Cigna Foundation Helps Expand Trauma Counseling Services With $136,000 Grant to Pace Center for Girls
August 29 2019 - 8:00AM
Business Wire
The Cigna Foundation announced a $136,000 grant to Pace Center
for Girls Broward, a Florida nonprofit organization that provides
girls with an opportunity for a better future through education,
counseling, training and advocacy. The purpose of Pace is to
intervene and prevent school withdrawal, juvenile delinquency, teen
pregnancy, substance abuse and welfare dependence in a safe and
nurturing environment.
“We are grateful to the Cigna Foundation for their support in
the expansion of the Pace Reach Program. This funding provides us
the opportunity to hire an additional therapist to focus on serving
girls in northwest Broward County who in most cases would be unable
receive Pace therapy services at our center located in southeast
Broward County due to a lack of transportation and distance,” said
Aggie Pappas, Regional Executive Director at Pace Center for
Girls.
The Cigna Foundation grant will fund an additional therapist in
the Pace Broward County Reach program, which provides counseling
for girls who have been through trauma including school violence,
sexual violence, loss of a family member and those who lack a
structured family unit.
“We recognize the emotional burdens children and families may
face after experiencing trauma, and support community organizations
that provide the environment, tools and resources to help people
get better – physically and emotionally,” said Susan Stith,
executive director, Cigna Foundation. “Pace is a proven leader in
providing personalized, wrap-around care and support, and we are
pleased to help them expand their capabilities.”
Pace has pioneered a way to impact marginalized girls who need
counseling from trained therapists to reach their potential. The
organization has a 90 percent success rate in diverting high-risk
girls away from the juvenile justice system, while in recent years
there has been a 65 percent increase of girls entering the Florida
Department of Juvenile Justice system. Pace provides a lower cost
and more effective alternative to confinement by addressing risk
factors, reducing behavioral and physical chronic health problems,
while addressing adverse childhood experiences (ACEs).
“We go deep into the communities we serve to help people live
healthier, more productive lives, and we are proud to support the
critical work that Pace is doing to lift up young women and girls
in Broward County and throughout Florida,” said Scott Evelyn, Cigna
president for South Florida.
Since 1985, Pace has grown to include 21 centers across Florida,
and has changed the life trajectory for over 37,000 girls through
the academic and counseling day program and Pace Reach Counseling
Center. Every girl at Pace sets educational and social goals
focused on earning a diploma or GED, returning to public school,
attending college, getting vocational training, joining the
military or entering the workforce. Pace not only saves girls
lives, but its return on investment impacts future generations.
Among girls receiving Pace services in FY 2017-2018, 82 percent
reported improved family relationships, and 74 percent had improved
behaviors associated with delinquency. For more info go to
www.pacecenter.org.
About the Cigna Foundation
The Cigna Foundation, founded in 1962, is a private foundation
funded by contributions from Cigna Corporation (NYSE: CI) and its
subsidiaries. The Cigna Foundation supports organizations sharing
its commitment to enhancing the health of individuals and families,
and the well-being of their communities, with a special focus on
those communities where Cigna employees live and work.
About Pace Center for Girls
Founded in 1985 in Jacksonville, Florida, in response to an
increasing rate of arrests among middle and high school aged girls
whose delinquent behavior was driven by underlying trauma and
victimization, Pace uses a unique strength-based,
gender-responsive, trauma-informed approach to re-engage girls in
learning, to improve academic performance, and to increase
pro-social skills while addressing underlying trauma attributed to
female delinquency. Pace Broward, the fourth Pace Center introduced
in Florida, was established in 1992 and has served over 7,500 girls
in all program components providing gender responsive services to
girls.
For more information on Pace Center for Girls Broward, please
contact Kim Vassar at 954-561-6939 ext. 3827 or at
kim.vassar@pacecenter.org
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190829005044/en/
MEDIA CONTACT: Holly Fussell 423-304-9128
holly.fussell@cigna.com
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