Justine Ray considers herself a Gwen's Girls success story. The non-profit agency helps girls, age 8-18, build self-esteem and healthy relationships through gender-specific programs that are community-based and residential. Ms. Ray credits the agency with teaching her the importance of education and responsibility.

A single mother of three-year-old Bradley, Ms. Ray is 17 years old. With the help of the agency, she now attends high school, works part-time at the agency and has big plans for her future.

"Before, I didn't want to do anything. Now I'm planning on going to college after high school. I want to be a registered nurse," Ms. Ray, of Brentwood, said. "I like helping people."

Thanks to grants totaling more than $200,000, the agency will, for the first time, offer its services to at-risk girls living outside of the city of Pittsburgh. Gwen's Girls services will be offered in Braddock, Duquesne, McKeesport and West Mifflin. The agency's Mon Valley expansion will provide numerous community-based services and mentoring opportunities for at-risk girls.

"Up until now, we've been doing our work within the confines of the city. But we know [the Mon Valley] is an area of need, because we know the associated problems that come with high poverty rates," the group's executive director Lynn Knezevich said.

Ms. Knezevich said the organization has helped hundreds of girls in the city.

"Last year, not one of our girls got pregnant and 98 percent went on to the next grade level at school," she said.

Gwen's Girls, which is under contract with Allegheny County Youth and Family Services, expects to help 30 additional girls through individual mentoring services at the Mon Valley locations. Nearly 60 more girls are expected to benefit from the 18-week after-school curriculum to be offered at the three new sites.

The Mon Valley operation will operate from a satellite office at the LaRosa Boys and Girls Club of McKeesport, 901 Ravine St. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held there last week.

Other sites will include the Duquesne-West Mifflin Boys and Girls Club, 29 North Third St., and the Braddock Municipal Building, 415 Sixth St.

The agency was founded in 2002 by the late Gwendolyn Elliot. During nearly 30 years on the Pittsburgh police force. Ms. Elliott saw thousands of young girls who needed more support to lead productive lives. After her retirement, she set out to provide gender-specific services for young girls in the Pittsburgh area.

Ms. Knezevich said that girls respond differently to than boys to intervention efforts.

"They don't respond to punitive measures. It takes time to build trusting relationships with case managers."

The agency's founder grew up in Duquesne and West Mifflin. Ms. Knezevich said the agency's expansion to those neighborhoods would please Ms. Elliot.

"I think she'd be proud of this effort. We've tried to remain true to her vision and legacy," Ms. Knezevich said.

Ms. Knezevich has been with the agency since its beginning and recalls the founder's passion.

"Gwen was always a champion for the under-served population and those that didn't have a voice," Ms. Knezevich, 55, of Squirrel Hill, said.

Self-esteem, healthy relationships and good decision-making are the agency's mission. It also offers a residential program for pregnant and parenting adolescents who have no where to live.

Denise McGill, 32, of Wilkinsburg has worked as a case manager and mentor and is now Program Manager of the agency's group home located in the North Side. The home houses 13 pregnant or parenting teens.

"Each girl brings a different dynamic to the table. Our challenge is making sure we're meeting each girl's needs," Ms. McGill said.

And she said the agency works hard to remain in touch with changing cultural issues.

"Right now with the economy, both parents are working and there's not a lot of supervision. Kids are kind of raising themselves," she said.

Ms. Ray began living at the group home in 2007. She arrived at the North Side residential facility when she found herself without a place to live, raising a 1-year-old son. Ms. Ray was just 15 years old at that time.

The organization provided Ms. Ray with education and support to meet the overwhelming challenge of single motherhood at a young age. She and her son now live with her grandmother in Brentwood.

Ms. Ray works part-time at the group home where she used to live. She said she likes helping girls who are in the same tough circumstances she was a few years ago.

Ms. Knezevich is also working with West Mifflin School District and others in the Mon Valley to introduce a school-based program to reinforce the group's concepts, which focus on education, family, life skills and community service.

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