Parents Empowering Families & Communities

About Us

PEFAC provides life skills seminars to families and connects them to various resources. 

Our goals are as follows:

1. Provide parents with the knowledge and tools to  meet the demands of parenthood.
2. Encourage parents to seek help, advice, or support from family, friends, and/or community resources.
3. Enhance dialogue between parents.
4. Provide adolescents with the necessary knowledge and tools to meet the demands of adulthood.
5. Provide adolsecents with a practical view and understanding of the "real world."
6. Enhance dialogue between adolescents and parents; particularly on sensitive subjects (e.g., sex, money).
7. Facilitate the learning, growth, and development of families and communities.

Our Leadership 

Shellie M. Monroe is the President/CEO and serves as one of our speakers.  Her personal experiences, hardships, and triumphs lead to the development of PEFAC in December 2006.

As an adolescent, Shellie was eager to leave her parents' home and begin life as an independent young adult.  Like many teenagers, she thought she knew everything.  Shortly after leaving home, Shellie realized that she lacked much-needed life skills.

Shellie married her boyfriend while in college.  As a young bride with poor relationship skills and the absence of various life skills, she struggled to maintain a happy and successful home.  The couple was on again and off again.

During a brief reconciliation, Shellie became pregnant with their daughter; the marriage did not survive.  She soon found herself divorced, raising a small child, dropping out of college, and in debt.  In desperate need of financial relief and a fresh start – she filed for bankruptcy.

Shellie knew she needed to improve her financial literacy skills.  She increased her financial knowledge and learned new financial habits.

Shellie is certified through the University of Maryland’s Cooperative Extension Program and the National Endowment for Financial Education to teach financial literacy and planning to youth.

As a young and single-parent, Shellie's pride prohibited her from asking for help, tapping in to various resources, and connecting with other parents.  In her mind, acknowledging that she needed help would be the same as stating that she was incompetent. 

Today, Shellie encourages parents to "get connected," utilize available resources, and network with other parents.

Shellie is a professional speaker, consultant, and writer who enjoys helping others. 

After more than a decade of absence, she recently returned to college to complete her studies in Business Management.

Shellie's adversities and triumphs as a single-parent have given her the desire to educate and empower other parents.

Her trials and hardships as an unprepared teen transitioning into a young adult have given her the knowledge, compassion, and desire to help adolescents and young adults.

Shellie is the proud parent of a nineteen-year-old daughter; they reside in Prince George's County, Maryland.