Personal responsibility, empathy, awareness, respect, leadership and support are the life values learned and developed by the young women involved in the nonprofit PEARLS for Teen Girls. Founded in 1993, PEARLS offers free, weekly educational group sessions for girls ages 10-19. These sessions focus on helping girls build self-reflection, critical thinking, sound decision-making, goal setting, clear communication and personal accountability skills while giving them a consistent opportunity to grow with and learn from their peers. The organization offers up to eight local Wisconsin college campus tours a year, during which PEARLS strives to introduce girls to alumnae of the program. Also available is a “phone book” filled with the contact information of individuals, corporations, strong women leaders and program alumnae that PEARLS girls can connect with to learn more about a specific career field. A scholarship is also obtainable for PEARLS alumnae attending undergraduate or graduate school. In 2012, PEARLS served a total of 954 girls, making up 35 groups that were hosted at 28 different meeting sites.
“Could this organization be what it is without our volunteers? Absolutely not. They are tremendous,” PEARLS for Teen Girls’s CEO Danae Davis says about the nonprofit’s 83 volunteers, board members included. “It is really important that the girls are made aware of the community rooting for their success.”
A volunteer orientation will be held at the PEARLS office (2100 N. Palmer St.) Sept. 25 at 5:30 p.m. PEARLS is seeking donations of school and art supplies; rugs, chairs, tables and furniture for their office basement; and laptop computers and/or Tablets (will gladly accept unused equipment from companies who have recently upgraded). For more information, visit pearlsforteengirls.com.
