Reaching the Girls Who Need Us Most: The HEART Program
In 2006, the PPGO Education Department received a “Helping Kids Shine” Award from Walt Disney World which served as a seed grant for an empowerment program for teen girls. The program that evolved out of this grant is entitled “HEART: healthy, empowered and real teens” and focuses not only on sexual health, abstinence and contraception but also on healthy relationships, communication and leadership skills. The HEART program’s focus from the beginning has been on teens girls in residential foster care group homes, and began with 35 girls at Great Oaks Village. The philosophy behind the HEART program is that teen girls who have been maltreated need to be empowered to live healthy lives. Research indicates that teen girls in foster care experience teen pregnancies at double the rate of teens who have not encountered the juvenile dependency system. Teen girls in residential foster care also have higher rates of juvenile delinquency, graduate high school at lower rates and are likely to either repeat the abusive behavior they experienced as children or continue to experience patterns of abuse in their relationships.
Since then, the PPGO Education Department has received additional grants which have allowed the expansion of the HEART program into the University Behavioral Center and the PACE Center for Girls. The program is currently being used to teach teens about reproductive health, healthy relationships, contraception, abstinence, STD’s and HIV, communication skills and staying safe. The vast majority of the girls currently participating in the HEART program have experienced physical or sexual abuse; many have already had pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections. The HEART program aims to combine their therapeutic interventions with practical information about health, safety and relationships.
Sister to Sister: We Connect
In 2010, PPGO was awarded a generous grant from a local foundation to conduct education services in the Boca Club Apartment complex. These apartments are home to many immigrant and low-income families, whose teens are in need of extra attention. We have partnered with the Orlando Neighborhood Improvement Corp to provide weekly sessions to the teen girls residing in the complex. We discuss topics such as body image, goal setting, pregnancy prevention, and test-taking techniques.
The girls have also organized several field trips throughout Orlando. Each teen is eligible to receive an academic stipend for receiving good grades and for attendance in the program.
For more information about the Sister to Sister program, please contact the Program Facilitator
Educating Young Men: Male Peer Education Program
We believe that peer education can be very powerful; teens listen when their peers talk. In January of 2008, we launched the Male Peer Program, which seeks to empower adolescent males to address the pressing social and health needs of their community. The peers in our program are primarily from Jones High School, Evans High School and alternative schools in the area.
All peer educators in the program were between the ages of 13 and 19 and have been trained in HIV and AIDs, STDs, Dating Violence and Postponing Sexual involvement. The Peer Educators met every week to discuss issues they came across and to learn new skills.
At the end of the program, many of the boys graduated high school and went on to college. All of the young men brought up their GPAs to at least a C average and several completed their court-mandated probation.
