By Mike Smith
El Rito Media
msmith@currentargus.com

Eddy County’s Board of County Commissioners unanimously approved a $20,000 grant Tuesday (Oct. 1) to help Lea County youth development group MyPower set up a 12-week structured self-esteem program for fifth grade girls at Cottonwood Elementary School in Carlsbad.

Danielle Hernandez, executive director of Hobbs-based MyPower, said the organization was founded in 2009 and is designed to help teenagers navigate through social and personal issues.

“We do this work because the (teenage) pressures start in middle school and they start with teen pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), academic failures, drug and alcohol abuse and then exposure to negative peer pressure,” Hernandez said during Tuesday’s commissioners’ meeting.

“This is a 12-week curriculum that teaches them how to face their fears, how to set goals, how to break bad cycles in their life and how to be a good friend and what to expect in middle school,” Hernandez said.

Hernandez said health care providers would offer sex education courses for the fifth graders during the seventh and eighth weeks of the program.

District 5 Commissioner Sarah Cordova welcomed MyPower to Eddy County. She is a behavioral health specialist for Artesia General Hospital’s Carlsbad office.

“Coming from a professional perspective on this as a provider, I know the situation with STDs and pregnancy rates in our county,” she said. “I support education of our youth on how to prevent that from happening and also protecting themselves.”

Cordova said Eddy County was willing to support MyPower’s pilot program at Cottonwood Elementary and hoped Hernandez would return next year for further funding for potential expansion into other schools.

Mike Smith can be reached at 575-308-8734 or via email at msmith@currentargus.com.