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| Community Budget Issue Requests - Tracking Id #277 |
| Just for Girls Educational and Prevention-based |
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| Requester: |
Becky Canesse |
Organization: |
Manatee County Girls Club d/b/a Just for Girls |
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| Project Title: |
Just for Girls Educational and Prevention-based |
Date Submitted |
12/19/2007 10:55:25 AM |
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| Sponsors: |
Bennett |
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| Statewide Interest: |
| The prevention, education, leadership development, and health needs of disadvantaged children and families.Just for Girls� services address a documented need and statewide interest of providing remedial education, prevention/health services, leadership development, and positive social experiences/recreation to an underserved and minority-based population of at-risk girls. Just for Girls will produce measurable results with regard to educational programming designed to deter dangerous behaviors such as drug use, gang relations, teen pregnancy, overall violence, and school dropout. The overall goal is to reduce unhealthy behaviors, promote a healthy lifestyle, and improve knowledge, attitudes, and skills critical to a more positive, responsible, and productive community and state.
�Children who are on their own for at least 11 hours a week are twice as likely to use alcohol, cigarettes, or drugs.� Just for Girls provides an affordable service that is critical for the working families of this community, offered during the often unsupervised hours when children could possibly be experimental in their behavior or most vulnerable to abduction, violence, and abuse.
This need for affordable and quality-based children�s services has been documented nationally and locally due to poverty, growth, and demanding work schedules. Nationally, according to the 2007 Kids Count, Florida is ranked as the 45th state (50 being the highest) for single-parent families with children under the age of 18. Florida is also the 26h worst state regarding children in poverty.
Locally, according to Census data, 12.4% of Manatee County�s families (with related children under 18 years of age) are living in poverty. The situation is far worse for impoverished female single-headed households-38.3% with related children under 18 and 34.1% with children less than 5 years old. Earlier on, a local needs assessment conducted through the National Resource Center for Middle Grades/High School Education and University of South Florida proved this gap in services and documented a need for educational programs with safe supervision, coupled with transportation.
Prevention saves the community and state the high cost of intervention. As per Manatee County�s vital statistics, 191 girls under the age of 18 gave birth in 2006-up 3% from last year-two of these girls were younger than 13 years old. �Teen pregnancy costs the United States at least $9 billion annually.� �Teen mothers are less likely to complete high school (only one-third receives a high school diploma) and only 1.5% have a college degree by age 30. Teen mothers are more likely to end up on welfare (nearly 80% of unmarried teen mothers end up on welfare).� �The cost of alcohol abuse to society is estimated to be $250 billion per year in health care, public safety, and social welfare expenditures.� Demonstrating tangible community support, Just for Girls collaborates with key local service providers and initiatives including: the Annual Children�s Summit, the Before and After School Program Network, Central Community Redevelopment Agency (CCRA), CEO Roundtable�s Taskforce on Teen Pregnancy Prevention, Family Resource Center, Florida�s Center for Children and Youth, Healthy Start Coalition, HOPE Family Services, Manatee County Parent Education Coalition, Manatee Juvenile Justice Council, Manatee County Parks and Recreation, Manatee County Sheriff�s Department, Meals on Wheels, Metropolitan Planning Organization, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Project Child Care, Regional Substance Abuse Coalition, Safe and Drug-Free Schools, Whole Child Project, Women�s Resource Center, and Youth for Christ. |
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| Recipient: |
Manatee County Girls Club, Inc. |
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Contact: |
Becky Canesse |
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936 14th St. West |
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Contact Phone: |
(941) 747-5757 |
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Bradenton 34205 |
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Contact email: |
justforgirls@myjfg.org |
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| Counties: |
Manatee |
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| Gov't Entity: |
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Private Organization (Profit/Not for Profit): |
Yes |
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| Project Description: |
| Target Population: Demographics of Just for Girls� membership of 900+ girls: 69% live with a family earning $20,000 or less annually, 76% are 12 years old or younger, 66% are of a minority race, and 72% live in a single-headed household or with a guardian. Furthermore, a significant number of Just for Girls� members live in the areas in Manatee County that have the highest concentration of delinquent youth as documented by the Department of Juvenile Justice.
Program: Just for Girls provides before school, summer, and after school programming designed specifically for girls that are at-risk of drug, tobacco, or alcohol use, teen pregnancy, violence, school dropout, abuse, gang activity, or suicidal ideation. Gender-based programming, like that provided at Just for Girls, is proved to be effective as �research suggests that many girls do better in single-sex schools, where they often attain higher levels of academic performance and career aspirations than girls in coeducational settings.� This specialized program is necessary as studies show that girls are more likely than boys to smoke, experience depression, suffer from low confidence, and have a negative body image. According to the 2006 Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey, girls are the biggest users of depressants as well as alcohol, cigarettes, prescription pain relievers, and cocaine. ��research has shown that girls may become addicted to nicotine faster than boys�� �Drugs that continue to show a clear gender difference in prevalence of abuse are� amphetamines and methamphetamine (more likely to be abused by females).�
Parent Services: Just for Girls provides educational and prevention-based training to parents periodically with required readings, conferences, and informational sessions. Staff also helps in providing referrals and has active parent groups that assist in program development and fundraising |
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| Is this a project related to a federal or state declared disaster? |
No |
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| Measurable Outcome Anticipated: |
| Reduce: school dropout, violence, drug-use, pregnancy, and delinquency among at-risk girls. Just for Girls� overall goal is to provide age-appropriate educational, developmental, and prevention-based curricula to a population of at-risk girls ages 5-17 so that they can improve their behavior and attitudes and increase their knowledge and skills with regard to the importance of staying in school, the dangers of drug, tobacco, and alcohol use, positive decision making skills, and life skills-all critical to becoming tomorrow�s responsible parents, active citizens, viable workers, and leaders of our community. Specific outcomes include: 80% of students who regularly attend the Alternative Education Program will gain skills and awareness of healthy life choices particularly regarding pregnancy prevention. 80% of girls who attend Just for Girls� after school and summer services will demonstrate knowledge of key prevention topics including drugs, alcohol, and tobacco, as well as healthy lifestyles and positive decision making skills. |
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| Amount requested from the State for this project this year: |
$240,000 |
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| Total cost of the project: |
$1,751,113 |
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| Request has been made to fund: |
Operations |
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| What type of match exists for this project? |
Local, Private, Federal |
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Cash Amount |
$1,424,728 |
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In-kind Amount |
$86,385 |
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| Was this project previously funded by the state? |
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No |
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| Is future-year funding likely to be requested? |
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Yes |
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Amount: |
$240,000 |
To Fund: |
Operations |
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| Was this project included in an Agency's Budget Request? |
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No |
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| Was this project included in the Governor's Recommended Budget? |
No |
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| Is there a documented need for this project? |
Yes |
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Documentation: |
County needs assessment, local and state statistical documentation |
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| Was this project request heard before a publicly noticed meeting of a body of elected officials (municipal, county, or state)? |
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Yes |
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Hearing Body: |
Manatee County Legislative Delegation |
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| Is this a water project as described in Section 403.885, Laws of Florida? |
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No |
