Worcester Business Journal

8 Worcester Business Journal | September 2, 2024 | wbjournal.com A year and a half aer their split, Nikki Bell-Peña and the leaders of Safe Exit Initiative are on their own paths to support women in and exiting the sex trade Recovery PHOTOS | EDD COTE BY MICA KANNER-MASCOLO WBJ Staff Writer N ikki Bell-Peña felt as though she had become the token survivor. In early 2023, she was still working as the founder and CEO of Living in Freedom Together, a Worcester nonprofit working to end the sex trade. At the same time, she was advocating for herself and oth- ers she said were sexually exploited by community leaders by initiating a civil lawsuit against the city's St. John's Cath- olic Church and calling upon the U.S. Department of Justice to take action. "Everything just became really over- whelming for me, and I couldn't manage it; and I didn't have the support system that I needed," she said. In March 2023, Bell-Peña relapsed and was subsequently let go by LIFT that May. LIFT's board named Audra Doody and Courtney Ross Escobar as co-executive directors, both of whom had been with the organization since 2017. e transi- tion wasn't easy for anyone. Eighteen months aer their very public split, Bell-Peña and the nonprofit she founded are now hard at work again addressing the original core mis- sion: Supporting those exploited by the sex trade. But they are fulfilling that mission com- pletely separately and in entirely different ways. Doody and Ross Escobar have worked to redefine LIFT's mission, now operating under the name Safe Exit Initiative, and embarked on new service ventures, including researching the un- derlying issues with the sex trade. Meanwhile, Bell-Peña has celebrated a year of sobriety as she's in the process of starting a brand-new nonprofit. While building her new venture, she's back doing what made her founding of the survivor-led LIFT so notable: directly supporting people in the sex trade. Starting over Aer relapsing, Bell-Peña rendered herself homeless because she refused to use around her children. She lived in active addiction for six months, accessing treatment on and off until she walked into Worcester City Hall and said she needed help. e City's Health & Human Services team got Bell-Peña to a hospital, where she needed treatment for a medical issue, resulting in a five-day stay at the facility. Similar to past times she had entered recovery, Bell-Peña said getting sober meant an intrinsic shi had to take place, and watching her young son as he was leaving her hospital room was that shi. "He wanted me to come with him, and I couldn't," she said. "at look on his face … I said 'I'm never doing that again.'" When Bell-Peña entered treatment in 2023, she had a community of support, she said. But when she le that program not in recovery, everyone who had been there pulled away. "I was le completely isolated and alone and without support, which led me to be further exploited and further marginalized," she said. is reason is why Bell-Peña doesn't use sobriety, or even the goal of sobriety, as a barrier to receiving support in the outreach work she does. While her new organization is still in its infancy, Bell-Peña has already written its bylaws, formulated its board, and submitted the materials needed to obtain nonprofit status. Simultaneously, she has been working out of the trunk of her car, driving around the city pro- viding clothes, cosmetics, and hygiene As part of the beginning stages of her new nonprofit, Nikki Bell-Peña drives around underserved areas of Worcester, offering women involved in the sex trade clothes, cos- metics, and hygiene products. "I had a mission when I started LIFT, and I have a mission now; and that is to end prostitution and help other survivors exit," she said. Audra Doody, co- executive director of Safe Exit Initiative Courtney Ross Escobar, co-executive director of Safe Exit Initiative

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