
{"id":897,"date":"2007-09-13T10:10:43","date_gmt":"2007-09-13T18:10:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/2007\/09\/13\/women%e2%80%99s-center-program-for-girls-receives-boost\/"},"modified":"2007-09-13T10:10:43","modified_gmt":"2007-09-13T18:10:43","slug":"women%e2%80%99s-center-program-for-girls-receives-boost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2007\/09\/13\/women%e2%80%99s-center-program-for-girls-receives-boost\/","title":{"rendered":"Women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Center program for girls receives boost"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u00c2\u00a0<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/09\/girls.jpg\" height=\"167\" width=\"248\" \/><br \/>\n<em>Teens Climb High members. Photo Courtesy of The Women&#8217;s Center<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>By Susan Dickson<\/strong><br \/>\nStaff Writer <\/em><\/p>\n<p>For more than a decade, minority middle school girls in Chapel Hill and Carrboro have been coming together after school to talk about the many issues that young women face as they enter adolescence.<\/p>\n<p>Teens Climb High \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a program run by the Women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Center \u00e2\u20ac\u201c enables young minority girls to discuss and learn about sexuality, health, communication and relationships.<\/p>\n<p>Last week, the program was awarded a $5,000 grant by Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools. The program is almost entirely funded by grants from state and local organizations.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Through the program, minority adolescent girls who are students at Smith and Phillips middle schools participate in weekly after-school sessions starting in sixth grade and continuing until middle school graduation.<\/p>\n<p>The program started in 1996 when the Women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Center was contacted by a grassroots group that identified the need for a pregnancy prevention program for teens living in public housing in Orange County.<\/p>\n<p>Today, the program focuses not only on pregnancy prevention but also on family communication, academic support, service learning, peer leadership, enrichment activities and mentoring.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more like a support group than anything else,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Kristi Page, director of adolescent programs with the Women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Center.<\/p>\n<p>When students are in fifth grade, school staff make recommendations regarding those who might benefit most from the program. Teens Climb High staff then contact students\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 families and invite them to join the program.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We always try to get involvement from family members,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Paige said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153[Family involvement] is one of our strengths.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>This year, the program has about 45 participants. Sixth- and seventh-grade students participate in weekly group sessions focusing on health, sexuality education and healthy relationships.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153One of our goals with the group is to \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 provide a safe space,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Page said, adding that girls can invite their friends to attend after-school sessions with them so that they might feel more comfortable discussing certain issues.<\/p>\n<p>Eighth-grade students can apply to become peer leaders, serving as role models and after-school assistants for their younger peers.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a relatively small number, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a very relationship-based program,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Page. She said program participants often form relationships with one another, as well as with the program facilitators. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s very rewarding for the staff members involved. We get to kind of see the girls grow.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>For instance, Page said she recently met with a young woman who had previously participated in the program and received a leadership award.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s little things like that that make it very rewarding for us,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Although the program\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s main focus is the after-school group sessions, program staff also plans field trips and group activities. This weekend, for example, students in the program will gather for a picnic in a park.<\/p>\n<p>This year, Teens Climb High will begin following girls after completion of the program through high school graduation in order to better evaluate its long-term effects.<\/p>\n<p>Eventually, Page said, she hopes to expand Teens Climb High to the other middle schools in the district as well as to other groups, such as adolescent boys and non-minority girls.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153There are lots of hopes that I have for the program,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Page said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00c2\u00a0 Teens Climb High members. Photo Courtesy of The Women&#8217;s Center By Susan Dickson Staff Writer For more than a decade, minority middle school girls in Chapel Hill and Carrboro have been coming together after school to talk about the many issues that young women face as they enter adolescence. Teens Climb High \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-schools"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/897\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}