Brains and Beauty Girls Club: Shaping Unruly Girls into Responsible, Self-Respecting Young Ladies

Kofo Odediran knows something about self-loathing.  In high school, she had no friends, no self-esteem. “I felt like the bottom of one shoe,” she said, and attempted suicide more than once. Now a vivacious, self-assured 37-year-old, she vividly remembers the pain she felt as a teen.  It is this memory that fuels her passion: empowering young girls to deal with the peer pressure, social challenges and educational stressors almost every child and adolescent face.  Her vehicle is the Brains and Beauty Girls Club (B. a. B.), an after-school organization for elementary, middle and high school girls that fosters good grades, nurtures good moral character, emphasizes inward and outward beauty, and works to create well-rounded, well-behaved young ladies.

Indeed, the club is transformative. At the outset the girls are giggly, immature and insecure. They commonly act out, get into fights, disrupt their classes, cause a ruckus in the cafeteria. Well before year’s end, however, they grow into disciplined, responsible, self-respecting young ladies.

This was boldly apparent at Biscayne Gardens Elementary School one Wednesday afternoon in April.  As the third, fourth and fifth graders meandered in for their weekly meeting, each said, “Good afternoon, Ms. K.”  The girls chatted until Ms. K was ready to begin.  The instant she called the group to order, they were silent.  They watched her intently as she explained the day’s activity: crafting a business plan for an imaginary company. Hands flew up to answer the questions she posed. When the girls momentarily lost focus, Ms. K instantaneously brought them back with a well-practiced two-line chant that she began and they completed in perfect unison.

Biscayne Gardens Elementary School students explain "Dynamic Divas," the dance studio they are planning

For the day’s project, Ms. K divided the girls into groups of three or four, gave each a list of questions to answer and points to consider.  And when it came time for each group to present their plans, they stood at the head of the room and spoke clearly with poise and self-control.

Every aspect of the B. a. B experience and everything that Ms. K does is designed to achieve these results.  It begins with the application process, which includes an essay on why each girl wants to belong and, for the high school girls, an interview. It continues with the rules and regulations, which spell out expectations for behavior and academic performance. Parents, who must sign the application, and students, who must sign the rules and regulations, know their membership is threatened if they get any D’s or F’s in coursework or conduct or if they engage in fighting, foul language, vandalism, skipping class, bullying, or disrespectful behavior toward adults.

The message is clear: This is an exclusive club. Belonging is a privilege and an honor.  Attendance at meetings is required. Standards are high.  

From the moment the girls join, they experience Ms. K’s specific demands.  They must wear their uniforms to B. a. B. meetings: for elementary and middle school girls a navy skirt, white short-sleeved blouse, black socks, purple scarf and purple hair ribbon, all supplied at the beginning of the school year. High school girls swap stockings for socks, a pencil skirt for the full skirt, and a neck tie for the scarf.  Everyone also has a purple B. a. B. polo shirt, which they wear on Fridays (or another day of the club’s choosing) and for B. a. B. outings

“The uniform teaches responsibility.  They are responsible for all the pieces of the uniform and for wearing it correctly. Why isn’t your shirt tucked in?  Why isn’t your scarf tied?  Where is your hair ribbon?” said Ms. K.  And, she added, they’re not allowed to wear pants.

“The way you sit in a skirt and the way you carry yourself in a skirt is quite different than when you’re in pants. The days they dress up and feel pretty, it makes you feel good about yourself and you carry yourself differently, you feel different.  Just knowing there are different attires for different occasions. We try to teach something with everything we do.”

The girls, who see the uniforms as a symbol of status, wear them with pride.  One third grader spoke for many when she said, “It’s hot and itchy but it makes you look pretty. I like it.”

With the uniform, the girls also get a purple bag containing a mirror and a hygiene kit including a bar of soap, a wash cloth and deodorant. They are told to keep this kit in their book bags for an emergency “so that throughout the day you keep up with your appearance, you keep up with yourself,” said Ms. K, who takes the opportunity to teach her girls what many should but do not learn at home.

“A lot of our parents are working parents. A lot of our parents don’t have time. A lot of our parents are young parents, and they just don’t have the time to teach those basics. So here’s a program that takes us back to the basics. We sit at the table properly. We walk, we don’t drag our feet, we address people accordingly, things like that,” she added.

Appearance and behavior that are honed in the club are expected and reinforced throughout the day.  Teachers, security guards, cafeteria workers, even custodians stop a girl behaving inappropriately and admonish, “Aren’t you in B. a. B.?  Isn’t that bad behavior?”   As everyone in the school networks together to reinforce the message of the club, the girls see a consistency to the expectations, and over time complaints about their behavior diminish.

Good behavior gets a boost from the girls’ growing self-esteem and self-confidence. Recognizing their beauty inside and out is a major focus. Every meeting begins and ends with chants that reinforce a strong sense of self:

When I look in the mirror what do I see

Someone special, me.

Building self-appreciation was the purpose of the Valentine’s Day program, when the girls anonymously wrote down what they liked about each other.  Later the girls read aloud the nice things that had been said about them and celebrated their good feelings with Valentine’s treats.

Strengthening self-confidence is the intent behind the club’s big sister, little sister concept. Everyone in elementary school, middle school and high school is paired with an older member of her club.  When an elementary school student gets to the middle school, there is at least one older person whom she knows. The same goes for the middle schooler moving up to high school.  Knowing this one person helps her feel secure and important in a large, foreign-feeling place. This year, when all the clubs got together for occasional field trips, elementary school students also got a big sister in high school and had the opportunity to hang out with her.  

 

Processional for the Middle and high school students entering the Presentation Luncheon.  This is the culmination of the club's year, where each group showcases an original song, poem or dance.   iddle and high school members enter the event.

Enhancing the students’ education is also central to the club.  Each week, the meeting focuses on a specific subject: the environment, money management, bullying and cyberbullying, abstinence and age-appropriate sex education, giving back, and more. Ms. K emphasizes sharp, critical thinking.  When a student offering an opinion or answering a question is not clear, Ms. K challenges the statement forcing the student to explain, clarify or admit she doesn’t know.   Ms. K also puts a premium on classroom performance. Students know that if their grades are poor they will be placed on 4-week probation, during which they must still come to meetings but cannot participate in field trips or other special events.  Ms. K reviews every student’s progress reports, meets with parents as needed, tries to find tutors for those who would benefit. At present, she is seeking funding specifically to underwrite tutoring.

All of this consistent effort produces enormous growth in the girls at every level. Shy girls, loners, and those with low self-esteem find a place to fit in.  Having “sisters,” being in a group where they belong, feeling included all help the girls to improve.   Although this growth is a work in progress – uniform blouses are sometimes rumpled; being rude to teachers is a perennial problem at every level --  growth is palpable.  In elementary school, giggly, immature behavior gives way to an affect of calm and discipline.  In middle school, improvement in hygiene is significant; also noticeably better are behavior and self-confidence.  In high school, the girls learn to keep a surly attitude in check, to show deference to their teachers and other adults, and to stay on track academically.

B. a. B. began four years ago with 40 eighth graders. This year they are high school seniors.  Although all did not remain in the club throughout, all are graduating.  One of the girls had a baby and is working but still managed to graduate on time.  And all are going to college. 

B. a. B. is a project of Communities in Schools, an organization that brings community resources into public schools.  Ms. K launched the after-school club at JFK Middle School in 2011. With the support of Communities in Schools, a second group leader placed the club in Miami Senior High School in 2012. Today, with the addition of two volunteer group leaders, six schools participate, each with 25-40 girls meeting for one hour once a week throughout the school year. The program operates in two elementary, two middle and two high schools in some of the poorest sections of Miami. 

 

B. a. B. girls from Biscayne Gardens Elementary perform "Say Yes" at the Presentation Luncheon May 29, 2015

The club runs on a shoestring budget.  Salaries of the two paid group leaders are underwritten by Community in Schools.  In addition, a $5,000 grant from the Women’s Fund of Miami Dade covers snacks, field trip expenses, and cost of the end-of-year Presentation Luncheon.  Supplies for weekly meetings and incidentals are provided by the participating schools, by Communities in Schools and by parents and Ms. K herself.  Students are asked to pay $40 for their uniforms, and scholarships subsidize those who cannot afford it.  Each student also pays $1.00 at each meeting, in part as a gesture of commitment, in part to help pay for on-site activities such as birthday celebrations.

Brains and Beauty Girls Club

786-344-3237

babsmiami@gmail.com

Glory House: Restoring Survivors of Human Sex Trafficking to Wholeness

Melissa was 16 and on her way to McDonalds when another teen approached her and invited her to a party.  Sure, Melissa said, and the girl led her to her “boyfriend’s” car.  He was no “boyfriend,” however, and when Melissa entered that car, she climbed into a trap of sexual exploitation that would keep her enslaved for ten years.

Melissa was one of over 100,000 girls, average age 14, lured into human sex trafficking in the United States every year.  Like Melissa, they are forced to have sex as often as 20- 48 times a day. (Source: Polaris Project)  Governed by fear and intimidation, they lose the ability to trust.  They traverse adolescence, and possibly early womanhood as well, deprived of normal social interaction and any semblance of self-determination. They are robbed of schooling and the ability to learn everyday life skills. As Melissa put it, “ I didn't know anything that had to do with the real world, like paying bills or saving money or how to go back to school or how to manage time.  Things that people would think are just so normal. But for me they weren't normal at all. I actually had to learn them.”

And so Melissa has come to Glory House, a healing environment in Miami, Florida,  where 18-25-year-old female survivors of sex trafficking can become wholly restored. They come referred from sex trafficking rescue organizations such as There is Hope for Me and the Life of Freedom Center and from Miami-Dade County's Coordinated Victim Assistance Center.  Through Glory House, which is partially modeled on Wellspring Living in Atlanta, they receive all the care and services they need to recover physically, emotionally and spiritually. 

Executive Director Betty Lara explains: “The abuse has been so severe -- some of the women had been taken when they were 13 years old – that it was a whole chunk of their lives.  Five or six years. They need therapy. Massive. A lot of therapy.”

And so they receive individual and group therapy.  They receive dental care and the care of a physician for sexually transmitted diseases, screening for HIV/AIDS, and routine medical checkups. They earn their GED and acquire the job skills they need to be self-sufficient. They establish a vocation, work and save money for an apartment and other necessities when they leave. And they are offered spirituality for the hope, strength and healing that Glory House believes comes with faith.

Dominant in the concept of Glory House is mentorship, an informal one-on-one relationship between a survivor and a trained volunteer whose personalities and interests are compatible. Volunteers attend a ten-week course using the international Hands That Heal curriculum to learn about the unique needs of survivors and the challenges of this particular brand of caregiving.  Once matched with a survivor, the mentor becomes a resource for everyday advice and assistance.  The mentor takes her survivor on errands, helps her with everyday tasks like writing checks, and functions as an informal life coach, providing advice on mundane things like what clothes to wear for a given occasion to more significant questions like how to conceptualize a monthly budget.  Often a mentor will call her survivor with, say, an invitation to the mall. Over time, with repeated, steady interaction, a trusted friendship blooms.

With this multifaceted program, survivors heal, grow, and acquire the confidence they need to move forward.

Melissa’s evolution is a case in point.  Melissa’s slavery came to an end when her pimp was arrested and she found herself in jail as well.     Now 28-years-old and out of jail for two years, Melissa  has recently completed the second of four parts of her GED.  Having learned gardening through a program associated with her prison experience, Melissa  works at a nursery creating organic vegetable gardens and selling the produce at a farmers market. Financially independent, she shares an apartment with a friend and, with the help of Glory House, has been reunited with her son.

Melissa credits Glory House with providing the mentor that taught all the things that, she says, “people would think are just so normal, but for me they weren't normal at all.” But of all the components of the Glory House program, she finds the spiritual most helpful.  “It’s the only thing that got me through,” she says.   

While Christian spirituality is central to Glory House, the program welcomes women from all walks of life and offers them the freedom not to embrace Christianity. Executive Director Betty Lara is quick to emphasize that bible study and prayer circle are opportunities, not requirements.  To force religious activities on survivors, she says, is to rob them of their independence and self-determination, the very antithesis of what Glory House is all about.  And so in mentor training class, she asserts, “Don’t push anything on anyone.”

But Betty herself is a woman of enormous faith.   “Build it and they will come,” she says.  Indeed, since Glory House was founded in 2011, donated help has come from every direction:  website design, office space, accounting and legal services, grant research and grant proposal preparation, professional fundraising services.  Fundraisers are staffed by volunteers.  Event sites and refreshments are donated.  In eight months during 2014, Glory House raised $80,000. With a steady stream of fundraisers planned for 2015, the year's goal is $300-400,000.    Betty believes the organization will be given a house within a year.

The dream – the plan -- is for a secure residence (address unpublished) with  two round-the-clock caregivers and one full-time house mother as well as a dedicated psychologist. The house will accommodate up to eight residents for one to two years.  

"After meeting with other organizations that have worked in this field for years we realized that the survivors need their own room and privacy (vs. 2 to a room as originally planned) and this limits the amount of people that can be accommodated in one house. Finally, Glory House wished to maintain a home atmosphere versus an institutional one," board member Leonor Alvarez stated in an email.

Psychological help, group therapy, medical help, educational help and life coaching will be offered in-house.

At present, Glory House provides housing for four women, one in a hotel, one in an apartment and two in homeless shelters as well as mentoring for seven through community liaisons. They receive care and support through Glory House’s close partnership with the Miami-Dade County Coordinated Victim Assistance Center, which offers a wide range of services from legal assistance to yoga classes and many in between.

Glory House is a 501 (c) (3) not-for-profit organization and runs an annual budget of $500,000 including private donations and in-kind contributions.Their only major expense is the executive director’s salary: $22,000 a year.   In addition to monetary donations, Glory House particularly needs IT assistance and liability insurance. And a house.

Glory House

PO Box 43073

786-286-9958

South Miami, FL 33143

www.gloryhouseofmiami.org

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

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

www.hpvawakening.org

P.O Box 940685

Miami, FL 33194

786-260-2092

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[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

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

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 2^nd Street

Dania Beach, FL 33004

Phone: 219-670-1066

Email: joycel.davis@pearlgirlz.com

www.pearlgirlz.com

 

 

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[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.

Health Information Project: Making Kids HIP on Health

Here are the just some of facts:

·         One in five high school girls report being physically and/or sexually abused in a dating relationship it

·         One in four teens  has a sexually transmitted infection. An estimated 750,000 American girls become pregnant every year, 82% unintentionally

·         Anorexia is the third most common illness among adolescents; almost half of those afflicted show signs of clinical depression

·         Obesity rates in adults and children have more than doubled since the 1970s

·         Suicide ranks as the third leading cause of death (after accidents and homicide) for 15-24-year-olds

Mental illness, alcohol and drugs, bullying, and more – the issues threatening the health of American adolescents are daunting.  And, whether kids live in the plushest suburb or deepest inner city, whether they  are rich or poor, smart or not, ignorance about matters affecting their health and wellbeing is pervasive.  Yet, because of budget cuts and an overloaded curriculum, health education disappeared from the Miami-Dade County Public Schools in 2008.

Then Risa Berrin founded the Health Information Project (HIP) and put it back.

 A far cry from old-fashioned health ed classes, where teachers read statistics and quoted scare tactics from outdated textbooks, HIP pervades an entire school with a multi-media program that engages everyone in the school community.  Outside, a huge green and white banner shouts, “Be Hip on Health.”   In the hallways, green and white HIP posters advise, “Get your teeth checked every six months,” and “Do not get into a car with someone who is drunk or high.”  In ninth grade classrooms, trained upper-class peer educators, wearing green and white t-shirts bearing the “Be Hip on Health” slogan, weave local news events – like the neighborhood teen recently arrested for drunk driving – into a structured curriculum incorporating interactive discussion, exercises, games,  and multi-media presentations. Classes cover mental health; reproductive health; relationships; alcohol, tobacco and other drugs; nutrition, exercise and obesity; and healthy lifestyle.  The classroom black box welcomes anonymous questions that students were too embarrassed to ask out loud, and incorporates the answers into the curriculum or posts them on social media or in the HIP blog.  On the internet, behip.org provides reputable, reliable local and national information sites as well as health resources in each school’s specific neighborhood.  Social media carry pithy tidbits, links to health-related news items, and encouragement to seek medical care for preventive and acute needs. 

 

Once in a school, the Health Information Project is everywhere, and its impact is apparent. In a testimonial on behip.org Paris Grant, ninth grader at Miami Palmetto High School, wrote,
“I was at a party and my friend was drinking too much and he passed out on the floor. I knew from HIP to take initiative and I took him to the hospital. I ended up saving my friend’s life.”

A 2006 graduate of the University of Miami law school, Risa founded HIP in 2009.  She combined two proven models: the sustainable faculty-sponsored club, like debate or yearbook, and peer education, as in woman to woman breast cancer counseling, which demonstrates how much the messenger matters.  She conceptualized a structure wherein a faculty advisor selected by the principal trains a group of eleventh and twelfth graders as peer educators and guides them as they conducted eight ninth-grade classroom sessions. The eight sessions interrupt a core subject (English? History?) of the principal’s choosing and take place when that class otherwise meets.  Curriculum, detailed and scripted including frequently asked questions and their answers, is written by HIP staff.  Revised as soon as important new information is published, each module is carefully based on scientific papers in consultation with academic and clinical experts. New research and current news are readily incorporated.  When, for example, the Rutgers student committed suicide, the issue found its way into discussions on bullying and LGBT tolerance.

Except for HIP’s first year in a school, when the faculty advisor chooses 20-25 juniors to be peer educators, the prospective peer educators are chosen by a student board with input by the faculty sponsor.  Focus groups of ninth graders have shaped the image of peers they are likely to listen to, and interested tenth graders, who submit a written application and undergo an interview, are evaluated accordingly.

“If you’re [promiscuous]  and you’re getting up and talking about elements of reproductive health, that message gets diluted. So they’ve been very stressed out about the kind of people they let in. they’ve thankfully had the opportunity to kind of pick from the best,” said Risa,  who continues to serve as HIP executive director.

Those selected make a two year commitment so that the seniors can mentor the juniors.
Early in the fall, the faculty advisor attends a full-day train-the-trainer session and then conducts a full-day training for the peer educators. The week prior to each classroom lesson, the peer educators attend additional training, which is focused on the module to be taught.  Having studied the curriculum script in advance, the educators are tested on content as well as presentation and public speaking skills.

Max Weinberg teaches a class of ninth graders at Miami Beach Senior High School

At the outset of the ninth graders’ classes each year, the peer educators ask the students a series of anonymous questions: Have you ever been bullied?  Have you ever contemplated suicide?  The peer educators tally up the responses and report them to the students, who invariably are astonished by the numbers.  Typically, the kids respond, “Wow, I thought I was the only one going through that,” and with that response a positive tone for learning is set.  By the end of the course, much learning has taken place.  Misconceptions have been dispelled.  The ninth graders have learned, for example, that people who suffer from depression are not crazy, that undocumented residents will not get deported if they go to a clinic, that you can get pregnant even if you’re 14 and having sex for the first time.  And with new learning comes better behavior: less derogatory language, less bullying, more tolerance, more use of the website as a resource for themselves, their friends and their family.

With pre- and post-tests, outcomes of the program are measured using quantitative and qualitative indicators of behavior, health knowledge, knowledge of resources, and access to care.  Through partnerships with the University of Miami and Florida International University, HIP has acquired surveys that get the right information and accurately measure need and impact.

The 2011 post-intervention survey, the last year for which complete data is available, shows that 81% learned new health information, 84% grew more comfortable discussing health topics,  89% said they prefer having upperclassmen lead the health presentations, and 83% became more confident in their health knowledge and decision-making skills after receiving the HIP program. The majority of students report that HIP is their number one provider of health information.

The upper class educators benefit as well.  Joyce Saturno, peer health educator at Miami Beach Senior High, wrote on the HIP website, “There was this freshman. She was talking about how she had many suicide attempts…like two or three. It made me realize that she seemed so happy but we really don’t know what’s going on.”

 Erika Schumacher, peer health educator, HIP intern and HIP president at Miami Palmetto High  School, spoke for many when she said, “I used to be so scared of public speaking.  I used to get so red and stutter.”

Indeed, Valerie Berrin, director of operations,  reported, “We love seeing how, in the beginning of the year, there is that health educator who is really shy, gets up and in the training is very uncomfortable with teaching. And by the end of the year you see them. . .  in the classroom injecting their personality like it’s something they’ve always done.”

Data sells the project, and the principals jump at the opportunity to acquire it. The late Roseann Sidener, formerly principal at Beach High, listened to Risa’s presentation for only two minutes before stating, “I want it.”  She said the kids are in desperate need.

Shawna Hutchinson, HIP faculty sponsor and ninth grade teacher at North Miami Beach High School agrees. Her testimonial on the HIP website states, “We have no health education in our high school and HIP is our answer to all the issues our students are facing.”

Teachers don’t mind giving up the core class time to HIP either.  Randy  Milliken, assistant principal at North Miami Beach High School, put it this way:  “If you don’t address these health issues now, those kids are not in class. We are actually increasing the amount of school time by educating students about these issues.”

When the HIP program began in 2009,  two schools participated in the program.  By 2012, there were twelve, including one private school, where HIP augments the school’s surviving health ed curriculum.  In 2013, there will be 24. With 600-800 ninth graders in each, nearly 16,000 freshmen and 600 peer educators will have the benefit of this extraordinary program in the fall.

On HIP Day, in April,  all peer educators from across the county meet at FIU to talk about the impact of the HIP program

From the left: RoberT Dollinger, MD, Assistant Dean for Student Affairs; Scarlett Aldana-Bosch, MBA , Assistant Director of Panther Communities; Risa Berrin;  Veronica Alvarez, MD Candidate 2015, HIP Practicum Project Co-Leader celebrating HIP day, April 4, 2013

Risa says that the program is ready to grow.  This coming fall they will test their ability to manage the program beyond the HIP’s own geographical backyard.  While Risa expects to place the program in every Miami-Dade High School, she also sees that the need is similar throughout the country, and the model can work in any high school. 

All it takes is money.  The administration of HIP, a 501 (c) (3) not for profit organization, is surprisingly lean: a professional staff of three plus two interns.  Office space is donated, and partnerships with FIU and UM add abundant in-kind support.  While participating private schools pay for the program, for public schools it is free.  And each new school adds $10,000 to HIP’s budget. This covers a stipend for the faculty sponsor, building out the website, securing curriculum and training materials, printing health campaign materials, obtaining t-shirts and collecting data.

Health Information Project, Inc.

4601 Ponce de Leon Blvd.
Suite 300
Coral Gables, Florida 33146
Phone: (786) 592-0311
Email: info@behip.org
www.behip.org