Pace Center for Girls Collier celebrates 25 years of helping girls in Immokalee

Pace Center for Girls Collier is celebrating its 25th anniversary of helping girls in the Immokalee area stay out of the juvenile justice system by giving them proper education and a new outlook on life. 

The nonprofit, which is in 23 total communities, cares for about 3,000 girls each year. The organization was founded in 1985 in Jacksonville and was originally called Practical and Cultural Education. 

“This small group of women who started Pace in Jacksonville, they recognized that girls were being locked up at high rates in these high poverty areas and came to a conclusion that most of the girls also had very high levels of trauma,” Pace Collier Executive Director Marianne Kearns said. “And due to the trauma, it was found that maybe they were committing small crimes and ended up in the detention centers.” 

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