Project SOS
Mission
Project SOS is committed to strengthening families by empowering parents and educating youth to make healthy life choices. The Project SOS educators working with teenagers are young adults who have a mission to help change their youth culture for the better by bringing truth to them and inspiring them to make healthy choices so they will have futures filled with accomplished goals and no regrets.
Serving Jacksonville
For 18 years, Project SOS has served teenagers in Northeast Florida. In the last six years, rural counties west of Duval and in South Georgia have also been served. In addition to serving teenagers and their parents, Project SOS has a Healthy Relationship Department that serves clients who are low income, pregnant and unmarried. These couples are taught how to have a healthy relationship built on respect, communication and family goals. They are also taught how to raise their babies in a nurturing, healthy, debt-free environment. Couples who choose to get married are provided a free marriage license.
Those served
Students in middle schools and high schools and their parents are served in Duval, Nassau and St. Johns counties and rural counties in South Georgia. In the last school year, 20,000 students and their parents were impacted by Project SOS through programs and materials, all provided to them free of charge. This current school year, we are projecting to serve 10,000 families, due to the reduction in federal funding. We are now 100 percent funded through private sources for our youth development outreach.
Biggest challenge
Our biggest challenge is having enough funding to impact the lives of all of the teenagers in all of the schools.
Biggest satisfaction
Our biggest satisfaction is knowing that we have positively educated our youth culture by helping reduce teen births by 55 percent, drugs and alcohol by 28 percent and juvenile crime to the lowest rates in 10 years. This past year, Project SOS prevented two suicides and has been able to mentor both of those students, who are now leaders in their individual schools.
Hometown
I was raised in Atlanta and came down here to attend Jacksonville University. I married my cheerleading partner, David Mullarkey, who was born and raised in Jacksonville. I have been here ever since and love it here.
First experience with community service
In high school, I helped youth-serving organizations like the Special Olympics, orphanages and others.
Your job before Project SOS
I was an elected school board member in St. Johns County for eight years before starting Project SOS. I have been an educator all of my life. After graduating from college, I taught physical education and health at DuPont Junior High School and Episcopal High School in Jacksonville.
Upcoming events
We are launching a “$10 for 10” campaign through our website to raise $10 per family for 10 months. Our goal is to find 1,000 families who care enough about the youth culture to invest in helping young people reach their goals and dreams while avoiding sex, drugs, alcohol, suicide and violence.
Contact information
www.projectsos.com
6817 Southpoint Parkway Suite 801
Jacksonville, FL 32216
296-9950 phone
296-9951 fax