After 25 years of watching girls age out of foster care with nowhere to go, Girl Power Rocks is preparing to open Mama Hattie’s House, a $25 million residential facility in Miami’s Overtown neighborhood designed to change the trajectory for young women leaving the system.
The three-story building will house 20 women ages 18 to 22, along with a live-in houseparent providing 24/7 support. Residents will receive wraparound services in health, mental wellness, sexual and reproductive health, education, career development, financial literacy, life skills and creative arts.
The facility is named after founder Thema Campbell’s grandmother, a community matriarch who opened her home in Sparta, Georgia, to young people in need of shelter, safety and guidance.
Girl Power Rocks leaders say the new home is meant to carry forward that legacy of compassion and belonging of their organization.
Variah Charles, 20, experienced that transformation firsthand. She was referred to Girl Power Rocks in 2023 after a family conflict and initially resisted attending.
Over time she became more involved, eventually serving as an emcee at Girl Power events and speaking before a Miami mayor.
“I was terrified of public speaking,” Charles said. “They pushed me in the best way.”
Today she works at the Miami Ice Cream Museum and will soon start cosmetology school with plans to open her own nail studio.
When she learned about Mama Hattie’s House, her reaction was immediate.
“I wish they had something like that when I was there,” she said. “Miami is a city that chews you up, and to have a group of women willing to help you and take you in is amazing.”
“When a community partner like Girl Power Rocks steps forward with a $25 million commitment to a dedicated facility like Mama Hattie’s House, it is a transformative moment,” DCF spokesperson Camille Jefferies said.
The challenges Mama Hattie’s House hopes to solve are better understood when you look at the work Girl Power Rocks does every day.
Lonnie, 17, who has been in the program since ninth grade, was referred after struggling with anger issues..
“I used to have bad attitudes,” she said. “Now I could just be myself without getting quick to get mad.”
Lonnie said the mentorship helped her discover something she didn’t know she had.
“They helped me discover my voice and know who I am and who I could be,” she said.
Kaya, 15, came to the program in sixth grade dealing with confidence issues and caring too much about what others thought.
“I used to really get in my feelings,” she said. “They taught me how to be more confident.”
Programming includes daily check-ins, social-emotional learning, conflict resolution, college readiness, financial literacy, and academic support.
“When you hear ‘intervention,’ people assume trouble,” Cade said. “But if you really listen to them, so many of their stories are about survival.”
Many of the girls enter through referrals from schools, courts, social workers, or overwhelmed relatives.
Inside the Overtown center, prevention and intervention program manager Maiy Cade works with girls who often arrive carrying trauma that shows up as defiance, withdrawal or anger.
“Most of what people label as ‘attitude’ is trauma,” Cade said. “These girls have been through things adults haven’t even processed. They deserve support, even on their hardest days.”
Programming at Girl Power includes daily check-ins, social-emotional learning, conflict resolution, college readiness, financial literacy, and academic support.
“When you hear ‘intervention,’ people assume trouble,” Cade said. “But if you really listen to them, so many of their stories are about survival.”
Cade adds that progress might look like a quiet girl finally speaking up, a struggling student beginning to take academics seriously, or a teen choosing conflict-resolution tools instead of fighting.
“Those shifts may look small from the outside,” Cade said, “but they’re actually huge.”
Instructor Haysha Blott, who studied human development, works with girls four days a week and focuses on how systems shape behavior, especially for Black girls.
Aisha Mannings, chair of the Board of Directors of Girl Power Rocks said the most powerful part of her work is watching girls see possibilities they didn’t know existed.
“Most of these kids haven’t seen what’s possible,” she said. “We take them to college campuses, cultural events, STEM workshops—things that widen their world.”
“People don’t realize how many biases they face,” she said. “A white student cries and adults comfort her. A Black girl shuts down and she’s labeled rude. She may just be overstimulated. She’s misunderstood.”
For the girls, the difference in this space is immediate.
Blott’s classroom begins with snacks and check-ins before the girls rotate through dance workshops, writing exercises, or group discussions.
Twice a week, instructors from the Institute of Contemporary Art Miami lead hands-on art lessons connected to rotating exhibitions.
The urgency extends beyond Girl Power’s walls. According to the Florida Department of Children and Families, one in five young women aging out of foster care faces immediate homelessness. A DCF spokesperson said partnerships like this one are essential in closing the gap in transitional housing.
Board Secretary Michaele Rachlin, who has helped shape the project since its earliest proposal, said Campbell’s vision has been consistent for decades.
“This house is the answer to what Thema Campbell has seen for years,” she said.
The project is supported by Miami-Dade County, the Overtown Community Redevelopment Agency, Allegheny Franciscan Ministries and its development partner, Housing Trust Group.
Construction is expected to begin in 2027, with doors opening in 2029.
