‘Smart Girls’ making progress in Van Buren

story by Marla Cantrell
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When a 12-year-old girl came to Cindy Faldon with a very grown-up problem, the executive director of the Van Buren Boys and Girls Club realized she had to take action.

“You hear about these serious situations that kids are in, but until you see it face-to-face, it’s just a statistic,” Faldon said, revealing all she could about the girl’s predicament. “It was a hard conversation, and it hit home. I went to our life skills coordinator, Michelle Holman, and told her we had to start the Smart Girls program.”

Smart Girls is part of the Smart Moves program provided by the Boys and Girls Club of America. It’s designed to give girls in junior high the tools they need to build confidence, avoid bad choices like illegal drug use, and say no when the need arises.

The Fort Smith Boys and Girls Club have had the program in place for several years.

“It’s hard for both boys and girls to say no,” Faldon explained. “You need that extra support that you get from being part of a like-minded group.”

Faldon needed money to start the program, so she went to the Van Buren Women’s League. They wrote a check for $300. The rest of the $1,100 budget came from a grant from United Way. This summer 20 girls enrolled. They will graduate Friday (Aug. 13) night.

The girls met twice a week, hearing from community leaders about making smart choices. The most eye-opening class was when Van Buren detective Donald Eversole, after creating a fake profile on Facebook and inviting the girls to “friend” him, revealed what he had learned about them in one short week.

“It was shocking how much information they’d shared with him,” Faldon said. “It was a truly concrete example of how easy it is to get pulled into something that could be very risky.”

A nurse from the Crawford County Health Department talked to the girls about health issues and STDs, another officer taught self-defense classes. One of the girls, who is being raised by a single father, asked if someone could talk to him about some very private issues she was facing.

“Michelle took him aside when he came to pick her up,” Faldon said. “We laugh now that they know each other a lot better than most people ever do. … It was nice to have a woman here who could fill that void for her.”

It’s a much different world than when Faldon grew up. She belonged to a girls group that studied etiquette, babysitting skills and crocheting. Today, the world unfolds to kids, sometimes long before they’re ready.

“You’d be amazed by what they’re confronted with, and their minds aren’t always mature enough to make the right decisions,” Faldon said. “That’s where we come in.”

According to statistics Faldon pulled from Kids Count, Arkansas is ranked 48th overall in a national study on children’s well being. Kids County is supported by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. The Arkansas data showed:
• 50th in teens not in school and not working;
• 48th in children in poverty; and,
• 47th in teen birth rate.

Faldon, who has been with the Van Buren Boys and Girls club for 12 years, and took over as director in July, is proud of what the group has accomplished. She’s decided to continue the program during the school year, holding the class every Friday afternoon.

“It may take us a few years, but if we can get them when they’re pre-teens we can make a difference in their lives,” Faldon said. “The problems they face don’t end with summer.”