The Ophelia Project continues to empower Coachella Valley students
Coming on the heels of the fine writing Desert Sun reporter Jonathan Horwitz did to highlight PSUSD students and the desert dichotomy – a valley with some of the country’s richest residents and a valley with some of the poorest – came a plea from The Desert Sun editorial board. They wrote: “Your help needed for mentorship programs in Coachella Valley.” On the very next page, Cheryl Sandberg and Latricia Barksdale wrote a “Your Turn” column titled “Get real about empowering girls to lead.” Above that column was a story about the Coachella Valley Unified School District helping to educate their students about their mental health.
I can confidently say that none of the information provided in the four articles I noted above is new to us!
It’s an incredible confluence of issues that we at The Ophelia Project address every day.
The Ophelia Project – a woman-led, volunteer mentoring program for young adolescent girls from eighth grade to 12th grade is more vital today than ever in our 25-year history! Our mentors over the last quarter century have come into our local schools at the invitation of the school districts, to empower and encourage girls to increase their sense of self-worth and maximize their potential contribution to society.
Our 56 mentors are currently in 14 schools from Thermal to Desert Hot Springs, mentoring 313 girls this last school year and over 5,400 local girls since our inception. The Ophelia Project offers a range of resources and programs to help girls navigate the challenges of adolescence. School counselors select girls who come from low-income communities, difficult circumstances, or challenged families but who show great promise.
Program content includes topics like goal setting, healthy relationships, internet safety, money management, cyberbullying, mental health and college/ vocational opportunities. We do this by having trained, volunteer female mentors come alongside their girls with encouragement, support and love.
This past school year we addressed the mental/behavioral needs of our Ophelia Girls going forward by introducing three proven lifelong tools for anxiety and stress relief and weave those tools – journaling, positive affirmations and a simple meditative breathing exercise throughout each class session.
Our leadership program, the Ophelia Ambassadors, is open to 11th and 12th-grade girls. We provide them the skills and encouragement to act as leaders in their Ophelia classroom, their school and their community.
We augment the project by bringing in guest speakers – local, accomplished women leaders from a wide variety of professions, who look like our girls, who share similar obstacles and hurdles that our girls face but who, despite their circumstances, have gone on to maximize their contribution to society. This exposure to “what’s possible” is hugely beneficial to the trajectory of Ophelia Girls.
Mentoring works. 100% of our Ophelia Girls graduate high school. Along with the enhanced knowledge, we’re able to offer scholarship support to our Ophelia senior girls as they pursue their college or vocational journey.
Despite our big name, we are a small nonprofit that relies on our community’s investment of time (mentoring) and money (scholarships). It is only through this support that we can grow and continue to improve the trajectory of our local girls.
We have always been about building a strong girl! Why? Because a strong girl leads to strong families. Strong families lead to stronger communities and strong communities are good for us all!
If you’re interested in getting involved with the Ophelia Project, feel free to email me or check out https://www.jfkfoundation.org/
Peter Sturgeon is the president/CEO of the John F. Kennedy Memorial Foundation/Ophelia Project. For questions about mentoring or support his email is psturgeon@jfkfoundation.org