[HER]story & [HIS]story of Program GO!│BO!

 

Over a Decade

San Diego, California

 

2009: Girls Only!,(GO!) a prevention education and mentoring program, is developed by the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office and the City of San Diego Commission on Gang Prevention and Intervention to address girls’ increased involvement in gangs

Summer 2009: The San Diego District Attorney’s Office launches Girls Only! at the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater San Diego- Encanto Branch, a neighborhood of Southeast San Diego

May 2013: Project Concern International (PCI) conducts a needs assessment to understand the scale and scope of human trafficking in San Diego, CA- Tijuana, MX corridor. While there were victim services and intervention programs, PCI found a gap in prevention efforts

2015:  Girls Only! enhanced and expanded by PCI with funding from the Walter J. and Betty C. Zable Foundation to address the commercial sexual exploitation of girls. PCI builds a measurement component into the program and creates new activities to address present challenges

2015: Girls Only! expanded to three additional Boys & Girls Clubs: Logan Heights, Linda Vista, and National City

August 2016: Girls Only! endline report documents statistically significant improvement in self-esteem scores at the Boys and Girls Club of Encanto

October 2016: San Diego Youth Empowerment Committee recognizes the urgency for a program that creates a safe space for community mentorship where young boys could discuss issues that, at their core, parallel those of their female counterparts

November 2016: The goal of the Boys Only! program is drafted: “Prevention education program for boys to reduce gender-based violence including sex trafficking, rape, domestic violence and sexual exploitation in San Diego County.” The first focus group with the San Diego District Attorney’s Youth Advisory Board at Lincoln High School takes place to inform the Boys Only! program

January 2017: Girls Only! began operating at four unique PrimeTime Extended Day Program locations: Walter J. Porter North Elementary School (2-5th), Carver Elementary School (K-5th), Ross Elementary School (K-5th), and Audubon School (K-8th); totaling to eight active implementing Girls Only! sites across San Diego County

April 2017: Second focus group with the San Diego District Attorney’s Youth Advisory Board at Lincoln High School 

May 2017: Third and fourth focus groups with the San Diego District Attorney’s Youth Advisory Board at Lincoln High School

August 2017: Girls Only! digitized www.girlsonlytoolkit.org

December 2017: First Version of Boys Only! completed www.boysonlytoolkit.org

January 2018: Girls Only! is implemented in 11 unique PrimeTime sites as well as at the Encanto Boys and Girls Club. Boys Only! is launched and piloted in 3 Boys Only! PrimeTime sites.

June 2018: 171 Girls Only! Participants and 49 Boys Only! Participants demonstrate positive change after program participation

July 2018: San Diego Youth Empowerment Committee meets to restructure Boys Only! and Girls Only! and incorporate input from across implementing sites

August 2018: San Diego County Office of Education releases “Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) Recommended Protocols for Schools” (See Appendix A) 

September 2018: Girls Only! and Boys Only! renamed to Project ROOTS (Reclaiming Our Opportunities. Transforming Stereotypes) in a deliberate effort to step away from the binary implications of GO! and BO!

November 2018: Project ROOTS launches