{"id":638,"date":"2023-01-17T19:26:09","date_gmt":"2023-01-17T19:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pacecenter.org\/blog\/?p=638"},"modified":"2025-01-14T14:52:41","modified_gmt":"2025-01-14T14:52:41","slug":"investing-in-women-and-girls-futures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pacecenter.org\/stories\/investing-in-women-and-girls-futures","title":{"rendered":"Investing in Women and Girls\u2019 Futures\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

January is Poverty in America Awareness Month \u2014 a time to recognize the past and present effects of poverty in our communities. The cost-of-living crisis<\/a> facing the world is putting women\u2019s livelihoods, health and wellbeing at risk.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pace Center for Girls often operates in the intersection between poverty, mental health, and education, with 90% of Pace girls living below the poverty line. For Lisa Spears, Pace Reach Manager in South Carolina, this statistic represents an opportunity to better serve girls, their families and communities.  <\/p>\n\n\n

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That\u2019s where Pace\u2019s Reach program comes in. Pace Reach is in more than 17 communities across Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina, and provides free mental health services to over 1,000 girls every year. The girls and young women we support receive academic instruction and work closely with counselors trained in trauma-based therapy and suicide screening. They also get life coaching to learn basic life skills, such as personal hygiene, shopping for groceries and how to land their first job.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For girls growing up under the poverty line, having access to counseling and therapy isn\u2019t a given. And with the other challenges associated with poverty \u2014 like working extended hours, caretaking duties, and lacking resources such as laptops or reliable internet access \u2014 middle and high school girls can slip through the cracks. That\u2019s why Pace Reach therapists are so critical: \u201cSometimes you have to help elevate a girl\u2019s voice to get her at the front of the line,\u201d Lisa says.\u202f\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One Pace girl shared: \u201cMy family and I had been facing some challenges \u2014 a lot of it came from financial struggles. The tipping point was the eviction, which hit me really hard. When we were forced out, the people took everything \u2014 my clothes, my laptop, all the things I needed for school, and I felt guilty. I prided myself on being an overachieving 16-year-old, and I believed I could have done something to prevent this situation. A mentor of mine recommended that I reach out to Pace and talk to someone. I am the most resilient person I know and because of Pace, I can recognize that.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From increasing their grades to working on improving their mental health, Pace girls go on to succeed in school and have a real sense of their worth.\u202fThat\u2019s what makes Lisa so hopeful for the future of the girls she supports. \u201cWe say to them: \u2018Once a Pace girl, always a Pace girl.\u2019 They have pride in the fact that they participated in Pace and improved their skills and ability to make safe and healthy decisions.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

*\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f *\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f *\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are you a girl who\u2019s interested in Pace? Know a girl who may benefit from our programs? Click here<\/a> to learn more about life at Pace and how you can enroll.\u202f\u202f <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pace Center for Girls often operates in the intersection between poverty, mental health, and education, with 90% of Pace girls living below the poverty line. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"post_tag":[],"class_list":["post-638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-our-voices"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pacecenter.org\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pacecenter.org\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pacecenter.org\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pacecenter.org\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pacecenter.org\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=638"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.pacecenter.org\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":644,"href":"https:\/\/www.pacecenter.org\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638\/revisions\/644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pacecenter.org\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pacecenter.org\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pacecenter.org\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_tag?post=638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}