2018 FL-DSSG Summer Internship

Girls Incorporated was founded in 1864 to give confidence and provide resources to girls from lower socioeconomic families. Nationally recognized since 1945, Girls, Inc. has focused its efforts on responding to the changing needs of girls in local communities and helping to break generational cycles of poverty and welfare.

Girls, Inc. of Jacksonville, a Florida affiliate branch founded in 1970, seeks to inspire all girls to be Strong, Smart, and Bold; this translates into living healthy, educated, and economically independent lives. They accomplish this by providing developmentally appropriate research-based programming and services to approximately 1200 girls in grades K-8 throughout the year. Program priorities have included reading literacy, teen pregnancy and substance abuse prevention, personal health, hygiene and positive body image, and the introduction to STEM careers and opportunities. Poverty and the obstacles that perpetuate poverty is a real world problem that face the girls in Duval County.

The goal of the 2018 DSSG program is to evaluate the effectiveness of the Girls, Inc. of Jacksonville programming in their three core areas. The project seeks to determine if the Strong (Healthy Living), Smart (Academic Achievement), and Bold (Life Skills) programs are having their intended effect. It also seeks to determine patterns of success among girls by looking at demographic and socioeconomic data. The results will help Girls, Inc. of Jacksonville target their programming to areas within Jacksonville that have girls that are most in need.

The mission of The Performers Academy (TPA) is to increase access to the arts for all children in the Jacksonville area with a focus on those individuals who are at risk of delinquency and criminal activity. TPA provides artistic space, resources, and mentors (instructors) for young artists to experience the transformative power of art. Performance mentors connect music, drama, dance, creative writing, and film to young people, awakening their imaginations and fostering critical thinking. TPA provides a year-long program for “at risk” teens who reside in youth service programs. These teens are encouraged to be artistically, academically, and behaviorally empowered to develop a productive and positive future, to become supportive citizens of healthy communities and safe neighborhoods in the city of Jacksonville. As a major initiative, TPA provides an artistic platform for youth entitled Truth & Proof Youth Open Mic, where youth between the ages of 13-19 have opportunities for creative expression, self-discovery, and community engagement.

The goal of the 2018 DSSG project is to determine whether the programming offered by TPA has an impact on the self-esteem and confidence of underserved youth. Our goal is to prove the impact with data analysis so that TPA will have something more detailed to show their funders. The lived experiences of youth program participants will be explored through their testimonies and art to discover how their pieces affect the health and well-being of at-risk teens. Further analyses will determine whether these art programs serve as a deterrent for delinquency among teens.