SMART News

SMART Moves

The SMART Moves program uses small group activities to teach young people to recognize and resist media influences and peer pressures to engage in tobacco, alcohol and other drug use. The program focuses on "gateway" drugs such as cigarettes, alcohol and marijuana as the first drugs used by youth. The program will include three, 14-week sessions. Each session will include the following components (Goals included):

The Program Activities/Service Goals for 2005-2006 in our 16 Clubs. (Total 4,656)

SMART Kids

Girls and boys, ages 6 - 9. Service Goal for 2005-06: 1,408
Focuses on building self-esteem as well as developing positive social skills and the skills that will enable them to avoid early smoking habits, drugs and other harmful influences.

Start SMART

For pre-teens, ages 10 - 12. Service Goal for 2005-06: 1,877

Presents information and skills needed to resist pressures to get involved in alcohol, tobacco, other drugs or sexual activity. Group members analyze influences from media and from peers; they also practice resisting peer pressure.

Stay SMART

For teens, ages 13 - 15. Service Goal for 2005-06: 811
Provides information about alcohol, tobacco, other drugs and sexuality as it develops skills to help teens make healthy life style choices. Problem-solving and decision-making, stress reduction techniques and ways to resist peer and media pressures are the main components of this program.

SMART Leaders

Girls & boys, ages 16 - 18. Service Goal for 2005-06: 560
Requires teens to complete all other components of the SMART Moves program, receive peer facilitation training and provide positive role model behaviors for other Club members.

SMART Moves Awareness

Girls & boys not enrolled in SMART Moves Program but are Club members. Service Goal for 2005-06: 600 (not included in total of 4,656 to be served). SMART Moves training components are included in core areas. These core components are character and leadership development, education and career development, the arts, physical fitness/sports/recreation, and health and life skills. Parents and the community at large are exposed to information and the opportunity to reinforce and enhance the success of the program outcomes through the distribution of SMART Moves materials, program visibility, and recognition at community meetings and special events.

SMART Parents (Keep SMART)

This parent program emphasizes communication skills and factual information about tobacco, drug, and alcohol use as well as adolescent sexuality. 600 parents will be involved in prevention activities with their children at the Club.

SMART Ideas

Skills and knowledge acquired in the small group programs are used to promote and reinforce the preventative message throughout the community and establish an environment that reinforces skills learned.

SMART Girls

An outgrowth of the popular and effective SMART Moves program, SMART Girls is a health, fitness, prevention/education and self-esteem enhancement program for girls ages 10 - 15. The program is designed to encourage healthy attitudes and lifestyles that will enable early adolescent girls to develop to their full potential. Service Goal for 2005-06: 560

SMART Girls Program

Smart Girls is a component of Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s SMART (Skills Mastery and Resistance Training) Moves family of programs. By offering SMART Girls to meet girls’ interests and needs, Boys & Girls Clubs are ideally positioned to help girls build self-esteem and self-worth, and learn to nurture their own mental and physical well-being. This program is sponsored by Tupperware Brands Corporation.

Why SMART Girls is Needed

Studies show that while girls and boys experience a decrease in self-esteem during the junior high and high school years, girls’ self-esteem tends to drop more over time. The key years before and during adolescence are critical in girls’ development, since many carry behaviors and beliefs from this time into adulthood. While Boys & Girls Clubs should strive to serve all members equally, there is no doubt that girls and boys also benefit from some gender-specific programming. Check out these startling trends among girls in the United States: The average age range when girls develop eating disorders has declined from 13 to 17 to 9 to 12. By age 14, girls are twice as likely to suffer from depression as boys. In 2004, more girls than boys started using alcohol, cigarettes and marijuana. Each year, 38 percent of date rapes are reported by girls between the ages of 14 and 17. Although the U.S. teen pregnancy rate is declining, it continues to be the highest in the Western industrialized world.

How the Program Helps Girls

SMART Girls features modules for ages 8 to 12 and 13 to 17. Each module contains two components. In “It’s Your Body,” Club members examine the physical and emotional developments that occur during adolescence, media influence on attitudes and behaviors toward females, development of personal values in dating relationships, sexually transmitted diseases, and eating disorders.

The second component, “Take Care of Your Body,” focuses on girls’ specific nutritional needs. It provides Club members with basic cooking skills, ways to ensure physical fitness and exposure to community agencies that deal with female health issues.

Keystone Conference Participation

To get the word out, a SMART Girls forum took place at the 2007 National Keystone Conference, BGCA’s annual conference for teens. The session, led by best-selling author, advice columnist and on-air personality Jessica Weiner, was very well attended by the female Keystone Club members. Jessica talked about the importance of girls and women supporting one another instead of feeling they have to compete, not believing the media hype about appearance and having a positive body image, and the dangers of eating disorders.

Additional Keystone Conference SMART Girls forums are planned for 2008 and 2009.

How Girls Can Participate

Girls and their families interested in experiencing the SMART Girls program should locate a nearby Boys & Girls Club.

Additional Information

Read the SMART Girls article from the Spring 2007 issues of Connections magazine and read about two outstanding girls who have participated in the SMART Girls program, Arizona Youth of the Year (Sasha Anderson) and New Mexico Youth of the Year (Nicole Munoz).

SMART Moves Newsletters

(Click to download pdf files)

Vol 1, Feb 2006 - part 1

Vol 1, Feb 2006 - part 2

Vol 1, May 2006 - part 1

Vol 1, May 2006 - part 2