Program Designed to Build Self Esteem in At-Risk & Disadvantage Pre-Teen and Teen Girls in the Bahamas

PURPOSE:
Resilience Girls Empowerment Program is structured as a motivational and inspirational outreach program. Many youth of today are faced with serious pressures, experiencing low self-worth and lack of purpose. It is vital to focus on an innovative curriculum to address and overcome these issues.

MISSION:
It is our mandate to nurture, cultivate and empower young people to be productive citizens of tomorrow. This program is designed to create an environment to inspire and encourage pre-adolescents and adolescents to build and maintain positive self-esteem.

When early intervention doesn't occur many young women can slip through the cracks. They drop out or are expelled from school.
Youth at risk who do not gain access to an appropriate and effective program run the risk of traveling further down the path of deviant behavior. Some may distance themselves so much from family, school, and the mainstream community that traditional methods will no longer be effective. More serious intervention is then required.
We were compelled intervene after reading the report, ‘The Situation of Youth in the Bahamas’, Social Specialist, Dr. Lorraine Blank with the Inter-American Development Bank [IDB], which was designed to update and integrate existing background information regarding the socio-economic situations affecting the youngest citizens of the country.
"Many children grow up without proper care and guidance from their parents," the report found As evidence of that, researcher Dr. Lorraine Blank concluded from local data and statistics that 36 percent of students complained that someone in their household had emotionally or verbally abused them; 22 percent said they were the victims of physical abuse from a resident of their home and 12 percent alleged that an occupant had sexually abused them.”

The IDB report said teenage pregnancy continues to be a matter of concern in
The Bahamas. Six percent of adolescent girls between the ages of 10 and 19
reported being pregnant at least once.
The bigger concern here is that these youth at risk can end up in one of three places; hospitalized, social services, or the courts. Youth at risk whose deviant behavior patterns go unchecked are likely to become dysfunctional citizens.
All youth at risk deserve a chance to get back on track. We have the passion needed and experience to help our nations’ girls. However, this commission cannot be accomplish alone. Therefore, it is necessary to entreat you to answer their cry for help by contributing financial support. Let us reach out to the ones in need of guidance, direction and love.