[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.
____________________