- April 26, 2024
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Mother of four (number five is due June 1), Girlfriends Connected Director Sharell Arneaud remembers all too well how tough it was when she was a teen.
“I was in trouble when I was a teenage girl, and by the time I got to college, I started to figure things out for myself,” Arneaud said.
Arneaud was anxious to share what she learned along the way. While an undergraduate at the University of Florida, she put together a group, “Roads to Success,” for middle school-age girls, 11 to 15.
She had a good role model, her mother, Stephanie Williams, started Girlfriends Connected Inc. in Jacksonville, many years ago.
Working with a middle school in Gainesville the program was a success – starting with five participants and herself, and growing to 45 participants and 30 volunteers in three years.
“We had girls who came in with Fs, and were being suspended all of the time, who worked up to the honor roll,” Arneaud said. “That's why I wanted to keep the program going. I saw the impact it had in Gainesville.”
In October of 2015 she started the mentorship program, Roads to Success, at the George Washington Carver Center, for girls 16-20 who were getting their GEDs. Again the monthly program was well received.
In July, Arneaud will introduce Girlfriends Connected Inc., a program for girls 11-15.
“We are launching a program very similar to the one I had in Gainesville,” Arneaud said. “Starting in July we will meet the second Thursday of every month until we get the interest up, then we will add more days.”
The program is about an hour and a half, and typically begins with participants sharing how their day has been, or maybe a poem, then an activity – an icebreaker for the girls to start and build relationships.
“My main goal is for them to learn how to have relationships and stay out of trouble – that's the biggest issue.”
Body image, anger, and learning how to manage anger, self-esteem, and relationships, are the biggest concerns Arneaud said she encounters with the girls.
There is also hope of the program expanding to the Flagler County Youth Center at Flagler Palm Coast High School. Arneaud has been working with the director, Cheryl Massaro, and has participated in some programs at the center.
Along with being director of the Youth Center, Massaro is the director of the George Washington Carver Center, and the Circuit 7 board chair for the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice. She said there is a need for Arneaud's programs.
“As I travel through the State, I see our girls need help from beyond what they get from their parents – and some don't get any from their parents,” Massaro said. “I have been waiting for some kind of program like this to come along. Any kind of mentorship assistance we can provide our kids, outside of the normal school day, is beneficial.”
The program is free, Arneaud volunteers her time. She has a degree in family youth and community sciences and a graduate degree in clinical social work, and works as a social worker at Florida Hospitals in Flagler and Volusia counties, and Interim Health Care in Flagler and St. Augustine.
She said a recent text from an employee at the Carver Center, let her know she was starting to make a difference.
“I got a text saying the girls wanted to know if I was coming back,” she said.
