by Jan Spence –
You are NOT going to want to miss this.
A mother of one of the girls in the GEN 180 Program drove to the school to say, “Thank you”. She said that her daughter, who had been habitually truant from school, had told her that she didn’t want to miss school anymore. When the mother asked why, her daughter said that since she had participated in the 180 Program group meetings, she wanted to be at school everyday. Now that is the transformative power of the 180 Program – the power to turn a life around. And our grant money helped make this program possible!!
It was a sun-drenched March 1st when Joanne Hoover, Terri Boroczk, and I went to Tippet Middle School to meet with Caroline Crawford, Program Director; Ami Kane, Development Director; and Cali Keating, Group Facilitator of the Girls Empowerment Network (GEN.) These dynamic young women are part of the backbone of GEN. Their passion, dedication, and energy, along with success stories like the one you just read, brought the brightness of the outdoors right into the school library where we met.
GEN is an organization that works with at-risk girls in grades 6 through 12. It’s a non-profit that guides girls to make wise choices as they confront the challenges of adolescence. The 180 Program is one aspect of GEN, and it is a prevention and intervention program which works with girls who are involved or at high risk of becoming involved with the juvenile justice system. Through small education groups, it helps the girls forge supportive bonds among their peers and surrounds the girls with positive role models who can relate to them and who encourage, inspire and guide them as they cope with the tough situations they are facing. One of those positive role models is the delightful and astute Cali Keating, who we saw in action with the middle school girls in her group.
How are girls identified for participation in the 180 Program? Guidance counselors in the schools most often are the ones who refer girls to the program. These girls may have truancy issues, behavioral issues like fighting or defiance, or may have even been suspended or placed in the juvenile justice system. In short, the school personnel have witnessed that these girls are struggling with the challenges of adolescence. They need help, and the 180 Program is providing it!
When referred, the girls meet during school hours once a week for 8 to 10 weeks. Meetings are scheduled during their elective course time (think choir, etc.), and some even get their food and come to the group meeting at lunchtime. The girls participate voluntarily, and evaluations of the program show that those who participate in a group session at least six times get in trouble less and are seldom re-referred. In fact, Caroline reports that 92% of the participants do not recidivate.
Our Seeds of Strength grant money supports the hiring of personnel who make direct contact with these adolescent girls. Those hired, like Cali, are highly qualified counselors and social workers, and they are hard at work! The GEN grant application stated that they would use our $10,000 grant to help serve 30 girls. Thirty girls who would engage in a program to transform their troubled lives. Worth it, right? Well guess what. So far this year, they have already served 12 girls at the Juvenile Detention Center and 60 additional girls in Georgetown ISD! Besides Tippit Middle School, GEN has a presence at Forbes and Benold middle schools, Richarte High School, as well as the Georgetown Nest and Georgetown Alternative Placement campuses. They will be starting groups at Georgetown High School soon.
Why is this program so successful? For starters, they follow the structure of the Girls Circle System in their groups. This methodology has been researched and found to be highly effective. Key to this is the fact that each girl’s voice is heard at least twice during every group session. In a non-judgmental and safe space, each girl shares a high and a low for the week.. The group facilitator lets them know she hears their words. When you are an adolescent, having an adult really listen to you and respond is a powerful thing! And at the end of each session, the girls have a specific closing in which they can express a word or thought that states how they are feeling at the moment. Always, what is said in group stays in group, and the girls develop trust and deeper connections with their peers.
These students, at a vulnerable time in their lives, are being given the tools and the support they need to forge a better life for themselves. Despite the difficult circumstances they may find themselves in, they are being given the opportunity to discover what Ralph Waldo Emerson so eloquently said, “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” With our grant money and the bright and capable women who bring the 180 Program to life, the girls can begin to realize their own worth and strength. In my humble opinion, that is priceless.