The Importance Of Self-Esteem

African-American girls from marginalized demographics, such as low income families, impoverished and crime ridden neighborhoods, and violent homes and communities, often undergo feelings of worthlessness and invalidity due to their socio-economic standings; which often results in low- level academic performance and self-esteem behaviors such as poor coping skills, decision- making, and risky behaviors (Wallace, Townsend, Glasgow & Ojie, 2011). This lower self-esteem is caused in part by marginalization, racism and urban culture that sexualizes African American girls and also leads to other issues such as poor school performance and risky sexual behavior. All too often urban media and culture glorify the behaviors that develop from this low …show more content…
(Girls In Real Life Situations) is a group counseling curriculum for enhancing social and emotional development for girls in grades 6-12. It consists of pre/posttests that measures self-awareness and self-worth and various group activities that explore a variety of issues such as body image self-esteem, social relationships, and self-acceptance. There is also a group evaluation portion that allows the participants to verbalize their feelings about the counseling and make recommendations for strengthening the program. There is no mandated time frame on the duration of the counseling; this is at the facilitator’s discretion. Because this curriculum is designed for small group counseling it creates and intimate and safe setting for the girls to be able to share openly. The fact that the curriculum is more activity based than discussion based is good for keeping the interests of the girls as well as less intimidating because it does not make the girls feel as if they are in a therapeutic setting therefore eliminating any stigma that may be attached to therapy or mental health services. The curriculum, however, is grade based which does not take into account the number of adolescent females in New Orleans who have been retained due to various factors including cognitive delay, post Katrina registration issues, excessive absences, and lack of parental supervision and direction. The curriculum is also very safe, not taking into consideration issues/factors faced by …show more content…
has gained respect nationally within Black communities as a showcase of positive Black women in a variety of fields and initiative to inspire upcoming generations of Black women. In addition to celebrating the successes of Black women on an annual awards show which airs on BET, the program offers a summer camp targeted at building the self-esteem of Black girls. The organization holds a weekly Saturday Enrichment Institute as well as a Queens’ Camp for Leadership and Excellence, a two week immersion program held at Barnard College for participants from around the world. The Saturday Enrichment takes place from 11-6 for girls form the New York City area, ages 12-17, enrolled in middle and high school, who submit a completed application. The program is art based with leadership & like skills seminars, technology and entrepreneurship sessions, academic tutoring, cultural & critical literacy workshops, college preparation courses, and career development advisories. The immersion program requires an application for admission and consists of curriculum focused on Leadership Development, Entrepreneurship, Innovation & Technology, Art, and Cultural Literacy. While this program offers wonderful development in a variety of areas that can help to boost self-esteem it does not offer a specific self-esteem curriculum and/or assessment. Furthermore, it is based on an application which means young girls who may not have the writing and literacy skills to submit a