PACE began in 1985 with one Center in Jacksonville, Florida serving 10 girls. Today PACE includes 17 Centers throughout Florida that serve over 2,000 girls each year and has helped over 21,000 girls since its beginning. PACE began as a community response to the realization that girls involved with the justice system were either being placed in boys programs or placed further into the system for their own protection. There were no effective alternatives. Started by Vicki Burke and guided by the research-based recommendations which called for gender responsive programming, PACE created a new alternative to institutionalization or incarceration.

PACE is now recognized as a national model for reducing recidivism and improving school success, employment and self-sufficiency amongst girls by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Children's Defense Fund, National Mental Health Association, National Council on Crime and Delinquency, and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. 

PACE Center for Girls, Inc. is a nationally recognized and research based model that features a balanced emphasis on academics and social services with a focus on the future for middle and high-school aged girls and young women. 

The foundation of PACE is the gender-responsive culture, providing a safe environment that celebrates girls, services that take into account how girls learn and develop, and staff that understand the lives of girls and can respond to their strengths and challenges.  

With a demonstrated record of success, PACE uses a holistic, strength-based and asset building model specifically responsive to the needs of girls and which is recognized as among the most effective programs in the country for keeping girls from entering the juvenile justice system. 

PACE Provides:

Goal Setting and Ongoing Progress Monitoring

Goal setting with ongoing assessment and improvement process to identify each girls’ strengths and challenges and then provide her the best possible support.

Academic Education

Academic education through daily instruction, individualized education plans taught by certified teachers that align with requirements of the local school district.

Spirited Girls!™

PACE’s life management curriculum that helps girls to make positive decisions and lifestyle choices.

Service Learning

Community volunteer and service-learning opportunities to help girls develop a strong connection with their local community.

Career Preparation

Career preparation and career exploration, school-to-work readiness skills, and assistance with finding, applying for and interviewing for jobs.

Case Management

Ongoing case management for girls and their families designed to connect them with local resources and services.

Counseling

Individual and group counseling that provides each girl tools to respond to obstacles in her life, peer pressure, family conflict and coping with victimization or abuse. Girls and their counselors develop care plans with individualized goals based on assessed strengths and needs.

Parental Involvement

Ongoing parental involvement in the care plan.

Transition Services

Social services, academics and a focus on the future. Ongoing case management to support girls once they transition from PACE to go back to their home school, higher education, or the workforce.

Values and Principles Guiding Our Actions

Honor the Female Spirit:

We value and promote the female perspective by respecting its distinct needs, creating safe and gender responsive environments, and celebrating the female experience.

Focus on Strengths:

We look to identify strengths in our girls, their families, our staff and supporters.  Using these strengths as our foundation, we build strong, confident, productive community participants.

Act with Integrity and Positive Intent:

We believe that all actions and decisions must be guided by the highest ethical principles, respecting the uniqueness of all involved and honoring the differences.

Embrace Growth and Change:

We believe that everyone is capable of remarkable growth, and only by encouraging change can individuals, organizations and society reach their full potential.

Value the Wisdom of Time:

We understand that patience can be as powerful as immediate action, and each has its place.  We value the discernment required for their effective use.

Exhibit Courage:

We think courage is essential in making a difference, enabling us to speak for those who cannot, take risks to do what is right, deliver just and fair consequences and be accountable for our actions.

Seek Excellence:

We strive for excellence in all we accomplish by holding true to our mission while consistently meeting high standards of performance, reflecting critically upon our accomplishments, seeking innovative solutions, and believing all things are possible.

Create Partnerships:

We believe in developing effective partnerships and long-term relationships, by listening to our staff, our girls, and their families and our communities, incorporating their input and involving them in our decision-making.

Invest in the Future:

We place our faith in the long-term growth and development of our girls, staff, agency and communities, believing it is the best strategy for creating results that have lasting impact.

Our Mission:

PACE provides girls and young women an opportunity for a better future through education, counseling, training and advocacy.

Our Philosophy:

PACE values all girls and young women, believing each one deserves an opportunity to find her voice, achieve her potential and celebrate a life defined by responsibility, dignity, serenity and grace.