GIRLS GROW STRONG: PREVENTION SERVICES FOR AT-RISK YOUTH
This program, developed and coordinated in partnership with the Girl Scouts of Metro Detroit, is a newly developed, culturally appropriate, state-certified, nine module curriculum entitled: “Conflict Resolution and Personal Safety: Safe Girls Grow Strong,” delivered as a 10-hour interactive workshop to girl scouts in the Detroit metropolitan area. Agency partners in this endeavor include Latino Family Services and Alternatives for Girls from Detroit, as well as the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS) from Dearborn. Participating schools include the Munger Middle School, Academy of the Americas, as well as at the facilities at Alternatives For Girls.
Goal: The goal of this program is to promote and strengthen healthy and safe behaviors among young girls ages 11-17 years old, in order to assist in the prevention of juvenile crime and violence in the culturally diverse Arab, Latino, and African American communities of Detroit and its environs.
Objectives:
1) Build partnership with schools and community based organizations.
2) Establish a Girl Scouts Advisory Panel to assist with focus groups with community youth for the purpose of planning and refining curriculum/interventions that are culturally relevant.
3) Survey parents to help gather information for (1) substantive additions to or deletion from current program materials, based on community priorities, needs and realities, and (2) linguistic and cultural changes to make the program more relevant to and appropriate for the selected culturally diverse communities.
4) review and interpret data, and finalize curriculum/intervention content.
5) Translate educational materials into Spanish and Arabic. ACCESS and Latino Family Services assist and collaborate on revision and delivery of culturally appropriate
6) Plan and present a “community service project” by a sub-set of girls who participate in the program. In this project the girls take the lessons learned from the program and use these lessons to create their own community “intervention” which demonstrate how this program can empower youth to take action against youth violence, conflict and crime in their community. Examples of such a project may include development of a skit for presentation, a display or mural, a book or leaflet for distribution, a presentation to a board or other body aimed at educating them and eliciting action from them. The primary audience for this community service project is other girl scouts, fellow students, or other audience in their community.
7) Pilot curriculum with small group of girls from the Munger Middle School, the Academy of the Americas, and Alternatives For Girls facilities.
8) Revise the curriculum as needed based upon data received from pre- and post test and focus groups with the girls and adults in the project.
9) Implement community service projects and girl forums with the goal of building leadership and decision-making skills among participants. In this project participants take the lessons learned from the program and use these lessons to create their own community “intervention” which demonstrates how this program can empower youth to take action against youth violence, conflict and crime in their community. Examples of such a project may include development of a skit for presentation, a display or mural, a book or leaflet for distribution, a presentation to a board or other body aimed at educating them and eliciting action from them. The primary audience for this community service project is other girl scouts, fellow students, or other audience in their community.
10) Train volunteer/staff at Alternatives For Girls for delivery to 25 girls in their residential program in collaboration with Girl Scouts of Metro Detroit.
11) Deliver curriculum with group of 30 girls at both Munger Middle School and the Academy of the Americas in collaboration with the Collaborative Partners.
12) Present to EMU recommendations from lessons learned, along with plan and budget for future program expansion /project implementation.
Program Partners
Staff Profile
Go to Center for Community Building and Civic Engagement (CCBCE)
