[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 61 (Tuesday, May 17, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          PRINCE GEORGES COUNTY'S ``FEMALE ACHIEVERS'' PROGRAM

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, on another item, an article appeared in 
the Washington Post on Monday, May 16, discussing a program for at-risk 
youth that is finding great success in Prince Georges County. The 
program is called ``Female Achievers'' and works with middle school 
girls who come from difficult home lives and deal with challenging 
issues.
  This program is to be commended for its work with at-risk teenagers 
and for its three ground rules: First, no lying; second, 
confidentiality among group members; third, communication with parents.
  I recently added an amendment to the Goals 2000: Educate America Act 
giving parents the right to know what nonscholastic activities were 
taking place in the lives of their children during school hours. I said 
during the debate on that amendment that I do not oppose activities 
taking place on school grounds that are nonscholastic, but what I do 
oppose is those activities taking place behind parents' backs.
  The third ground rule of the Female Achievers program addresses this 
concern. It requires communication with parents. This is the way it 
should be. Considering the difficulty of the times in which we live, 
there is a time to address nonscholastic issues in school. I commend 
the promoters of the Female Achievers program for including 
communication with parents as one of their three ground rules.
  I ask unanimous consent that the article from the Washington Post be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                [From the Washington Post, May 16, 1994]

                    The Other Half of At-Risk Youth

                            (By Retha Hill)

       Principals and teachers, counselors and relatives regard 
     Teshema Marshall with wonder. At 12 years old, she drank hard 
     liquor, puffed marijuana and knew what the streets of Prince 
     George's County looked like in the wee hours of the morning.
       But today, Teshema, 13, is different. And everyone agrees 
     that the change came in Room 111 of Hyattsville Middle 
     School.
       That's where the weekly meetings are held for Female 
     Achievers, a group of girls whose short life stories have 
     made grown women cry. Some have been raped. Others go home to 
     mothers addicted to crack cocaine. And some started to abuse 
     drugs and alcohol and became sexually active before the baby 
     fat began melting from their faces.
       What they have accomplished through weekly tell-all 
     sessions at the school is remarkable, say teachers, 
     administrators, counselors and parents. By standing and 
     facing the group each Tuesday, and their mothers once a 
     month, the 42 girls are learning to take responsibility for 
     their actions and have formed bonds with each other that 
     Hyattsville administrators say have dramatically decreased 
     suspensions and improved attendance.
       ``The Female Achievers showed me [drugs and alcohol use] 
     aren't worth it because your friends will lead you all sorts 
     of ways and you've got to do for yourself,'' Teshema said. 
     ``When you realize all the stuff you've got going for you, it 
     is easy to stop.''
       With their emphasis on self-control and self-respect, the 
     Female Achievers are part of a growing effort in the nation's 
     urban areas to turn the spotlight of help on young girls.
       All too often, say educators and community volunteers, 
     girls are the forgotten element in the campaign to save the 
     nation's at-risk youth. while boys are more likely to fall 
     prey to violent crime--homicide is the leading cause of death 
     for young black men, for example--girls are increasingly 
     involved in destructive activity.
       ``Most of the programs, even with recreation, focus in on 
     boys and saving our generation of young men,'' said Sheri 
     DeBoe. She is the coordinator of the mayor's Turning Points 
     program, which oversees separate groups that focus on 
     personal responsibility and self-respect for young men and 
     women at seven District junior high schools.
       ``But when you go the junior high schools and talk to the 
     teachers and counselors, they will tell you the girls are 
     worse than the boys--cursing and fighting.'' DeBoe said. 
     ``Through Turning Points, the [coordinators] are recognizing 
     the fact that our girls are being ignored and are putting 
     together programs that specifically address girls.''
       Similar efforts are popping up around the country. Denver 
     holds an annual conference for black single mothers and their 
     daughters. There are several church-based organizations in 
     Detroit. The American Association of University Women funds 
     an organization of young women that works on self-esteem 
     issues in Danville, Va. The Montgomery County chapter of the 
     NAACP has begun sessions for girls on violence and sexually 
     transmitted diseases, an outgrowth of highly publicized rape 
     allegations last year involving teenagers in Germantown.
       Established organizations such as Delta Sigma Theta, a 
     historically black sorority, and the Girls Scouts of the 
     Nation's Capital are expanding their traditional outreach 
     programs to at-risk girls. The Girl Scouts troop at Carver 
     Terrace Apartments, for example, combines sessions where 
     girls can talk about their lives with activities such as 
     planting trees. In Baltimore, one troop is made up of the 
     daughters of female prison inmates.


                            alarming numbers

       All are trying to address the same horrifying statistics on 
     crime, drug abuse and sexual activity. From 1983 to 1993, the 
     number of girls arrested for all crimes increased 25.4 
     percent, compared with a 15.2 percent rise for adolescent 
     males, the FBI reported. For violent crimes, the increase was 
     83 percent for girls and 54 percent for boys.
       Substance abuse is decreasing among teenagers, according to 
     statistics provided by the National Center for Health 
     Statistics. Nevertheless, 18 percent of girls 12 to 17 years 
     old drink alcohol regularly and 4 percent smoke marijuana.
       National teenage pregnancy rates remained stable through 
     the 1980s, but the birth rate increased 23 percent from 1986 
     to 1990 because the rate of abortions is declining, the Alan 
     Guttmacher Institute reported last year in a comprehensive 
     study of teenage sexual behavior.
       Girls struggle with depression and eating disorders and try 
     to commit suicide at a rate that is four to five times that 
     of boys, although boys succeed more often, said Anne Bryant, 
     executive director of the American Association of University 
     Women, which commissioned a highly regarded study on the 
     self-esteem of girls.
       Support groups like Female Achievers offer girls an 
     opportunity to talk about sexuality, conflict and competition 
     and problems at home, as well as providing a cheering section 
     for their achievements. The groups also teach girls basic 
     hygiene, proper language and other skills.
       Female Achievers began last year with 15 girls after 
     several of them complained to Principal Joseph Lupo and Elsie 
     Jacobs, the secretary in the guidance department, that their 
     needs were being ignored.
       Like most schools in Prince George's, Hyattsville has an 
     active Black Male Achievement program, funded by the school 
     system to help black boys perform better in school. There is 
     no corresponding funding for girls' groups. The 30 mentoring 
     groups in the country for girls must compete for grants of 
     $1,000 or less from the school system.
       Jacobs agreed to organize the girls after noticing that 
     many were not doing well academically because of a host of 
     other problems, including sexual and physical abuse, neglect 
     from their mothers, and alcohol and drug abuse in the home. 
     Some girls' homes are in such disarray that they depend upon 
     the school for clean clothes and basic supplies such as soap 
     and feminine products, she said. The girls were acting out 
     their problems by fighting and experimenting with drugs and 
     sex.
       ``It's helped me quite a bit,'' said Vice Principal Linda 
     Waples, who handles the disciplinary cases at the 750-student 
     school. ``By these girls' venting a lot of problems and 
     learning to handle their problems, they are not coming to the 
     [principal's] office.''
       This year, there have been seven suspensions of Female 
     Achievers, out of 250 for the entire school, Vice Principal 
     Lawrence Leahy said. Average daily attendance is 91 percent 
     for the school and 92 percent for Female Achievers members. 
     While members' grades are still below those of other girls at 
     the school, Leahy said, eight are on the honor roll and the 
     girls are making progress.
       The change in the Female Achievers has been so dramatic 
     that Jacobs is frequently approached by teachers and 
     administrators to allow other troubled young women to join. 
     There are 100 black, white and Latino girls--nearly a fourth 
     of the female population at the school--on the waiting list.
       Jacobs has no formal training as a facilitator. Relying on 
     her experience as the mother of six girls and two boys and 
     the former wife of an alcoholic, she set the ground rules: No 
     lying. Confidentiality among group members. Communication 
     with parents.
       ``I'm a strong female,'' Jacobs said, ``but some of these 
     things these kids have to deal with, in my greatest 
     imagination I couldn't begin to deal with.'' She often fields 
     calls at night or on the weekends about ``her girls,'' some 
     as young as 12, who have stayed out all night, fought with 
     their mothers or come home high.
       ``We have to accept that this age group has sex, they do 
     drugs,'' she said. ``Once we accept it . . . then you start 
     working on things that can change it.''
       There is a motto, of sorts, in the Female Achievers: If you 
     are grown enough to do it, you shouldn't be ashamed to talk 
     about it.
       Each Tuesday morning session begins with some housekeeping 
     business from Jacobs. Then she will call on a girl to stand 
     and tell about her latest indiscretion or achievement.


                           a place to confess

       On one Tuesday, a 14-year-old was called to her feet by 
     Jacobs. In a barely audible whisper, she admitted staying out 
     all night the previous Saturday. She told about going out 
     with a 16-year-old, then having sex with him, which she said 
     she did not enjoy but did to keep peace with her ``friend.''
       Her story was greeted with gasps. Several girls rose to 
     remind her of her reputation and the dangers of AIDS and 
     pregnancy.
       Afterward, the girl said she realized that she was wrong 
     and that she had worried her mother, who had called police. 
     She said she didn't mind discussing what she had done with 
     the other Female Achievers. ``I have somebody to talk to,'' 
     she said. ``They've got the same problems I have.''
       At another Tuesday session, a girl was abruptly asked by 
     Jacobs whether she was doing drugs. ``Wh-why,'' the girl 
     stammered, then unsuccessfully tried to suppress giggles. She 
     had come into the meeting late, walking slowly and 
     unsteadily.
       ``Because you are acting like someone who is high.'' Jacobs 
     said. The girl stopped grinning. She started to protest, then 
     was quiet.
       There are girls in the group who slip. But there are many 
     more who are thriving and now have the language to talk to 
     their parents about the issues that are bothering them. It 
     was at a Female Achievers meeting that Nyah Farrar, 13, told 
     her mother that her mother's drinking was killing her, that 
     she had missed four weeks of school last year because she was 
     worried her mother would get drunk and hurt herself.
       ``We came to the first meeting and she said in front of 
     everyone that I was drinking and she wanted me to stop,'' 
     said Terra Farrar, who said she began drinking after losing 
     her job and is a recovering alcoholic. ``At first. [I felt] 
     shame. It lasted about 30 seconds. Then I was proud that she 
     was strong enough to do it.'' This year, Nyah has missed only 
     four days and is on the honor roll.
       The monthly Saturday meetings are held at the Seat Pleasant 
     Police Department, in a neighborhood where many of the girls 
     live. Law enforcement officials talk about the laws on 
     statutory rape, drug use, child abuse and neglect. 
     Occasionally, a counselor will come to encourage families 
     that need it to get help. The meetings are usually 
     overflowing with mothers, aunts and grandmothers.
       Teshema and her mother, Renee Ramey, have been in 
     counseling. But it wasn't until Teshema joined the Female 
     Achievers that the two really began to talk. Ramey said her 
     daughter rarely strays far from home now and is more 
     conscientious about her studies. Ramey recalled the daughter 
     who used to stay out all night and twice tried to commit 
     suicide.
       ``Teshema had just given up,'' said Ramey, a secretary, who 
     blamed the abusive relationship she was in for a lot of her 
     daughter's problems. ``Her attitude was, `I'm just determined 
     to go down this wrong road.' She's made a 360-degree 
     turnaround. Now we talk. We have a 100 percent better 
     relationship.''

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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