PEARLS Helping Hands in the Community

Issue: Access to Higher Education / Closing the Achievement Gap

Grant Amount: $75,593.46
Milwaukee, WI
Year Funded: 2011
Organization: PEARLS FOR TEEN GIRLS, INC.

Contact Information

Danae D. Davis, CEO
414.265.7555
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Through a clear focus on at-risk girls between the ages of 10 and 19 years, PEARLS for Teen Girls, Inc. helps girls to develop a foundation of proven-effective skills and tools to use as pathways to success.

PEARLS inspires girls in some of Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s most socially and economically challenged neighborhoods to avoid teen pregnancy, succeed in school, aim for college, and ultimately enter the workforce and the community as dynamic leaders.

Helping Hands in the Community is a component of PEARLS’ nationally recognized Self-Development Curriculum© by which girls set goals and take action in the community to help their neighbors, serve in volunteer positions, and work on projects that promote justice and change for the betterment of the community.

PEARLS addresses Access to Higher Education/Closing the Achievement Gap by tackling the key barriers to academic success for at-risk Milwaukee girls: low academic achievement and teen pregnancy.

PEARLS programs are consistent with evidence-based college access and readiness programs that use the following best practices.
•Focus on self-development and self-esteem in girl-only settings.
•Girl-led programming with goal setting and accountability.
•Authentic adult/girl partnerships promote success.
•Collaborations with schools, youth-serving organizations, and other community entities.
•Community service projects that promote justice and positive social change.

In the words of a 2007 PEARLS graduate, currently a college senior: ‘PEARLS provided me with the support system I needed, community involvement, my first job, leadership opportunities, a safe place, opportunities to grow, and my second home. It makes me very happy to say that I will be the first out of my family to attend college.’

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