growing," Programs That Work, February 2012).  LJ graduated from high school in June 2014, is working in a medical office, and will begin college classes in September.  At three, DJ is an articulate and engaging boy who grins broadly, hugs hard, and likes having his matchbox cars in the bathtub.

The Miami Young Parents Project is one of two sites for the Florida State program, the other being in Tallahassee. The Miami project employs two treatment teams (six professionals) who, as of June 2014, were serving 32 families throughout the vast Miami-Dade County.  The Miami office operates on a budget of approximately $500,000 a year with funding principally from the Children’s Trust, FSU, the Department of Juvenile Justice, and matching funds from the Agency for Health Care Administration.

Young Parents Project
Juvenile Justice Center
3300 NW 27 Avenue, Room 1162
Miami, FL 33142
305-638-6774 ext. 262


Sunday, June 15, 2014

HPV Awakening: One Woman’s Battle against Silence and Ignorance

Not long after 25-year-old Tashia Ameneiro became sexually active, her body began feeling out of balance. She lost weight, developed back pain and noticed her period had changed.  So she made an appointment with her gynecologist, who diagnosed a cancer-causing strain of human papilloma virus, or HPV, a sexually transmitted infection.  She was treated and although she does not need to worry about developing cervical cancer, she is furious that she was infected in the first place.

What cultural norm gave Tashia’s boyfriend, who knew he was infected and contagious, the audacity to keep this information from her? Why is ignorance about HPV so pervasive?     How can others be protected from the pain and worry that Tashia experienced?

The answer is HPV Awakening, the fledgling organization that Tashia founded in 2011 to educate others about HPV and to advocate for better public health policies regarding all sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).

In schools, at health fairs, and wherever else she can get a platform, she spreads the word about HPV, a group of sexually transmitted virus strains that grow on the various soft, moist surfaces of the skin such as the tip of the penis, the cervix, and the throat.  HPV is so widespread, Tashia is quick to advise,  that almost every sexually active person will have it at some time. In most cases, it is silent, innocuous and becomes inactive within two years.  But some strains, notably HPV-6 and 11, cause non-cancerous genital warts, which can cause itching, burning, pain and emotional distress but which can be treated with medication and/or surgery. Twelve strains can develop into cancer.
HPV Awakening educates residents at The Lodge homeless shelter
In addition to education, HPV Awakening is focused on advocating for better sex education and better public health policies. Relating an incident where two middle school students were found engaged in fallatio, Tashia noted that syphilis is rampant, yet parents and teachers tend to be uncomfortable talking about sex.  Tashia says, “I’ve been in conferences where people would rather talk to you about suicide than talk to you about STDs. STDs are extremely taboo.”  

And so she pitches the merits of making screening for STDs, including HPV, a routine part of every annual check-up.  If everyone were routinely tested, she argues, the stigma surrounding testing would disappear, asymptomatic but potentially dangerous infections would be diagnosed and treated, and the spread of disease would be curtailed.

Tashia, who works full-time for an HIV/AIDS organization, is a woman on a mission.  Working on HPV Awakening only in her spare time, she put together a board and completed the paperwork to register as a 501 (c) (3) not-for-profit organization. She arranged for the law clinic at Florida International University to prepare bylaws, articles of incorporation, and other required papers.  She recruited her mother, now retired, to do community outreach and consulted with Heather Green, who devised the HIV/AIDS curriculum for the Miami-Dade County schools.  She underwent the training for the school speakers’ bureau, got her materials approved by the school board, and began lecturing in the public schools.
HPV Awakening distributes free condoms in packets adorned with its logo
She also began appearing at health fairs. In addition to local, mainstream fairs, she staffs a table at Exotica, an annual expo of love and sex, and the Anime Festival Orlando, a celebration of Japanese cartoons and animation that attracts many teenagers.  She expanded her lecture arena, appearing at colleges and universities.  She added in-service trainings for organizations like Pridelines and the Alliance, two LGBTQ support organizations. She established a partnership with Planned Parenthood, which provides free condoms and free STD testing.  And she built a social media presence.

In the process, mainstream media interviews came her way:  local public television and CNN Spanish. Largely as a result of her Facebook page emails began arriving from all over the world: India, Philippines, Russia.  Most recently, individuals and couples have begun coming to her privately for information: How can an HPV-positive person protect his partner who is negative? What are the benefits and limitation of the HPV vaccine?[i]  Are there foods that might combat the virus? How effective are male condoms?  What do you think about female condoms? Artificial insemination?

Tashia has accomplished all this in her spare time and with virtually no money.  She does not charge for her counseling or her lectures.  She has successfully negotiated to have fees at the events where she tables reduced or eliminated.  She estimates the work contributed by the FIU law clinic is worth about $5,000.  She distributes condoms that she gets for free from the health department and Planned Parenthood. With no office and no paid staff, her only regular expenses are the HPV labels she affixes to the condom packets she distributes and the organization’s brochures, which she prints herself from her home computer.  Tashia says she plows as much money as she can into the organization and admits she needs to learn how to grow the organization and raise funds.  At present she is working to raise $400 needed to properly register her 501 (c) (3).

HPV Awakening
P.O Box 940685
Miami, FL 33194
786-260-2092






[i] There are two approved vaccines for protection against HPV.  Six-year studies on thousands of people world over, the longest available, show the vaccines to be safe and effective with no signs of weakening at studies’ end. Gardasil and Cervarix both prevent HPV-16 and 18, which cause most but not all cervical cancers.  Gardisil, but not Ceravix, also protects against HPV-6 and -11, which are responsible for 90% of genital warts. For more information about HPV vaccination, see http://www.cdc.gov/std/hpv/stdfact-hpv-vaccine-young-women.htm and http://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancercauses/othercarcinogens/infectiousagents/hpv/humanpapillomavirusandhpvvaccinesfaq/hpv-faq-is-hpv

Friday, April 4, 2014

Girl Power: An Inner City Haven

How does a girl endure gangs roaming her neighborhood? Or addicts frequenting the crack house down the block? Or the drive-by shooting that killed the little boy next door? Or the dysfunction that rages within her own home?   

The answer: By coming to believe that she matters.  That she can chart the course of her own life and make a difference in the lives of others.  That whatever it is she’s going through, there’s a way to get help, a way not to give up, a way not to become a statistic.

This is the purpose and success of Girl Power, a haven for girls 11-17 in Miami’s inner city.

“I think the thing we do best is taking girls who feel that their circumstances have predetermined the outcome of their lives. We take an active role in changing their perception of who they are and where they are and helping them understand that they have a bright future,” said Thema Campbell, President and CEO.

With hopelessness expressing itself in lawlessness and Florida’s juvenile justice system the third largest in the nation, Girl Power grew out of the urgent need to quell juvenile crime.  Research had convincingly demonstrated that girls are most vulnerable to delinquency if they have a pattern of truancy, if their performance in grades 6-8 is uneven, if they have relatives who are incarcerated, and/or they have a history of gang membership, poor grades or pregnancy. With risks clearly outlined, Girl Power developed programming to improve school performance, keep girls out of the juvenile justice system, and cut back on school suspensions and truancy.
Community service is an important component of Girl Power programming
Alternative to Suspension was the first program to come on line. With numerous absences and unyielding behavior problems, scores of girls were getting suspended from school.  Barred from class, they were at home getting pregnant, going to the malls and shoplifting, getting arrested.  Clearly, suspension was causing more problems than it was solving. So in 2000, Girl Power created a place where girls could go from 8 a.m. until 3:30 p.m., where the underlying causes of their truancy and behavior problems could be addressed, and where they would work on the academic and life skills needed for success at school.  Today, in partnership with seven inner city middle and high schools, which agree to cut the student’s suspension time in half if she participates successfully in the Alternative program, Girl Power works with 100 girls a year who have been suspended for two or more days. 

The program is built on two evidence based curricula, Reconnecting Youth and Empowering Youth.  Essentially a five-day syllabus, it helps girls understand self-esteem and improve their own self-image. It builds critical thinking skills, and it hones the girls’ abilities to read, understand what they read, write, and listen.  With bullying and fighting pervasive problems, substantial time is also spent on understanding conflict and learning how to be assertive without being aggressive. 

“The girls don’t know how to solve conflicts,” Thema said.  Indeed, 80% of girls suspended from school are suspended for fighting.

“They don’t even know what a conflict is. So you have to walk them through step by step. What is a conflict? How does it get started?  How do you resolve it? How can you come to a resolution so the conflict is over and done with? Because often these girls fight and then go back to school, and if the conflict is not solved with all the parties, it erupts again.”

Accordingly, time is set aside for “girl talk,” i.e., what happened and why they got suspended. While the girls invariably enter Alternative to Suspension believing their punishment was somebody else’s fault, by the time they’re ready to go back to school, they understand the role they played. And they have acquired some skills for redirecting their anger.

Much the same are the results for the Post Arrest Diversion program, which began in 2008 to change the life course of approximately 50 girls a year (38 this year) under age 17 arrested for non-violent crimes like shoplifting.  Like participants in Alternative to Suspension, girls in Post Arrest Diversion are sent to Girl Power, in this instance by the Department of Juvenile Justice. Like the Alternative to Suspension curriculum, the one for Post Arrest Diversion is based largely on Reconnecting Youth and its emphasis on self-esteem and conflict resolution. But this program, which runs eight weeks, is more strict and intensive. Girls can be drug tested.  They get a large dose of sex education: abstinence, pregnancy prevention and safe sexual practices.  The approach is holistic; they learn choice theory augmented by practical, down-to-earth strategies that can help them academically and through life.  There are academics, with an emphasis on literacy and with tutoring as needed.  There are work readiness skills – resume writing, securing money for college and travel, applying academics to the work environment, manners, posture, all the things that make a person ready to get a job and keep a job.  There are health and wellness – nutrition, stress reduction, yoga and therapeutic art.  The program aims to build character and citizenship by helping the girls build their sense of self-worth. And the program satisfies the requirement for community service with opportunities at Girl Power for taking inventory, helping with projects, and assisting staff in other ways.
Younger girls completing Alternative to Suspension and Post Arrest Diversion are encouraged to join the After School program, where creativity is nurtured.  In one project, the girls fashioned African dress.

Family and individual counseling, which is required by the Department of Juvenile Justice for Post Arrest Diversion, is central to both programs. Indeed, it is integral to every program Girl Power offers. Staff knows that most girls who act out, especially those who get into fights, are exhibiting symptoms of a bigger problem being overlooked. Thema estimates that abuse, sexual abuse or neglect is an underlying factor 90% of the time. Accordingly, unless the parents refuse, every girl who walks through Girl Power’s doors has one counseling session to pinpoint problems and determine whether and what kind of counseling is needed. Individual, group and family counseling is then provided at no cost to participants by a partnership with Community Counseling Services of Greater Miami.  

In 2012, the latest year for which statistics are available, 43 girls successfully completed Post Arrest Diversion. In other words, they attended consistently and completed all requirements.  Of these 43, not one was rearrested. 

Results for Alternatives to Suspension are equally impressive.  Cynthia Valdez, who teaches the program and follows up with the participants’ schools, knows of only one girl who was suspended again after completing Alternatives to Suspension. She therefore estimates success at 95%.   Parent and participant surveys reveal that the majority see improved relationships with family, less defiance, better grades.  Thema reports that school personnel frequently ask, “What do you do with this child? She’s a changed girl.”

In addition to Alternatives to Suspension and Post Arrest Diversion, Girl Power offers an after-school education and enrichment program for an estimated 200 middle school girls, mentoring program for older girls, a girls’ choir for 11-17-year-olds, and a fun-filled 7-8 week summer camp for up to 40 girls.  Girls completing Alternatives to Suspension and Post Arrest Diversion are encouraged to stay involved by joining one of the other programs, and many do.  For them, as for all who participate in Girl Power programming, the organizations offers safe harbor amid the turbulent waters of home and neighborhood.

Girl Power, loosely associated with World Literacy Crusade of Florida, employs six full-time and one part-time staff plus one public ally employee.  Budget, which comes principally from public and private grants, is $437,000 exclusive of in-kind contributions, namely counseling provided by Community Counseling Services and art instruction, which is provided by PAMM.

Girl Power
6015 NW 7th Avenue
Miami, FL 33127
T: 305-756-7374

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Pearl Girlz: Dignity Up; Bullying Down


Joyce Davis, founder and director of Pearl Girlz, LLC, tells about the first time she was the victim of bullying.  She was nine.  It was her first day in a new school, and she was the only black kid in the class.  Just before lunch, when a group of girls were preening before mirrors in the bathroom, one of the girls pulled Joyce’s pony tail. As she said, “Ooh, your hair is so weird,” all the girls started to laugh, and Joyce felt the tears coming.  But somehow, she marshaled the strength to hold them back, and instead of crying said, “Yeah, it does whatever I want it to. I can pull it, I can straighten it, I can curl it.”
      “That’s cool.  Can I play with your hair?” one of the other girls asked.
      “Sure,” Joyce replied.
      “Can I play with yours?”  In that moment, the tension was diffused, and this gaggle of taunting girls turned into a bunch of Barbies fussing with each other’s hair.
      Years later, as a middle school language arts teacher and Master of Arts candidate, Joyce became a serious student of bullying.  She learned that what was once perceived as benign catty behavior was in fact harmful aggression – subtle but very real intent to destroy another girl’s relationship with one or several of her friends.   While boys fight with their fists, girls devastate each other with the roll of an eye, a whispered remark, divulging of secrets, starting of rumors.
      “Girls know how to manipulate the value placed on a relationship in order to truly damage.  To really, really hurt you, I need to damage your relationship with me or with someone else,” Joyce explains.  “One day two girls might be friends. Then someone else comes along and whispers, and all of a sudden, the relationship is damaged. ‘What happened?  You were talking to me yesterday, but you won’t talk to me today.’”
      Throw social media into the mix – the potential for rumors, gossip, and hateful speech to be anonymous and go viral – and the potential for harm escalates exponentially. Who can forget Rebecca Sedwick, the 12-year-old Florida girl who jumped to her death in 2013 after having been mercilessly taunted on Facebook.   
      But just as girls can be mean, they also have the capacity to be loyal and caring, to turn ugly competition into supportive cooperation.  These realizations, together with an appreciation for the importance of self-esteem and socially appropriate behavior, became the seeds of Pearl Girlz.
      Pearl Girlz is an educational organization dedicated to the elimination of girl bullying. Through workshops designed for educators and for middle and high school girls, Pearl Girlz draws back the curtain on how words and body language do harm.  The workshops teach the girls how to silence bullying when they encounter it and how to find their own inner strength and beauty so they will not need to engage in the destructive behavior themselves.
      A series of three workshops for middle and high school girls, titled ”VIR[i] Around the Mean Girls,” begins with a session analyzing the types of aggression girls exhibit.   As Joyce discussed the difference between male and female aggression at a recent session at an inner-city high school in Miami, the girls knew just what she was talking about.
      “ Boys fight and then they’re done. Girls hold a grudge,” volunteered one.
      “ Girls know how to get inside your head, and they seek revenge,” said another.  
      “ Girls will call you names. They’ll curse at you and flirt with your boyfriend,” offered a third.
      “They  won’t invite you to their party, and then they’ll talk about it in front of you."   
      Examples flew across the room:   Girls gossip and spread rumors about you.  They’ll walk past you or roll their eyes at you or shout over you or give you a dirty look so other girls will see you as cast out.
      It quickly became clear that girls instinctively understand that validation comes from feeling secure in important friendships.  By bullying girls separate the victim from her friends. In the process they inflate their own power and diminish the victim’s.
      If bullying is so destructive, the next step is to do away with it.  For that Joyce introduced the Toolbox of Options, a list of 15 effective responses to bullying that the girls would practice at the next session. To protect themselves from bullying, the girls are encouraged to find a safe place – such as someone’s house, church,  the mall --  where they can relax; tell a trusted  adult; stand up for themselves without yelling or hurling insults; seek out friends, family and neighbors who make them feel comfortable and accepted.  To diffuse bullying, they are encouraged to walk away; find something nice to say about the person who is the subject of gossip; tell the perpetrator that what she is doing or saying is beneath both of them.
      At this second session, the participants are presented with typical bullying scenarios and have the opportunity to role play, selecting from the Toolbox of Options the best strategy in each case.  In this session, the girls learn how to be assertive without being aggressive and how to diffuse bullying when they see others perpetrating it.   During these exercises – indeed throughout all three sessions --  the girls are encouraged to be pearls, that is, to demonstrate self-respect, respect for others, and appropriate social behavior. 
      The pearl serves as a metaphor for the girls as they deal with unsavory behavior, Joyce explains   A pearl grows inside an oyster in reaction to irritating or threatening stimuli.  Each time the oyster feels attacked, it encases the irritant in a layer of a substance called nacre.  Layer by layer, as the oyster repels irritants, it builds a beautiful gem. Similarly, the girls build their inner beauty as they learn ways to fend off bullying in dignified ways.
      Bullying emanates from inner hurt, anger, jealousy or feelings of inadequacy. Consequently, making girls feel good about themselves is central to eliminating it, and building a strong sense of self is the focus of the third session in the series. Entitled “Loving the Skin You’re In,” it builds self-esteem by helping the girls to get in touch with their inner beauty – their personality, their character, their talents, ambitions and motivation.  The girls learn 10 characteristics of healthy self-esteem and five strategies for building a strong sense of self. Using a full-length mirror, they verbalize the qualities and characteristics that define their inner beauty.  They write on the mirror: because I’m a great cook, because I’m a caring person, because I help my grandmother.
      Because building a strong sense of self is so critical, this theme pervades all three sessions.   From the outset of the first workshop, participants are encouraged to identify their passions and recognize their uniqueness.  To reinforce the girls’ inner strength, each session ends with a reading of “Still I Rise” and “Phenomenal Woman,” two poems by Maya Angelou.
      “When we read ‘Phenomenal Woman,’ we’re like ‘that’s me,’” Joyce says, “because we’re thinking and acting all through that poem like this is the woman who we’re gonna be in the future. Not the woman who throws champagne glasses across the table. Not the woman who posts naked pictures on the Internet.”  Rather, the woman whose intelligence and self-confidence makes others take notice.  
      Beginning with that day in the girls’ room when Joyce was nine, personal and professional experiences formed the seeds of Pearl Girlz.  But it was 2009 before Joyce gave her first workshop.  Pearl Girlz was incorporated in 2011.  Through this very grassroots organization, Joyce has presented her work at the National Girls Bullying Conference in Las Vegas and has led student workshops in Nevada, Maryland and Florida.  
      No hard data on outcomes yet exists, but workshop participants’ comments make clear that they get the message.  “Don’t let people push you down,” one girl wrote on her evaluation.  “Instead of being a mean girl, be a smart girl.”
      Another wrote, “It helps a lot to learn not to bully someone  and don’t always have revenge.”
      A third wrote, “It helps [to] understand that when people be mean to you, you can find a way to do something without being judicial or using your fist. And how you can help other people out when their being bullied.”
      The Pearl Girlz budget, averaging $20,000 a year, comes solely from workshop tuition, $25 per student per 90-minute session. Joyce operates with no formal office and no staff.  Future plans include establishing Pearl Girlz as a 501 (c) (3) and expanding the reach of her work.  While she looks forward to the day when her workshops will be taking place every day in schools across the country, she still keeps her day job. 

Pearl Girlz, LLC

500 NE 2nd Street

Dania Beach, FL 33004

Phone: 219-670-1066

Email: joycel.davis@pearlgirlz.com

www.pearlgirlz.com


 


 





[i] VIR, pronounced “veer” is an acronym for the three types of female aggression: verbal, indirect, and relational.  Verbal aggression refers to language such as name calling and cursing directly at a target person.  Indirect aggression refers to gossip, spreading rumors, using social media and other ways of harming someone without attacking her directly.  Relational aggression refers to the destruction of important relationships, often the goal of female aggression.