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Valene Harris, Executive Director of Teens in Perspective (T.I.P.), is being honored for creating a community-based program in 2004 whose purpose is to provide at-risk, underprivileged teenage girls with a safe haven where they can obtain the education, skills, and guidance necessary to build their self-esteem and empower them to escape their impoverished backgrounds. Ms. Harris--a social worker with Bachelor degrees in Social Work and Criminal Justice, and Master degrees in Law and Social Policy and Social Work-- has spent the last 16 years listening and working with teenage girls, trying to teach them how to make their lives better. T.I.P. offers “Straight Talk” Teen Forums, dance and basketball workshops, and weekend program group meetings where teenage girls can talk about their dreams and aspirations, and receive help and advice in dealing with the threats of drugs and violence in their neighborhoods. In addition to running T.I.P., Ms. Harris facilitates both a self-help empowerment group for young girls and women at “Mind, Body, and Soul” and a monthly meeting at a women’s shelter, functions as the Teen Pregnancy Program Coordinator at a Medicare Managed Care Company, and mentors children in elementary and middle school classrooms as a volunteer member of the Delaware Creative Mentoring program.
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