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Does PEARLS work?
YES!!! Evidence is mounting that PEARLS is significantly helping girls to set and achieve goals, while improving their ability to make healthy decisions. As girls work toward goals, we collect evidence for every significant, measurable improvement achieved. Following are results documented since January 2004:
Outcome Name |
Count |
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81 |
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38 |
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35 |
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27 |
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26 |
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25 |
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11 |
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8 |
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6 |
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4 |
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4 |
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263 |
* High school girls are a comparatively new population being served by PEARLS, hence the low number of accepted to college at this time.
In Fall 2004, PEARLS girls participated in Brighter Futures citywide Youth Risk Behavior survey. It was the first time an instrument administered to youth across the city of Milwaukee provided comparison data that delineated how PEARLS girls’ attitudes compared to those of girls citywide. The results were astounding:
The Results Speak for Themselves
Great Results #1:PEARLS Works! A recent sampling of PEARLS participants responded to a city-wide survey. Their responses were compared to those of youth from across the city.
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Great Results #2:PEARLS for Teen Girls, Inc. has been named a national model |
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Great Results #3The Greater Milwaukee Foundation has named PEARLS for Teen Girls, Inc. an exemplary youth program. |
Thank you all for your support! We can all be proud of the accomplishments being made to help at risk girls be at strength.
Goal Setting in PEARLS – Helping Us Live Our Greatness
Goals are great! They help us grow, help us learn and help us succeed.
Whether we achieve our goal, or don’t make our goal, or make progress toward our goal – we get to see our actions in action! It takes courage, clarity and discipline to DO what we SAY is important to us. No matter how old or young we are, walking the talk takes practice. It also requires the support of others we trust to help us see what we are doing, or aren’t doing, that gets in the way of achieving our goals.
All of us in PEARLS practice setting goals that are important to us. We set goals for our best selves. We receive help from others in our group and family members to make sure the goal we set is a smart one, and that we are stretching while setting ourselves up for success.
In PEARLS, we’ve learned a lot about how to set goals and help each other succeed. Here is our process:
The ways goal setting in PEARLS helps me:
“The way goal setting in PEARLS has helped me is by assisting me in realizing, that the one big goal, whatever it may be is reachable. I can set a long term goal and use as many short term goals that are needed to accomplish the ultimate endeavor that I want to achieve. Meaning that the sky isn’t the limit, also helping me understand that it takes hard work to become successful, and PEARLS helps me believe in myself to push that much harder to make my dreams become a reality.” – CJ
“Goal setting in PEARLS helps me in that it really encourages me to go a step or more further.”
– EH“Setting goals has helped me with my attitude. It has changed for the better towards a lot of people like my parents, my cousins, my sisters, and my teachers.” – EH
“Setting goals in PEARLS is what I think every teen group should do. I also think that the little kids group should do goal setting too. I think that goal setting helps teens and kids try harder to get to where they want to be.” – EH
“I think that goals in PEARLS are really helping the inner me come out.” – EH
“My ‘sisters’ in PEARLS helped me by giving me advice about being less shy. ‘Talk more,’ ‘Say hello to everyone,’ and ‘Smile once in awhile.’ Well I did those things and got new friends.” – BA
“Goal setting at PEARLS gets us ready for the future. They are teaching us things that will help in our daily lives. PEARLS is a great place to goal set.” – BA
“In PEARLS, I have a good time setting my goals in life. For my other sisters in the world, I want them to see what PEARLS is all about because they can set goals in life too.” – AG
“PEARLS helps me be right in life. My behavior is much better than before.” – AG
“I never sat down and plotted goals and actually accomplished them until I became a PEARLS girl. I actually understand the fact that setting goals can make life much easier.” – CS
“Goal setting helped me because many people told me I couldn’t do the things my goal required but guess what – I accomplished it! Goal setting pushes me to strive for the best and never settle for less because a PEARL (which I am) is worth much more.” – CS
“Goal setting showed me that I had more determination and perseverance than I thought. Goal setting also helped me cope with anger instead of continually giving up every time. I made my goal even more challenging because it was me against all odds and I could defeat anything that stood in my way!!!” – CS
“Setting a goal in PEARLS helps me a lot. When I set a goal and achieve my goals it seems like I accomplished more and it feels like I can do anything.” – HC
“When you set a goal you are supposed to work harder and do whatever it takes to achieve your goal. Accomplishing your goals gives you more strength because you know you worked extra hard and you are able to press on forward towards many more goals you have set in life. Goals are not just words, they mean much more. Everything and anything is possible if you just try a little harder.” – HC
Action Learning – A Powerful and Rewarding Part of PEARLS
Why Action Learning?
When our beliefs and actions are working together, it is amazingly powerful! That is when our dreams, hopes and goals have the best chance of becoming real.
Action learning is what we in PEARLS want to be about: Learning from our actions. Scholars and researchers of Action Learning, the Action Scientists, tell us that we humans do not learn from our actions nearly as often as we would like to think we do. More likely, we repeat patterns of behavior that
reinforce behaviors we’re more accustomed to and familiar with. Often these behaviors are not in step with our values and beliefs.
This means it can be very challenging if we want to really walk the talk and put our beliefs and values into action. PEARLS time is designed to help transform our counter-productive actions and behaviors. We want to learn from our experiences. We want to learn to recognize how and when we get in our own way! We need to be more aware of the consequences of what we do. Everything we do has consequences, good and bad.
Being in PEARLS helps each girl go deeper… into her thinking, her awareness and appreciation of herself, and, deeper into understanding the emotions, attitudes and beliefs behind what she says and does. We also want to help each other get better at taking a truer look at our intentions. That is to say, why do we choose to act a certain way or do a certain thing? We call this being able to see what’s in our “blind spots.” When we are able to see the thinking behind our actions we can answer the question we’ve all been asked in our lives: “What were you thinking?”
It is a very important question to be able to answer.
How do we practice Action Learning in PEARLS?
It starts with the staff being committed to learning together. Trust, safety and relationships between and among people are essential to building an atmosphere for Action Learning. What does this mean for PEARLS staff? All staff, adult or teen, need to be willing to practice being learners. The kind of learning we’re talking about is challenging and very important. It involves: wanting to see what is in our own blind spots, being willing to look at our intentions behind our actions, being open to seeing the gaps between what we believe and what we do, being willing to learn and see things through a new viewpoint, admitting being in error, believing you have something to contribute to me – even if we disagree… and, practicing courage by being willing to talk about what is important, and maybe even hard to bring up.
How we bring Action Learning into our everyday work and relationships
One way is to help each other practice the core values we hold in PEARLS. These are illustrated in our PEARLS Promise and our Leadership Compass. We also help each other understand our thinking behind our choices and actions. We practice using phrases like:
- Help me understand what you are saying (or doing)…
- How can we build trust among each other?
- What do we really mean by the different words we use? Do we all understand? Agree? Let’s talk about it…
- What are we doing that builds (or disrupts) our trust, safety and relationships with each other?
- How do we know we’re walking the talk?
We help each other recognize the gap between our goals and actions. We do this by asking ourselves and each other to:
- Challenge my thinking
- Challenge my attitude
- Challenge my beliefs
- Challenge my behavior
We challenge each other to tell the truth, especially when it is hard to do.
We create many opportunities for building self-awareness and self-correction into the PEARLS experience.
We use tensions, troubled feelings and issues to learn from and work with. We have a saying that we want to put them “face up on the table” and “make the undiscussible discussible.” This is very hard to do and requires LOTS of trust. We try, and we don’t always do it, but it’s worth it.
What PEARLS Means to ME… Girls' Words
“Comfort. Family. Support. In many ways PEARLS has helped me overcome many obstacles, one dealing with the death of my mother. After my mother’s death PEARLS was there giving me all the love and support I needed at that time. I think that girls coming from where I have been and experienced the down side of life need positive role models in their lives. The staff at the PEARLS Organization are the epitome of what role models should be. The PEARLS Organization has truly been a gift to me. I believe if I never was involved in PEARLS, I wouldn’t be as involved in the community, thinking about going to college, or have as many productive lifestyle habits.”– CJ“PEARLS means that I have a second home to go to, not like a sleepover, but someone that I can talk to.” – EH
“PEARLS means everything to me.” – EH
“What PEARLS means to me is that I can make a difference! I can be all that I can be!“ – BA
“PEARLS helps us become successful young ladies by always encouraging us to do better and that
we all make mistakes. ‘Nobody is perfect! Only practice makes perfect’ as they say.” – BA“PEARLS teaches you things you don’t learn in school. To me, PEARLS means success. PEARLS means excellence. PEARLS means love and respect. Most of all, time to spend with new
people. PEARLS is everything to me.” – BA“PEARLS is helping me make good choices about what I am going to be in life and how I will
live this life.” – AG“PEARLS is a good place to have a good time and your sisters will be on your side in PEARLS. What PEARLS is all about is to have a sister by your side and do things you have not done before in your lifetime.” – AG
“To me PEARLS means so much!!! I thank PEARLS for letting me become a member because if I’d never joined I wouldn’t have met Ms. D, Ms. G, Ms. C, and Ms. T. Those are all the people I look up to and idolize because they show good examples of what young women are supposed to be!” – CS
“PEARLS helped me with so many things I thought I would never achieve. Being in PEARLS, I now realize I can succeed and make something out of my life. I thank PEARLS for everything and that is what PEARLS means to me!!!” – CS
“When I started PEARLS I was in the 5th grade, now I am going to the 8th grade when school starts back. I have been through a lot with PEARLS and it really means a lot to me to be a part of this special program, let me tell you what it means.”
“To me PEARLS is a group for young girls that try to become role models and powerful women who achieve their goals and dreams. That’s why I am proud to be a PEARLS girl!” – KH
Advice… PEARLS Girls' Words
“Some advice I would give is that if you are honest you will build trust and then you will
have an honest and open relationship.” – CS“One important thing for the PEARLS girls to know is that if there is ever a problem or you need someone to talk to you should never be afraid to seek help or advice from one of the staff members. That’s why they are there – to help and encourage. Just respect each other and you got yourself a good group!!” – CS
“In order to have a great group there are three essential ingredients: teamwork, support, and realizing that no one is perfect. In life everyone falls short of their goals, however, with PEARLS you have someone to fall back on. Whether it be participating in group activities or individual exercises, PEARLS is there to work and guide each member to be successful on this journey called life.” – CJ
“The advice that I would give a future PEARLS girl is to have fun in your group and don’t just sit there being all quiet. And I also want to tell them not to be shy or scared and say things because nothing you say is stupid.” – EH
“Know that you can talk to PEARLS groups and your facilitator without it getting out of the room. Have fun in your group. This is the advice that I would give to the future PEARL girl.” – EH
“To the future PEARLS Facilitators, I would tell them to keep making groups fun to come to. Also, be honest with your PEARLS girls. If you say that you are going to do something, then do it.” – EH
“The advice I will give to the PEARLS girls and staff is that we need to be with our PEARL sisters for life and be together.“ – AG
“We could have a reading group and read a book that is mostly like our daily lives. The teen facilitators could ask questions like ‘Has that ever happened to you’ or ‘How does this relate to you in real life’.” – BA
“My advice to the staff is to keep doing what you are doing. My advice to the girls is keep coming to PEARLS so we can have a great group. Can’t do it without you.” – BA
A Testimonial from A Proud Parent
"I know I've said it before, but the PEARLS organization, along with you and your staff's support of [my daughter], inspired her to keep focused as well as mend a lot of broken relationships in her life. Please let me know at anytime if you can use any of my time as a volunteer to assist in whatever area needed. If I am able, I am willing to be there for you. I would also like to get my 13-year-old involved in the program at whatever school is offering the evening program. Let me know where I can sign her up. She attends Morse Middle School now and I know they don't offer it there, although they should." – CI
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