Last updated:
May 19, 2004
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Best Practices:
Latino Youth Development
Programs
A report contributed by 
Theme: Youth, Families, and Communities
Moderator: Anne Dannerbeck, School of Social Work,
MU
Presenters:
- Janette García, Girl Scouts-Heart of Missouri Council:
"uniquely ME!" A Girl Scout Self-Esteem Program
for the Latino Community, made possible through
grants from Unilever Corporation
- Linda Manning, "Developing Responsive Programs for Latino
Youth," El Centro Latino, Columbia, MO
Girl Scouts:
Janette Garcia, 573-893-5505; 1-800-707-1917; gsjgarcia@msn.com;
jgarcia@gshomc.org
Girl Scouts is helping young Latino girls deal with the difficult
issues of adolescence.� Uniquely ME! is a new program based around
three bilingual workbooks for different age groups.� The program deals
with issues of identity, self-esteem, their changing bodies, dieting,
peer pressure, and the effects of media.� There is also a bilingual
guide for adults that provides tips on how to work
with girls.
This program is as response to studies that show there is a significant
drop in self-esteem in Latino girls in adolescence.�� This can lead
to stress, depression, and eating disorders.� In one study 75% of third-grade
girls agreed with the statement, �I like the way I look,� but only
56% of 7th graders agreed.� Girls in this study also expressed
that their parents are unwilling or unable to talk with them about
sex and dating.� Often girls are just told that they are too young
and shouldn�t think about boys.� Uniquely ME! tries to help Latino
girls make good decisions about these difficult issues. �
The U.S. is the 5th largest Spanish speaking country in
the world.� By 2005, Hispanics will become the largest teen minority
and by 2115 one in five teens will be Hispanic.� In 2001, Girl Scouts
were only serving 6.9% of the Hispanic girl population nationally while
serving 11% of total population of girls.� The bilingual Uniquely ME!
Program with Latino girls is part of Girl Scouts national mission to
serve every girl everywhere and assure that Girl Scouts is truly reflecting
the face of each community.� Currently, there are troops working with
this program in California, Columbia, Jefferson City,
Marshall, and Sedalia.
Janette Garcia says that the Uniquely ME! Program celebrates Latino
culture by supporting �the girls to continue to speak Spanish as it
will be an advantage in their future lives, to embrace their culture,
to be proud to be Latinas.�� The program seems to be working.� One
Uniquely ME! participant said that she didn�t feel embarrassed anymore
to be the only Latina in her class.� Another girl said, �Uniquely ME!
has taught me that I�m going to face problems and my life, and you
have to deal with them. ��
If you would like to work with the Uniquely ME! Program in collaboration
with Girl Scouts or if you would like the workbooks,
contact Janette Garcia at gsjgarcia@msn.com.
Linda Manning: Volunteer at Centro Latino de Salud, Education y
Cultura
Eduardo Crespi, Director and founder of Centro
Centrolatino.Missouri.org
Edc2fe@hotmail.com
573-449-9442
Linda Manning became a volunteer at Centro Latino because she was
angry, depressed and frustrated with discrimination
in Columbia.� But
she decided to �channel it into a positive way, making steps in a direction
you want the world to be like.�� And she has.� As a volunteer working
with education programs, she really is making a difference.
Centro Latino has an after-school K-5 kids' homework assistance program
serving 35 to 40 students, Spanish and ESL classes,
and a walk-in teen tutoring program for grades 6-12 serving 4-6 students
per day.� These
educational programs are supplemented by a summer program emphasizing
literacy, where children read for the first 45 minutes in Spanish or
English, and then they have a recreation event.� There is even Latino
Parents and Teachers or LPAT where everything is
bilingual and computer/Internet classes once a week.
The After School Program is simple, but innovative.� Volunteers pick
up the kids from school and go with the child to talk to the teacher
about what homework is due.� They return to Centro Latino, work on
homework and play educational computer games.� At the end of the day,
volunteers return home with the child and explain to the parents what
homework was completed and what is still needs to be done.� If volunteer
doesn �t speak Spanish, then a translator will go with them.�
When the program started, parents were so excited because they would
go to parent/teacher conferences repeatedly hearing
that their child isn�t turning in their homework, only to hear about it weeks later. �The
parents do try,� says Manning. But because of language skills, a lower
level of education and an inability to understand directions, some
parents can�t be of much help. The After School Program (ASP) has greatly
improved communication between parents, students and teachers.� A volunteer
meets with the child and teacher about homework,
and reports back to the parents, with a translator if necessary, at
the end of each day
of the program.
Often these kids were the only ones in class not turning in homework
because they didn�t always understand the teacher.� There are explicit
rules in school that are culturally different from what they are familiar
with. �Now the kids feel good because they are turning in their homework.� Children
slowly are feeling more a part of the school. �It�s not something wrong
with them.� It has nothing to do with whether they or their parents
speak Spanish; it has to do with them having the proper support,� says
Manning.
The After School Program can boast success.� Five months after the
start of the program, children in the program had a 76-98% improvement
in school subjects and fewer behavior problems, and Centro Latino needed
more space to serve all the kids in the program.� Luckily, a generous
donor provided $10,000 so Centro Latino could rent
additional space.
Eduardo Crespi, Director of Centro Latino, argued that kids know the
route to success in the U.S. is through higher education,
but when they don�t have access to it, they often give up on education altogether.� �We
can help [the kids] with self-esteem, etc. but it has a limit.� Our
bright kids, when they finish high school, if not documented, cannot
proceed with higher education.� That�s where we as adults must fight
and help our representatives pass bills. ��
Day 2: Thursday, March 11th, 2004.
Reporter: Diane Kuschel
(573)875-1395
(573)881-4041
kuscheldg@missouri.edu
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