Girls Life

The Girls Life Mentoring program was established three years ago in partnership with Blair Middle School in Norfolk, Virginia.  The program mission is to collaborate with parents, teachers, and school administrators to provide academic, emotional, social and spiritual support to teen girls in urban schools.

Key service components include weekly group and individualized counseling sessions; one-to-one mentoring;  two home visits within a nine week period to foster cooperation between parents and the school;  and appropriate  referrals and discharge planning.

To date, 34 girls have participated in the Girls’ Life program and, over this summer, 12 remain connected with the Girls Life program through mentoring, special group events, and the Girls of Destiny group meetings.

Girls Life Spotlights

Ebony Gardner, participant in the Girls Life program, graduated in Spring of 2005 from Blair Middle School, having recently been recognized for her honors level academic achievement.

Ebony entered the Girls Life Program in Spring of 2004.  At that time, her academic performance was low and her truancy and disciplinary referrals were high. Over the course of one year, with the support of her grandparents, her school, In-Home counseling, her girls life mentor and counselor and her own hard work and determination, Ebony brought her grades to honor roll level and eliminated truancy and suspensions.

Ebony attributes her motivation in large part to her grandparents, who she says are proud of her no matter what.

Ebony would like to be a science teacher and knows she must keep her grades up in order to achieve that goal. Dissatisfied with her report cards, she made a decision to make the changes necessary in order to finish middle school well and to alter a pattern that looked like a downward spiral. 

She hopes to be the first in her family to graduate from High School and to go to college, and is already enrolled in a college preparatory program at Maury High School.  If she maintains a 3.0 at Maury her college will be fully financed.  Covering all her bases, she also enrolled in ROTC to ensure that her college education is funded.

To other girls who find themselves struggling through middle school, Ebony would offer the following advice: “Pay attention to your work at school and don’t have your home problems on your mind at school…Handle your home problems at home.”   She also advises to “Stop thinking about boys.” 

Ebony set goals that required much of her and persevered until she achieved them.  Her grandmother, Mrs. Roberson, and her Girls Life mentor, Angie Coleman, both believe she will continue work hard, graduate from high school and go on to college.  More importantly, Ebony knows she will.