"If you're a girl with goals, Teenshop is where you want to be," she said.
There are four chapters of Teenshop in Philadelphia and one in Los Angeles. Each hosts a series of workshops every other Saturday, from September until June, on topics ranging from financial literacy to self-esteem.
"We teach them about building self-esteem and making the right choices," said Elleanor Jean Hendley, a former teacher and Philadelphia television reporter who founded the program in 1985.
"I wanted to give back to the community," said Hendley.
To participate, girls in grades 7 through 12 must promise to stay in school and to not get pregnant. Hendley said about 3,000 girls have gone through the program and as far as she knows, none left because of a pregnancy.
"If you keep teaching young people about positive goals, they are less likely to partake in negative activity," said Hendley.
One way Hendley has found to influence girls is to confront the issue of sex. To help persuade them to not become teen mothers, the girls attend a workshop called "The Real Deal About Sex," led by a gynecologist.
"Some of the girls were surprised, because she was graphic, but she was straight to the point," said second-year participant Jael Maxwell, 15, who attends Philadelphia Mennonite High School. "It really made me think about not having sex," said Maxwell, who has taken a vow of celibacy until marriage.
She says waiting for marriage is strongly encouraged in the program. "I plan on focusing more on my career, because I want to be a doctor and that takes a lot of work," she said.
Ariel Parker, 16, of West Philadelphia, said the talk with the girls included information about sexually transmitted diseases and making the decision to have sex. "I've definitely never had a sex talk like that one before," said Parker, a student at Friends' Central School.
