Improving Communities

Community leadership honored in Washington D.C.

In Phoenix, the Girl Scouts—Arizona Cactus-Pine Council, Inc., is providing a unique and educational prevention program for underage females who have been sexually exploited and are incarcerated at the Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections’ Black Canyon School.

As the result of a partnership formed through the Innocence Lost Phoenix Initiative, the Girl Scouts—Arizona Cactus-Pine Council partnered with the Department of Juvenile Corrections to address a population of prostituted children.

In an effort to reach young girls, the Arizona Cactus-Pine Council created the Adelante Jovencitas (Young Women Moving Forward) program, a mentorship effort intended to help “build girls of courage, confidence, and character who make the world a better place.”

The Girl Scouts collaborated with other agencies and Arizona State University’s College of Education and Service Learning program in the formation of Adelante Jovencitas, which provides girls the tools they need to solve problems relating to education, health, homelessness, violence and crime, substance abuse, sexual exploitation, and gang violence.

Adelante Jovencitas has three primary components, including a non-traditional Girl Scout program that operates within the juvenile corrections systems and group homes; a transitional mentoring program that works with girls before and after their release; and a community troop that serves girls from the community and various justice system housing placements.

The Girl Scouts—Arizona Cactus-Pine Council, Inc. is instrumental in working alongside governmental organizations to combat the sexual exploitation of young females.