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.
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| 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.
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| 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
