Homeward Indy
Homeward Indy
Episode 31 - Healing Connections: Jessica Evans and Amanda Sparks on Nurturing Survivor Recovery with Allies Mentorship
When the path to healing intertwines with the power of human connection, remarkable transformations can occur. Jessica Evans and Amanda Sparks from Allies Inc. join us to share the heartening strides they're making in supporting survivors of human trafficking. Their organization's approach is unique in its commitment to long-term, voluntary mentorship, which fosters a sense of family and belonging that many of these young individuals have sorely missed. Our conversation highlights the importance of authentic relationships, and how Allies' innovative programs are helping survivors navigate the arduous journey toward recovery and self-discovery.
As we dig deeper into the experiences of these young survivors, the complexities of human trafficking begin to unfold. The unsettling truth that exploitation often comes from within one's trusted circle is a focal point of our discussion with Jessica and Amanda. They take us through the challenges survivors face in breaking free from these manipulative bonds and the critical role therapy plays. Allies’ methodology highlights the dual imperative of the brain—survival and connection—and how this shapes the support structures necessary for genuine healing. This episode offers a candid exploration of the gray areas in recovery, emphasizing the need for a robust support network.
We wrap up our time by celebrating the ripple effect created when one life is uplifted—how Allies' work not only aids survivors but also touches entire communities. Jessica's personal transition from educator to nonprofit leader brings a critical perspective on the impact of dedicated advocacy. Whether you're eager to understand more about this cause or you're considering stepping into a role of support, this discussion is a testament to the incredible difference that each one of us can make. Afterward, Elliot and Steve discuss how we understand human trafficking from a national data perspective, and some of the specific limitations of data in capturing the complex realities of human experiences with insights from philosopher C. Thi Nguyen’s article The Limits of Data.
Allies Website: https://www.allies-inc.org/
We are committed to being in their life as long as they need us and want us. Because, you know, one of the things that we say is that trauma that happened through relationship has to be healed through relationship.
Speaker 2:The demeanor the girls exhibit completely changes when they realize that this person is a volunteer. They're like oh, she wants to be with me, she's not paid to be with me.
Speaker 1:Many of these girls would not raise their hand and say I've been a trafficking victim. They don't know that. They think that's just life, it just happens to them. Maybe they think it was their fault. Maybe they think it's just how things go in their family or in their reality.
Speaker 2:All of our girls who have run away, 100% of them connected with their mentor while they were on the run. 100% of them.
Speaker 1:Welcome to Homeward Indie, a bi-weekly conversation where we meet the people working to end homelessness in Indianapolis and hear their stories. I'm Elliott.
Speaker 3:Zanz and I'm. Steve Barnhart, Jessica and Amanda. Thank you for being a part of Homeward Indie.
Speaker 1:Thank you. Yeah, thanks for the invitation.
Speaker 3:Oh, you're welcome. Thank you for taking us up on the invitation, and I understand you two are not strangers to podcasts, right that's?
Speaker 1:right, we have our own podcast called the Everyday Advocate. It's been a fun project for the last year, year and a half.
Speaker 3:I suppose people find that by just typing in Everyday Advocate. That's right. Where does that name come from?
Speaker 1:Well, you know, part of what we do is we advocate for the people we serve. But sometimes there's a misunderstanding that you have to be a certain type of person to be a really good advocate. But we just really feel like anyone can be part of this work and there's not really a barrier or, you know, a certain set of credentials, and we want everyone to realize you can be a mentor and a leader and an advocate in your everyday life. It doesn't have to be on a platform, it doesn't have to be in a big way, and so that's kind of what we want to drive home with that podcast. Excellent.
Speaker 3:People here today will get a feel for what you guys are all about, and hopefully they can check that out as well. So we're here in the offices of Allies. Do you typically refer to yourself as Allies or Allies Inc?
Speaker 1:Yeah, either one, either one.
Speaker 2:Mostly Allies.
Speaker 3:Mostly yourself as allies or allies inc. Yeah, either one, either one. Mostly allies, mostly allies. Okay, so we're in the offices of allies. Why don't you tell us a little bit about what allies is all about?
Speaker 1:go ahead. Amanda, I saw, I saw your face light up. Oh, I was just gonna say jessica you are the founder and executive director.
Speaker 2:So why don't you start with the origin story and then I can pop in after?
Speaker 1:that, yeah. So we became a nonprofit in 2011 and our mission has kind of ebbed and flowed and grown as we have grown as well. Right now we have a mentorship program for survivors of trafficking teenage survivors and we also have a program for their families and caregivers. But we started out as a nonprofit doing just general human trafficking education, helping our community understand about the issue.
Speaker 1:I'm a former teacher, so that was something that came naturally to me, and so we started out with education. And then we dipped our toes into prevention education with the young ladies that we served so ages 12 to 18, girls who are at risk for trafficking. We had a prevention education program for them. Then we realized that they really needed positive role models in their life, and that kind of prompted us to start the mentorship program. So today that that's our biggest program is our mentorship program, and then we started serving their families as well, so that you know, eventually the girls that we're working with, many of them are in the system. Sometimes they're removed away from home, but ultimately we want them to have whole and healthy families and move forward together. And so that's kind of how we are, that's kind of our piece of the pie, the role that we play in the huge issue that is human trafficking.
Speaker 3:So 12-year journey so far. Well, a little bit later maybe we can even get into what got you started from being a teacher to where you are. But, Amanda, you want to add on?
Speaker 2:Sure, sure. So our program it is a mentorship program, as Jessica said, and it's one-on-one mentorship. We match these young ladies for 12, I'm sorry, 18 months. It used to be 12 months and we realized that the 18-month mark is probably more beneficial for the youth that we serve.
Speaker 2:Studies have shown that if you are in a mentorship program and you are not with your mentor for at least 12 months, then it's going to cause more harm than good. So, with that said, we've seen a little trend with some of our mentors where maybe the 10, 11 month mark they kind of start backing off a little bit and not being as available as they once were. So we decided, with the 18 month program they provide more of a commitment up front so that if they start to back off a little bit then it's after that 12-month mark and we're able to continue to serve them and serve them well. We actually had one match recently who they completed their 12 months because it was still during the 12-month period and the mentor decided she wanted to do another 18 months with this young lady to get her beyond her 18th birthday.
Speaker 2:But we have young ladies in our program. We have one who's been with us for almost eight years and others who have been with us for five, six years.
Speaker 3:So it's not like you cut them off at some point. Oh, that's the end of your 12 months, or 18 months? No?
Speaker 1:Yeah, cause we realize you know trauma, um, someone who's been through the significant trauma that our girls have it's, I mean, after one year. It's not going to, they're not going to be fixed.
Speaker 1:They're not going to be, and it really is a lifelong journey, and so we are committed to being in their life as long as they need us and want us.
Speaker 1:Um, because, uh, you know, one of the things that we say is that trauma that happened through relationship has to be healed through relationship. And those relationships need to be long term and, you know, consistent for them to really make a difference in the lives of these young ladies. And so that's what we're kind of committed to do, and we're also committed to building a community around them. So we not only have this one-on-one mentoring, but then we gather them with other mentors and mentees. And so we not only have this one-on-one mentoring, but then we gather them with other mentors and mentees. We have, you know, a whole host of volunteers and staff that are seeing them. So there's like a little, this sweet little community that's built among all of the mentors and mentees so that they have another, they have access to other resources and social capital and a place where they feel like they belong, outside of even that one-on-one mentoring. So our hope is that, you know, we can be a safe community to help them, you know, flourish and thrive as they move forward.
Speaker 3:I'm curious about the comment that you made, Amanda, about 12 months or less can actually hurt. Is that because it doesn't feel like a commitment to the person being served?
Speaker 2:What's behind that? So the premise is that people are in and out of this person's life so often and many times the first year that they're with us, they'll have had two or three different therapists, they'll have had several caseworkers, they'll have been in foster care, they'll have been in a residential facility and there's not a constant person in their life. But having this mentor in their life, this one person who can commit to them, helps them feel their true worth.
Speaker 2:And then if there's not somebody there that's able to do that, then they're not feeling worthy.
Speaker 3:I think I've heard this before actually about young people's lives that some, unfortunately some of these young people get so used to and I'm not specifically talking about your population, but in general, kids that are coming up through foster care or whatever the case may be. Kids that are coming up through foster care or whatever the case may be, everyone's in and out of their life so much that that's basically all they ever expect and they continue to live a wounded life because of that.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, and in the cases of our girls, their mentor becomes their person the young lady who has been with us for almost eight years. Her mentor has been in her life that whole time. Some of our girls, they'll go to our alumni program. The alumni program is after the 12-month mark and now the 18-month mark but they remain in our program and their mentor may have moved on, but they're still connected to allies.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 1:And so we are still pouring into them, but in many cases, it's their mentor who is their person At their kid's birth or at major milestones, a person they call when they need help. Will you share about how the mentees say that we're not paid, that we're volunteering? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Will you share that?
Speaker 2:There's such a switch when we do our match meetings, and that's where we introduce the coach and the mentor to the mentee and say okay, sign your friendship pact, you're going to be together for the next 18 months. You're going to do, you're going to meet twice a month in person and two other times you're going to connect, whether it's phone, call, letter, card, what have you? Um, but many times in this meeting we make sure now to say your mentor is a volunteer, because these other people in their life their therapists, their caseworkers, everybody is paid to be a part of their life. And and they've just been in and out and the demeanor the girls exhibit completely changes when they realize that this person is a volunteer. They're like, oh, she wants to be with me, she's not paid to be with me and it just sets their relationship up in a much better position than if they thought they were paid.
Speaker 3:You mentioned coach. Who's the coach or how does that work?
Speaker 2:So we match our mentors and mentees. We pair them with a coach and this mentor coach will kind of oversee the match. They'll be there for any conflict resolution which there's not really a ton of that, but sometimes there's conflict resolution or just to be there as a sounding board for the mentor or for the mentee and to make sure that their relationship is going in the direction that it needs to be going, to make sure that they're honoring their commitment of visiting the twice a month. And also there's some data collection with what we have to do. So the coach also will make sure that they are submitting their month or their weekly check-in so that we can get collect the data that we need for um grants and things like that yeah, so a coach I assume then is a staff position.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And a lot of times they will serve as a liaison between the system and the mentor mentee pair, because there are a lot of team meetings and different things that we don't want the mentor to have to be part of necessarily. But, the coach will do that as a representative of the match sometimes too, which is helpful. So that way the mentee doesn't view the mentor as just another person in the system.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 1:Which is it's helpful?
Speaker 3:And I can see that too for the mentors themselves to have support. Yes, they're not off on their own doing this work. They have this staff coach person who's right there with them.
Speaker 2:The other thing with the coach is there's a lot of processing that comes along with this. There's some secondary trauma that gets absorbed for the mentor. But we ask the mentors not to share anything that the mentee shares with them, with their spouse, with their best friend, with their Bible study group, with whomever. What happens in the relationship stays within the relationship. However, that coach can be the sounding board in that relationship. They are not a counselor or a therapist or anything like that, but it is somebody for them to process with. But what we also offer is every other month we have an internal processing group and they are able to meet. All the mentors are able to meet kind of like group therapy with a licensed clinical social worker so more support for the mentors?
Speaker 3:yes, and here in a little bit, we want to talk about those. Mentors, as you said, are volunteers. Are you looking for additional mentors or not?
Speaker 2:Absolutely, always, absolutely Okay.
Speaker 3:Hopefully that's a purpose that this podcast can play in, just getting that word out there. So here in a little bit maybe we'll talk a little more about what makes a mentor makes a mentor. But before we do that, getting back to those that you serve, these girls, young women, how do they find you? How do you find them?
Speaker 2:They are referred to us through their caseworker, through their therapist, through their residential facility. They all come after they are no longer in trafficking and we ask that they be in some sort of therapy when they are referred to us so that and then the therapists and the social workers, they have the ability to test have they been exploited? Have they been trafficked? What? At what level have they been exploited? Have they been trafficked? At what level have they been abused? And so it helps us determine whether or not they qualify for our program. And then we go and we do an intake interview with young ladies that is not super intrusive because they've had this conversation with their therapist already and can determine pretty much determine whether or not our program is going to be a good fit for them what young ladies are a good match for what you can provide.
Speaker 3:How would you describe them? And maybe part of that question is who is not?
Speaker 2:a good match for what you do okay, um, we serve youth between the ages of 12 and 24 who are survivors of human trafficking and exploitation, and females, obviously. And because it is a female program, it doesn't mean that we don't eventually want to serve young men, but we just don't have the resources to do that right now.
Speaker 1:And we serve Marion and surrounding counties. Typically Our girls are very transient and so often we'll have an intake and then she'll get moved to a different placement, and so there are some exceptions, but for the most part we try to stick to Marion and surrounding counties at the current time.
Speaker 3:So age and location play a big part. So what about what they've experienced in their life or what their family situation is? Are there any qualifications there that make a better fit than another?
Speaker 1:As long as they have had some pretty significant history of abuse or trafficking, they're going to qualify. But as far as placement and family, we've got girls in foster care, some in residential, some who are at home. So as long as they're in the geographic area, fit the qualifications as far as history and age, then yeah, they're a good fit.
Speaker 3:I want to get back to the specifics of what allies does, but just for a moment let's take a step back us about human trafficking today, and most specifically those you serve.
Speaker 1:I would say there's a lot of education to be done still in the community, because that term human trafficking elicits many different images or forms for different people, depending on what they know and what they don't know, um, because Hollywood plays a part in, you know, depicting a picture, and then there's you know, reality, and so, on a global scale, it looks a lot different than what it looks like here in central Indiana. Um, we don't, we, we don't, our agency doesn't serve victims of labor trafficking, although that does exist here in Indiana too. Um, on a global scale, labor trafficking is much more prevalent, um, but we just serve, um survivors of sex trafficking. Um, and so we do a lot of education in the community. Uh, on what it looks like, because, um, for the most part, we serve girls who are under age, and so if you think about a young lady who trades sex for a place to stay, for food, for money, anything like that, if she is underage, then she's a victim of trafficking.
Speaker 1:So think about a girl that has run from home and is looking for a place to stay. She trades sex with someone to sleep on their couch. She's been trafficked. She meets somebody. He takes her in a hotel room forces her to have sex with someone, he makes some money. That's trafficking.
Speaker 1:So it's not this picture. Not that it couldn't happen this way and doesn't, but for the most part the girls that we run into have not been kidnapped from a mall or on the street, put in a white van, handcuffed and taken somewhere right. They're living at home. They're living on the street. Put in a white van, handcuffed and taken somewhere. Right. They're living at home. They're living on the street. They're living with people that they know and someone has taken advantage of them, has earned their trust. So I mentioned earlier trauma that happens through relationship has to be healed through relationship. So most of the time someone has taken time to build a relationship with them so that the young lady thinks that they can trust this person, and then they take advantage of that trust to manipulate them and they get into a place where they feel like they have no choice.
Speaker 3:Um.
Speaker 1:I also recently talked with um some folks who are doing some statewide trafficking work who said that familial trafficking um the stats are going up on that. So somebody you know, parent or uncle or family member, trafficking you know these children, and so it really looks different than sometimes we think that it does. It's not someone from another country coming in, although that happens.
Speaker 1:The girls that we're working with, by and large, are from here and someone has taken advantage of them and they have traded sex. And large are from here and someone has taken advantage of them and they have traded sex. And not only that, but there's all these other layers of trauma on top of that right. So often there are many other things that play into it as well, but for the most part, yeah, that's what we're seeing here.
Speaker 3:Okay, you mentioned that it's not always what the general public thinks or sees, maybe through the news or social media. In what ways is it different?
Speaker 1:I think many times it's much smaller scale and closer to home. It's not a stranger necessarily. It's someone that has either knows them in their circle their familial, neighborhood, school, social circle, or someone that they've met online, that they feel like they've gotten to know, and that person has taken advantage of them. It's not a stranger, it's not someone you know from the outside. Like you said, they're not kidnapped, right? Yeah, not that that doesn't happen. I don't want to say that it doesn't, but the stories that we hear, the girls, that we're serving.
Speaker 2:It's usually someone that they know and they're local people Local people from our own neighborhoods. And their traffickers are master manipulators. They prey on their vulnerabilities and then these young ladies are trying to get their needs met, and this person is meeting their needs, based off of the vulnerabilities that they have.
Speaker 3:What's the typical story of those who, for lack of a better word, escape that bad situation. I mean, how does that happen? How is it happening? And then they're ending up with you.
Speaker 1:I don't know that there's a typical answer to that. Often, when we engage with these young ladies, they're in a residential facility because, either for their own safety, or maybe that there's been a drug addiction that they're trying to recover from.
Speaker 3:There's something that something, maybe even other than the trafficking correct that has got them into some type of care, that then it becomes known right, because many of these girls would not raise their hand and say I've been a trafficking victim.
Speaker 1:They don't know that they think that's just life, it just happens to them, it was. Maybe they think it was their fault, maybe they think it's just you know how things go in their family or in their reality. And so they don't know necessarily that they've been trafficked. Maybe they know they've been hurt, maybe they know that people have taken advantage of them, but they don't know that they've been trafficked. So they're not going to approach that situation and say that, but through therapy and counseling and efforts of professionals that sometimes will then be drawn out and identified.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I do want to say they may not realize they have been trafficked. Many of them don't even know what trafficking means.
Speaker 2:And so that's something for people to consider. Also, I think of when I go to rest stops and things and it's like are you being trafficked? And it makes me so angry because I'm like they don't even know what that means. So, um, I I do know that some of that language is changing throughout the country, but, um, many of them don't know that they have been trafficked is this a terrible situation in our culture that is growing, or it's all always been here, we're just becoming more aware of it?
Speaker 3:What? How would you assess that?
Speaker 1:I think both. I think for sure we're doing a better job of identifying trafficking victims as trafficking victims and getting them appropriate help, but I do think it's on the rise, especially the online pieces, Because I think even during COVID the stats went way up of trafficking victims online, because it's just everyone is online and they're accessible and you know. Another piece is we're looking for connection. All of us humans are.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 1:But if you think of a young person who you know, if they have a certain number of vulnerabilities, who knows what their home life is like, they're looking for connection, attention, love. Life is like they're looking for connection, attention, love, and if they're getting it from someone online or if they're getting it from this neighbor, that fills a void. You know she was talking about vulnerabilities and different things. That, um, that is, I think, one of the number one things is that our young people are looking for and if the trafficker can provide that, they're building that relationship and building that trust. And that makes it feel really gray for them because they're filling that need, even though they're being abused in a different way.
Speaker 1:And so sometimes that's a big issue with trafficking is that survivors, if they do get, you know, recovered from their situation, they go back so often because that need was being met for them, that basic need of that connection, even though there were some really terrible pieces to that it was familiar, and that need was being met. And so it makes it really tricky for recovery because when you take this young person out of the situation and put them in a very sterile environment without anyone that they know or trust, um, it becomes really hard for them to want to stay and push through. Um, you know, for their betterment, Um, so it's a real. I mean I don't know the stats of how many of our girls have run, but probably nearly all of them at some point.
Speaker 3:As they're in treatment they've run. Yeah, see, that's something you know. We often as a society, we focus on knowing that those who are incarcerated so often return there. But just on the surface me not being aware of what's going on as well as you guys are you would think that anybody who has got away from that would never go back to it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you would think yeah to us.
Speaker 3:It makes sense, but yet that desire all of us have to belong and be in relationship overrides and we find ourselves even in really very unhealthy relationships. Obviously, I probably just stated the obvious, but it applies in this situation as well. It sounds like.
Speaker 1:When we do trauma training with our mentors, our trainer always says our brains are built to survive and connect. Those are the two things. And so when these young ladies are in these situations, their brains go into survival mode and they long for connection. So that's what's happening in their brains, right, and so you can see then, if you put yourself in her position.
Speaker 3:I'm surviving. Yeah, I'm connecting. Things are good. Yeah, at least on a certain level, right, yeah, what do your services provide to these young ladies and I know you've mentioned? I assume when they come into your system, one of the first things you do is you have this meeting with potential mentor. Are there other pieces to it as well?
Speaker 2:we used to be really big on setting goals but because of the trauma that these young ladies have endured, setting goals is really really hard they're trying to get through today. They can't think about what is happening.
Speaker 3:Survive and connect.
Speaker 2:Yes. So rather than coming up with a list of goals, we really want them just to focus on a friendship, just to become friends, somebody that this young lady can trust and turn to in time of need. That is going to be healthy and lead her towards healthier decisions. So we don't do a whole lot of goal setting. We do offer goals and I've found personally, if I ask a young lady what her goals are and then she tells me and I'm like, okay, do you want me to hold you accountable to this? And she'll say yes, but then she starts ghosting me because she doesn't really want to work on it. So what I've started doing is saying, if this is not the goal for you, let's get away that goal. I'd much rather you talk to me and tell me this is not something you want to do than for you to stop talking to me. So that's one thing that we've done as far as goals, but we also offer different opportunities that these young ladies may not have experienced.
Speaker 2:We just got to go to the Indiana State Museum on Saturday, which was really, really lovely, and they hosted us, which was amazing. Chick-fil-a provided some food, which was great, but also the really small things. We posted a fall festival where we had a bonfire. Some of the girls had never experienced a bonfire before, never roasted a marshmallow, never had a s'more, never decorated a pumpkin. So these small things that you and I may take for granted, that we've done since we were teeny tiny, are things that they may not necessarily get the opportunity to take advantage of. So we try to provide those opportunities for them and give them something new to do.
Speaker 3:Does that fall under the heading of mentor, or is that a separate category?
Speaker 2:We have what's called a link up event and it's a gathering for our mentors and mentees and we offer those every other month. In 2025 I'm hoping to do once a month, but it depends on community, on the community partners and who wants to sponsor an event for us.
Speaker 3:We'll get to that. Yeah, we want to delve into that a little more, but go ahead we, we also have opportunities.
Speaker 2:We've learned really to stay in our lane. Um, we are not therapists, so let's try to find somebody who can provide therapy for them. If they don't have that available for them, if it's housing that they're lacking, let's find those resources that we can connect them to and letting the people do what they do. Well, continue to do that, and we just want to partner with you so that we can refer people to you.
Speaker 3:These events? A mentor that you're meeting with a couple times a month, it sounds like. What else are you providing? Where does the family part come in?
Speaker 1:So Thrive is our family support program, which is a separate program, but historically that program has been a 10-week curriculum or group that families can sign up for, and in 2024, we're really excited to expand that into a monthly gathering for families to be able to connect.
Speaker 1:What we found is when we started this curriculum several years ago, families who have a child who've been trafficked had never been able to connect and sit across the table from another family that had experienced the same thing.
Speaker 1:And with any type of group like that, it really is powerful to have someone sit across the table and say I understand, I get it, I've been there and so that group provides that connection. But then also we have really good conversations about how to take care of yourself as a caregiver, how to forgive yourself and your child, how to build a trauma-sensitive home environment, a little bit about trafficking and trauma and how that affects your brain and body and relationships, and so the hope is at the end of that 10 weeks we've kind of equipped these families to a understand what their child has gone through a little bit better. But then some tools, resources and, you know, a resource in us to be able to move forward with their child, whether they're at home or coming home or in a residential, whatever the placement situation might be, and we've had biological parents, grandparents, foster parents, adoptive parents, kind of go through that course before. It's been really cool and it's a big barrier to get parents to say yes to that.
Speaker 3:I was wondering about that how many parents, or some family, get involved in that?
Speaker 1:Yeah, the numbers have not been, you know, as high as we would like. However, I would say the ones that do say yes have always said this has been so good. What's next? How can I stay connected? And we haven't been able to have an answer for that until this year. So we're really excited to be able to offer an ongoing way for them to remain connected and to pour into them, because so many of them have said every resource I'm engaged with is for my kid, which is good, but no one sees them for who they are and the secondary trauma that they've experienced and things that they're going through, and it's a really beautiful space to be able to say we see you, we know you're important, you're important in the life of your kid and we want to support you so that you know your whole family can be whole Are the young ladies involved in those sessions also, or is it the family without it's completely?
Speaker 1:separate, yeah, yeah. And um, the families that have participated in that program, some have been um families that we're engaged with their young, their daughter, and some are not. Um, some have had, uh, male children and DCS has said hey, you know this, this family has a, a male son that you know, was traffic, can you? So there've been a different, different ways that families have been engaged, but it's been, it's been really neat and so we're excited to be able to grow that this year.
Speaker 3:So again, uh, the way those folks get to you is probably through some other agency by referral, by referral yeah, okay and another to the other side of the mentee.
Speaker 2:As far as family, we have young ladies now who are having babies of their own, so we're pouring into their families by. We host baby showers, we are there for birthdays, we, you know, pour into them as much as we possibly can provide housewarming, gifts and things like that, things that they may need. A young lady just passed away in September and she got married two weeks prior to being killed in a car accident and we are in connection with her husband and her child, and so he'll allow me to take her daughter to the Children's Museum museum and he's just become just, you know, another, another extension of her in my life so it's been, um, just really beautiful to be able to be a part of that and, and he said time and time again, her mentor and I like he's like you guys are family you guys are her family yes
Speaker 3:and we were there for her wedding and it was great that's a great story, but with a very sad component as well, obviously. So how big is your family?
Speaker 2:how many are you?
Speaker 3:serving, or can you give us a feel for that?
Speaker 2:We currently are serving 28. We just got that number this morning. We do have over a hundred young ladies have been referred to us. Some of those matches have closed completely. When you come to an end of your friendship pact, you have different options. So option number one is you can continue as you are. Option number two go into this alumni program, which is like you're graduating the program but you're still always connected to us.
Speaker 2:You can just come choose to close your match, or you can choose which we don't recommend. You can go rogue, which has happened a couple of times, and that's just where we have 11 pages of policies that we want to follow for the safety of the mentor, for the safety of the mentee, and some people don't want to follow those rules so so I have some boundaries yeah, yeah, absolutely. Boundaries are goodaries are good, so but we currently have 28 in our program right now.
Speaker 3:How can others help you? Who are you looking for? What are ways others can help? I'm sure people are going to be touched by hearing about this.
Speaker 1:I always like to say it feels like trafficking is such a big, heavy topic that often it feels like, oh, there's no way you know, or what could I possibly do, that's not in my league. Yes, yes, and you know, obviously mentoring is an option. We need mentors, but that's not for everyone. First of all, you have to be female, you know, and you have to be able to make a commitment and it's it's lot emotionally, it is also wonderful and beautiful and life-changing, but it's not for everyone. What is the commitment?
Speaker 1:in general so 18 months is the initial time commitment. After you are matched, there's a pretty intense interview and vetting process, background checks and all of that, and then a full training, which is a one day training, and then some online components and then, after that time, usually there's a waiting period before someone is matched, and then there's the 18 month commitment.
Speaker 3:And during that 18 months it's two in-person meetings per month.
Speaker 1:And part of that is our gatherings that we have the link up events and things like that. It's part of it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's part of that is our gatherings that we have the link up events and things like that.
Speaker 1:It's part of it. Yeah, it's part of it. So mentoring is always an option, but it's not for everyone. We have a lot of volunteers who help with our events that we put on, sometimes even with our mentor mentee gatherings. We have people that provide know, materials, supplies, a lot of in-kind donations. Um, we also have, you know, events in the community that we have volunteers that sit on committees for Um. But we also have a team that's called our care team and they, um they get a personalized um sheet of all of our prayer requests, all of our matches, and all of you know specific prayer requests. So we've got a team that's doing that and, you know, sending encouragement to our people and just caring for them. Um, and we also have a team that we call the catalyst team, that they're um helping us get out in the community, spread the word, have, you know, engaging and speaking engagements and connecting with churches and businesses and lunch and learns and those type of things to help us kind of um increase, gather, gather our community around us and increase awareness.
Speaker 3:So how do people contact you? What's the next step for folks who might be interested in some way?
Speaker 1:Our website's a good place to land. It's allies-incorg, or you can email us Jessica at allies-incorg or Amanda at allies-incorg. We're also on Instagram and Facebook and all that too, but probably our website is the best place to start to see what the opportunities are. Learn more about us. Book and all that too, but probably our website is the best place to start to see what the opportunities are. Learn more about us. If you click on our blog, you can read some impact stories and get to see some of the impact that we're having. That's a good place to start, or catch us on our podcast and hear a little bit more about us from that too.
Speaker 3:Are there other ways to be involved?
Speaker 2:Absolutely. One of our greatest needs is financial support. We can always use donations, sponsorships for upcoming events, and we're here to do this work. We are fully financed by the community and so all of our dollars go back into our program.
Speaker 3:You mentioned an event that was being sponsored, so like a business could sponsor an event or these individuals who are sponsoring, how does that work?
Speaker 2:Absolutely. We have Illuminate coming up in June, on June 12th, and our presenting sponsor for that event is Ascension St Vincent. But we do have other sponsorship opportunities available and it's going to be at Daniel's Vineyard and Little Yellow Rickshaw is going to be playing.
Speaker 1:It'll be a lot of fun and people can buy tickets just to those events are really good ways. It's kind of like an easy on-ramp to learn about what we're doing. Support our work, kind of get to know us in our community, you know before diving in and you know becoming a volunteer you call them illuminate events so, yeah, our big, our big fundraiser.
Speaker 1:Each year it's typically been a gala, and this year we're switching it up and doing it outdoors, in a venue, um, at a vineyard, with live music. So that's one event. Uh, we're gonna have a top golf event, um, in august, and then we'll have a. We have an annual kickball tournament in the fall too, so so those are great ways to introduce people to the work that we do. Oh, excellent.
Speaker 3:And I assume they can find those things' social media website as well. Yeah, of course. Okay, we like to give our listeners an opportunity to hear about the person behind this. In this case, the person behind this, in this case, the persons behind this. Um amanda, what got you here? What's your story?
Speaker 2:make this as short as I can. Okay. In 2013, I prayed to god to break my heart for what broke. His and I was led to a fair trade organization, and one of the groups that we worked with within that organization was from Tennessee, and they were being featured on a documentary called A Path Appears. I watched the documentary and bawled my eyes out the entire time, and when it was over, I knew that I wanted to get involved in anti-trafficking efforts, but had no idea how to do that.
Speaker 2:And then a girlfriend of mine was volunteering for our jail ministry and so I called her to ask her if she could connect me. So I started doing that. I did that for about three years with her and I was going into the Johnson County Jail and I just every week. It was like a revolving door and I wanted to build relationships. I felt like I was being called to build relationships and then, through the Fair Trade Organization, I was invited to an anti-trafficking event that Jessica was presenting at, and I was enthralled in what she had to say and then just hung on to. Every word Met with her afterwards Was like, okay, I want to get involved.
Speaker 2:How can I do that? And I had to wait a year because the mentors there weren't enough mentors to do a training program. So I waited a year and then became a mentor, started volunteering in a residential facility while I was waiting to be matched and met my first match there and she was partaking in our my Life, my Choice program and then we were matched for about three years. I would guess Part of that time she was on the run for a year and a half but she kept in touch with me, and that was one thing you had mentioned about the girls being on the run is. We did a little poll and determined that all of our girls who have run away a hundred percent of them connected with their mentor while they were on the run. A hundred percent of them.
Speaker 3:So shows the strength of that desire to connect.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but I was with her for a while and then became a mentor coach in 2019. And then in 2020, I became the fundraising manager here, right when COVID was happening Completely redefined what that role was supposed to be and then last year what year was that? 21?, 22? A year and a half ago, I became the mentorship program coordinator and that's what I've been doing since, and this is helping me fulfill my need for relationships.
Speaker 3:Excellent. Thank you, Jessica. You go back a few years further. I do With allies.
Speaker 1:Yeah, again. Long story short, I was a teacher, as I mentioned, and around 2007, I took a trip to Nepal and it's kind of a perfect storm. Of that trip I met girls who had been in a trafficking situation. I had students in my class who had come from really hard situations. I was learning about trafficking and I just felt like it was someone I should pay attention to, and so in 2008, I decided to contact some of my friends and I said hey, I think we should put on an awareness concert to teach people about what we're learning about trafficking. So we did in 2008. We put on a concert. We called it Purchased. I really thought I was checking the box of what I was going to do in the anti-trafficking space. With that concert. A couple hundred people from my church came. It was a great success. But then people started coming up to us and saying, well, you taught us about trafficking. Like, what do we do? How do we get involved? And we didn't have an answer at that time. So we started getting engaged in the anti-traff task force here and learning more and doing just local educational things to help people understand what trafficking was.
Speaker 1:Long story short, in 2011, we became a nonprofit. At that time, just our mission was just to educate people. Super Bowl came to Indy and there were some opportunities within the task force to do more meaningful local prevention education and we really found that there were some girls here that were being missed when it came to prevention education. And we really found that there were some girls here that were being missed when it came to prevention education. So we got trained. Amanda had referenced in a curriculum called my Life, my Choice. That was written by JRI, the Justice Resource Center out in Boston. It was written by survivors for survivors and we took that 10-week curriculum into residential facilities, which is where we started really, really meaningfully engaging with these young ladies and realized, okay, this prevention education is good for this 10 weeks, but they had, they would latch on to our facilitators and they just it was so special to have someone from the outside come in and pay attention to them and give them good information and make connections someone from the outside come in and pay attention to them and give them good information and make connections, and we knew we wanted more.
Speaker 1:Um. So that's, that was the impetus for creating our mentorship program. So my story kind of, you know, follows that trajectory. I was a teacher. I ended up quitting my teaching job on a huge leap of faith and, um, for two years worked part-time at my church until I could come full-time with allies. It was not ever something I set out to do, but just kept kind of walking through every door that opened in front of me. And here we are with you know full time staff and you know this impact that's lasted years and matches that have been matched for years, and it's been a wild journey and a huge learning curve, but amazing and incredible to be part of huge learning curve, but amazing and incredible to be part of.
Speaker 3:Amanda and Jessica, thank you so much for the work that you do. I'm sure that what you're doing is, in a huge way, impacting the lives of those you serve, but it's also making life better for our entire community and I really appreciate the work that you're doing.
Speaker 1:Thank you. Thank you. We do count it as a privilege, so thank you for that.