TOLEDO, Ohio — Gemstones are known for being beautiful, bright, and valuable, but they can't be that without a proper polish.
A new program run by the Toledo Police Athletic League is doing this for teen girls to help them shine. The idea quickly became a passion for the girls, the neighborhood and our community.
It’s a simple playground behind the brand-new Mott Branch Library where Kimberly Darrington spent her days as a teen. She grew up in those streets and remembers them well, but now as a Toledo police officer she sees the harsh reality of her former neighborhood.
"When I saw the statistics about the high rate of delinquency for African American teenage girls in particular, I mean, I was that at risk kid," Darrington said.
Officer Darrington knew she needed to do something to help the girls in Central Toledo. Her role with the Toledo Police Athletic League (PAL) paved the perfect path for her to begin a mentoring program for girls from eighth grade to seniors in high school
The Polished Emerald Project kicked off at the Mott Branch Library Monday and will run for six weeks. Sessions begin at the library at 6 p.m. and lasts about an hour and a half.
"A lot of the things we want to touch on are not necessarily addressed at home or even in social media,” Darrington said. “Kids get such a skewed idea about what is real and what's reality through social media and they follow a lot of the negative influences out there. So, we just want to cover some of those subjects that will kind of help the girls understand that you're beautiful and we want to encourage them that their self-esteem is important."
The Polished Emeralds will discuss topics like education, style, conflict and more to empower the young women to be and do more. Those already signed up said they look forward to the lessons they will learn.
"To see them do the makeup and stuff and to know more about self-esteem and stuff like that,” Brooklyn Shaffer said.
"To be more positive," Jayla Jackson said
The program caters to teenage girls to help them build meaningful, trustworthy and reliable relationships with other women. The teens said they recognize how important it is to be surrounded by other strong females.
"They understand where each other comes from and all that,” said Isis Jones. “And they know what other people are going through like, 'Oh yeah, we have the same thing going on.'"
It's not too late to sign up yet, but the deadline is approaching. Officer Darrington has asked those who join the Polished Emerald Project to make a commitment to be there throughout the process because those who do will get rewards for their participation.
If you want to join the project, you can contact Officer Kimberly Darrington at 419-450-6074 or e-mail toledopal@yahoo.com. If you want to know more about PAL or the new program you can visit their website.