Dade Street prodigy returns to help change young lives

By St. Clair Murraine
Outlook Staff Writer

Long before Dade Street Community Center had a name change almost 20 years ago, Stephanie Tolbert was a regular participant in almost every program that was offered.

She was on the tumbling team, the swim team and played basketball on the boy’s team because there weren’t enough girls.

More than four decades have gone by since those days and Tolbert is still showing up at her old stomping ground. These days she is there helping young girls through a program that she calls Sisters.

Participants in the program engage in workshops on etiquette and entrepreneurship. Discussions on how to solve problems during the school hours are the norm, too.

They’ve even taken a day trip to Dothan, Ala., this summer. For many of the girls it was their first time traveling out of Tallahassee.

“It’s a really good group,” said Precious Hayes, whose daughter, Zaryah, participate in the mentoring program. “She takes out time with them, she does activities with them and she keeps them busy.”

Hayes said she has noticed positive changes in her child since she joined the program a year ago.

“I really appreciate it,” she said. “It helps out a lot that she is taking out her own time.”

According to Youth Mentor, an organization that monitors at-risk young people, African-American and Hispanic students make up 65 percent of students that are most unlikely to graduate on time. Young people who have mentors are also more likely to succeed.

What Tolbert is doing isn’t new, as there are several other organizations in the city that offer mentoring programs. However, she knows that there is a void that needs to be filled in the neighborhood where she grew up.

“It actually kept me straight and narrow because if I wasn’t right at home I couldn’t come to Dade Street,” she said. “Dade Street actually helped me balance my life. Dade Street laid that foundation for me to know I could do anything I want.”

Tolbert knows there is a need for the guidance that she gives the girls ages 11 to 17. They live in the Frenchtown community where shooting and other criminal activities could become distractions.

There are 27 young girls in the organization. They meet weekly at the center that is now known as the Lawrence-Gregory Community Center at Dade Street.

When Tolbert wants to reach the young girls, nothing is off limit. She’s even shared her own story about being a mother at age 16.

“We talk about self love, self care; loving yourself and knowing what you’re worth,” she said. “A lot of times they don’t get that.

 “We talk about anything. There is nothing that has not been talked about in here. We’ve had days where we all cried. We have hit some deep spots.”

The time that Tolbert gives is all volunteer hours, although the program is funded through grants. 

“My goal is to change their thoughts so they could change their minds and change a life,” Tolbert said.

Tolbert first fling with mentoring started when she was encouraged by a principal at Cobb Middle School to join her staff as a hall monitor. She eventually earned an AA degree from TCC before going to FAMU to earn a degree in education.

She is currently a unique skills teacher at Griffin Middle School.

Diyanna Gully, who has also been a part of the group for a year, said her grades at Griffin Middle School where she is a seventh grader have improved. Her people skills have also gotten better through her involvement in Sisters.

“It helps me if I’m getting mad it would help me to think about what Miss Tolbert say to calm me down,” she said.

 Tolbert started Sisters as a non-profit in 2020 with a friend who has since left Tallahassee. However, the organization’s reach continues to grow. Talbert also works with the juvenile court system.

Having a few young people living at her home isn’t unusual, she said, adding that her husband is one of her biggest supporters.

She makes time for juveniles, she said, because they are teenagers “who are just kind of misguided.”

Affecting the live of a young person sometimes only takes listening, Tolbert said.

“They don’t want to tell you what to do,” she said. “They just want to be heard.”