Our statistics are impressive but it is the success we see one girl at a time that lets us know we are truly making a difference. PACE Center for Girls has hundreds of stories, stories that can happen when prevention programming is designed to meet the needs of the individual clients it was created to serve. Here is just a glimpse.

Alicia - At 16-years old Alicia was shy and withdrawn, ridiculed continuously by others because all her front teeth were missing. Not surprisingly she was truant from school and had little hope for a bright future. Her excessive truancy led to her referral to PACE. When asked to set a 5-year goal for herself upon enrollment, the best she could predict was she would have 3 to 4 children and work at McDonalds. With Alicia it was painfully obvious her attitude was driven by her poor self-esteem. As a first step, a PACE board member arranged for the donation of dental work to replace her missing teeth. Her thank you letter read, "Thank you for making my life different. Now people look at me for who I am and what I am." With this boost in self-confidence Alicia blossomed in to a strong student with a new goal of attending college.

Sophia - Before coming to PACE at age 15, Sophia had performed poorly at the 13 different schools she attended while moving with her transient military family, headed by her single parent father. Her poor school performance led to her finding recognition as a gang member and headed directly toward a run in with the law. Upon coming to PACE she thrived on the individualized attention, completing her course work for high school graduation & performing over 100 hours of community service in one year. With PACE's help she learned how to gain positive recognition through positive actions and had enough confidence to vie for a scholarship to art school and get it.

Teri - Brought to PACE by her single recovering alcoholic mother, who had just regained custody of her six children, Teri was two years behind in school and juggling many family responsibilities as the oldest child. She had been forced to grow up very fast and become the caretaker of both children and parent. With the help of the case management and counseling at PACE she turned her destructive anger into constructive energy. With the goal setting and coping skills learned at PACE she is attending community college on scholarship and working two jobs to provide support to her brothers and sisters who are back in foster care.

As you can see by these examples, it is the victimizing circumstances our girls endure not the girls themselves that are the basis for the nonproductive behaviors that lead to juvenile justice involvement. Independent research on this subject finds this same relationship. Up to 73% of girls involved in the juvenile justice system report being victims of violence, especially sexual abuse. (Profiles of Delinquency Cases and Youth Referred 1995-96, DJJ). An additional study of youth entering the juvenile justice system in Florida found that female adolescents were more likely to have abuse histories and were charged with status offenses (running away, parole violation). The behavior problems of the girls were related to abusive and traumatizing home life where as the boys law-violating behavior reflected their involvement in a delinquent lifestyle. (Gender Differences in Services Needs Among Youths Entering A Juvenile Assessment Center: a Replication Study, Dembo, Borden and Manning, August 1995).

Click here to download our PACE 2004-2005 Outcome Measures Report