A few young girls who live in Alachua County would be the first to say how the Pace Center for Girls changed their lives. While Matidson would share how after she failed in the public school system, her Pace academic career led her to tell top Tallahassee officials about at-risk teen policy, Laci said how Pace counselors showed her how self-medicating her anxiety with drugs and alcohol was no cure at all. Lastly, Ireland would talk about how the Gainesville center helped her consider a college career, a dream she believed was only reserved for more fortunate youth. Backing up these life-changing stories, Pace Center for Girls Alachua County Executive Director Natalya Bannister said that creative outreach strategies and partnerships increased the Gainesville location’s enrollment by 40% percent since settling in the community 22 years ago. “We worked hard to establish a strong culture that values purpose, caring, learning and results,” she said. That hard work paid off. The Alachua County center’s retention rate remains 100% over the last year and 90% over the last 5 years, according to Bannister, who said those kinds of numbers don’t come easy in the challenging field. Retention is critical at Pace, noted the executive director, who has been at the Gainesville location since 2014. Bannister said she and the staff are the most consistent presence in the young girls’ lives, which is why the girls are involved in the hiring process.
“Our girls are involved in the hiring process for all candidates and have a seat at the leadership table in program decision making,” she said.
Pace’s board of directors, who go above and beyond with an unwavering passion, are also responsible for the center’s growth. The executive group of members helped expanded the local program through fundraising, making it possible to serve more girls in crisis. Keeping an intimate atmosphere is pertinent at Pace. With a 14:1 student-teacher ratio and individual mental health counseling, Pace teens receive one-on-one encouragement that makes a life-changing difference. The weekly counselor checkups motivated Matidson to try again after giving up in the public school system, where she felt defeated. Pace reminded her about second chances, which were often thwarted by her trauma.
“They figure out methods to help us cope,” Matidson said. “If you have anger issues, they help you figure out what triggers you to get angry.”
Now, Matidson uses her voice to raise juvenile justice system issues to state legislators, traveling to Tallahassee with Pace staff members to tell policyholders how much the center changed her life. That story and others gained national attention in 2019, when Pace received the Impact of the Year award from the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges for its powerful courtroom management procedures.
“A little over 10 years ago, the state of Florida was arresting more girls than any other state in this country,” Bannister said of the 20,000 female population who didn’t stand a chance. “Pace has had a direct impact on cutting the number of girls arrested in this state by more than half.”
Part of that impact is based on Pace’s three pillars of success, including gender-responsive, strengths-based and trauma-informed models. These foundations are key, according to Bannister, who highlighted the strengths-based model she said resonates the most with the girls. The strengths-based model includes Pace’s Growth & Change rewards system, which gifts students with a lunch date, clothes or makeup for reaching a milestone. It is not the monetary items that build the girls up, however. It is the passionate staff who pour positivity in the teens’ minds.
“When we speak to the girls, we highlight the things that they do well and build upon those strengths in the entire time at Pace,” Bannister said. “We’re not focusing on the behaviors that brought them to Pace, we’re focusing on the building blocks that make them great.”
These conversations are a gift, both figurately and literally. During Christmas, the entire staff writes why each student is special and encases their responses. The glassed-wrapped sentiments frame a more positive outlook for the local teens who come from diverse backgrounds and circumstances that offered pain instead of praise. While the Alachua Pace Center for Girls is changing lives within its walls, it is also reaching girls at Lincoln Middle School, where it started a Pace Reach Counseling Program sponsored by The Children’s Trust of Alachua County and the Trust Foundation. The nonprofit’s community outreach initiative implemented in larger Pace Centers throughout Florida is new to Alachua County.
“As we continued to strengthen our impact in the community, we found that this was the ideal time to launch Reach as mental health continues to be an immediate need,” Bannister said.
Bannister said the Pace Center for Girls in Alachua County is working diligently to bring more awareness to secure additional funding so it can offer the gender-responsive, strength-based and trauma-informed model and services to the broader Gainesville community. Calling the teens the bravest girls she has ever known, Bannister plans to continue with courage in her profession, which she says is her calling.
“My role at Pace matches my soul, and it is my honor to advocate and represent and fight for brighter futures for girls, who not only need us most but deserve a fair shot at a life of dignity and grace,” she said.