Sally Zeh, executive director of the Pinellas Park-based PACE Center for Girls, and Housh Ghovaee, PACE’s new president and former treasurer, look over informational materials about the center.
The number of homeless students within Pinellas County public schools has risen by a startling 60 percent during the last year, and there are no signs that the problem is easing.
Sally Zeh, executive director of the Pinellas Park-based PACE Center for Girls, said the latest statistics from the Pinellas County Schools Homeless Education Assistance Team identified 1,315 homeless students as of February 2009. By last month that figure rose to 1,916.
“That represents a major increase in just one year,” Zeh said. “In previous years Pinellas schools have witnessed a 50 percent annual increase. Now that figure is up to 60 percent.”
Zeh said the increase in other troubled girls within Pinellas Country also has risen dramatically during the past year. She fears that the problem will become overwhelming for not only her own organization, but for others as well.
Many homeless students live in shelters, motels or are forced to live with friends and other family members after being displaced.
Some girls, and male students, too, actually live in makeshift camps along the wooden areas of major roads and in cars and trucks.
There has been an increase in the amount of families living in vehicles. In one of the worst cases a single mother and her three children were discovered living in an old car in Pinellas Park.
Zeh blames much of the problem on the nation’s spiraling economy that shows little signs of improvement.
PACE is a private, nonresidential organization that offers therapeutic prevention and intervention programs for thousands of girls across Florida. It operates 17 centers, with the Pinellas Park chapter being among the largest.
The Pinellas chapter was established in 1997. The organization as a whole is considered a model for assisting troubled females by the U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
The Child Welfare League of America also has cited PACE as one of few organizations with an outstanding track record of working with at-risk females.
“Two-thirds of our girls are historically living at or below the poverty level,” Zeh said.
Homelessness is not the only issue confronting young females. They often are victims of sexual abuse, psychological and physical assaults, drug abuse, alcoholism and other risk factors.
Zeh said one out of three juveniles referred to the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice are female. About 90 percent of PACE graduates never return to a life of crime and 91 percent have improved their academic performance.
Housh Ghovaee, PACE’s new president and former treasurer, said many girls have become sound employees, attend college, joined the military or are productive citizens in other ways.
“Many girls are growing up without family support and suffer from multiple issues caused by their environment,” Ghovaee said. “Sometimes we never know the extent of the emotional damage caused by their circumstances.”
Ghovaee said PACE works with girls between the ages of 11 and 18. He, like Zeh, cites the nation’s economic challenges as a major cause for the upswing in troubled female teens.
PACE employs accredited teachers in its classrooms. The organization also provides assistance in dealing with a wide rage of anger management, emotional and other issues that contribute to self-defeating behavior.
PACE is largely financed by the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice and the Pinellas County School Board. The rest comes from individual and corporate donations.
Juvenile justice gets involved because social problems are linked to poor school performance.
“Girls who have a pattern of truancy and poor academic achievement are five times more likely to become criminal offenders,” Zeh said. “We understand the relationship between victimization and female juvenile crime.”
Zeh said girls use their anger, depression and other problems to mask their personal pain. That can lead to drug and alcohol abuse, acts of violence, running away from home and family conflict.
She notes that while the problems confronting teenage girls increases, donations to help support programs is declining.
To deal with the financial shortfalls Ghovaee will launch new programs to raise money. The former chairman of the board of the Pinellas Park/Gateway Chamber of Commerce who was largely responsible for turning it from a somewhat lackadaisical group into one of the most powerful in Pinellas County, Ghovaee is organizing facility tours, a fashion show and other programs aimed at filling PACE’s coffers.
“People must be made aware of the problems confronting young girls in the community,” Ghovaee said. “We must open the collective eyes of our residents and the business community to ensure that they understand the challenges.”
Ghovaee will soon launch a new “think tank” composed of residents, community leaders and others to not only come up with ways to help the girls, but to fund present and future programs.
Further information is available by calling PACE at 456-1566 or visiting www.pacecenter.org.
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