| Purpose : |
This project will deliver skills and resources needed to be successful in mainstream society by providing interdisciplinary services and programs for girls and young women engaged in the justice system and are involved in the sex trade. A dedicated facility Girls Action and Information Network (G.A.I.N.) will incorporate peer support, counselling, outreach services, parenting education, and skill development opportunities by linking and sharing services currently available through the Core Neighbourhood Youth Coop. GAIN services will work with existing programs to assist girls exiting from a life of victimization and crime, including peer support options and referrals to formal counselling. Peer support will include prevention and awareness in the areas of street life, pimp tactics, types of sexual exploitation, survival skills, and living a healthy lifestyle. All peer support and peer led programs will be run by experiential youth who have exited high-risk situations themselves.
Project focus will also be Aboriginal female youth. In addition to mentoring the girls the project will engage with dependents, providing parenting classes to participants. Supporting young parents serves as a protective factor in breaking a cycle where young children are subjected to a dangerous lifestyle based on the life choices of their parents. Parenting classes will work towards breaking an intergenerational cycle of abuse and neglect. GAIN will provide skills based training toward high school credits, preparation for further training and /or take a job with an employer enabling earning alternatives to criminal activity.
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