WHAT WE DO > EMPOWER WHO
EMPOWER WHO
Empowered Network collaborates with labor and sex trafficking survivors who are 18+ years old on a future they design.
We partner with over 100 organizations in the anti-trafficking movement that nominate survivors who have achieved initial stability but are at the critical juncture where services are expiring and societal barriers still abound.
“For most survivors, a support system is often limited or unavailable due to our unique circumstances. We have changes in our lives that many can’t endure. Empowered Network meets you exactly where you are with your goals and fuels your motivation to accomplish your wildest dreams.”
– EN Alumnus
COMMUNITY DEMOGRAPHICS
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EMPOWER WHERE
Currently, Empowered Network has advocate coverage in the following areas:
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- New York
- Florida
- Georgia
- Southern California
- New England
- Pacific Northwest
- Northeast Ohio
- Mid-Atlantic
- Southeast
- Texas
Additionally, EN supports certain survivor leader/rural nominations remotely.
Every member’s goals are different because every human is unique. This year, Empowered Network was proud to walk alongside survivors as they accomplished everything from earning their GED to starting their own business to getting their driver’s license (expanding employment opportunities) to completing their PhD!
READ THEIR STORIES.
The following scenarios are based on survivors supported by Empowered Network. A combination of multiple survivor experiences were used to create anonymous composite sketches to ensure Empowered Network does not exploit any one survivor’s story.
Trafficked as a teen and enduring years of abuse, trauma, and struggle, one survivor was lost when she aged out of foster care services. Year after year she numbed her pain with drugs and alcohol, which led to homelessness and addiction. She always wanted to “get out of the cycle” and didn’t know how. Finally, after connecting with an organization that provided housing, mental health support, and addiction recovery, she worked indescribably hard to gain sobriety and work on healing. She was nominated to Empowered Network when it was time to transition out of residential housing, making $20,000 a year. She worked with her advocate to find an apartment she could afford the monthly rent for, and EN covered the security deposit and household essentials. She continued to work full-time while pursuing her dream to be a nurse, starting with a CNA class. EN paid for the delta between aid and tuition, a commuter pass, and her scrubs. Today, she has her ADN, a $58,000 a year position with benefits, and is a semester away from earning her BSN (which comes with another pay bump!).
Trafficked from Guatemala, one survivor was convinced to come to the states by a man promising to pay for her cosmetology school in exchange for a little work on the side. Her documents were taken, she had no means to communicate with her family or the outside world, and she was trafficked for two years. After receiving help from law enforcement, she was connected with a legal aid program to get her trafficking visa and crisis support for stability. A year later, she was referred to Empowered Network, earning $16,000 year at a Taco Bell. EN provided housing support and tuition for cosmetology school, and she now works at a salon earning $29,000 a year where she loves “helping people feel beautiful.”
A survivor was trafficked for years and never graduated high school. She stood out to her case worker in our partner program because she’s motivated to finish her education and start a career. She takes advantage of the opportunities given to her by the program she’s in and has a tremendous amount of motivation and ambition. She also has to move out of her temporary living situation. She can afford rent but has terrible credit because a trafficker used her identity. How can she find permanent housing? If she can’t, how will she keep her job without an address? She’s worked so hard and doesn’t want to be trapped in the system forever. Her case manager knew she’d be a perfect fit for Empowered Network and could picture her getting her GED, maybe even going to college. She has the charisma and tenacity it takes to start this next chapter; she just needs help removing obstacles that seem impossible to overcome. Empowered Network collaborated with her on an 18-month Empowerment Plan that will remove the obstacles in her way and clear the path for independence.