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 7^th Avenue

Miami, FL 33127

T: 305-756-7374

www.girlpowerrocks.org