Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | September 30, 2024 | Worcester Business Journal 9 Human trafficking Massachusetts leads the six New England states in the number of signals the National Human Trafficking Hotline received about possible human trafficking, which could be sex trafficking, labor trafficking, or both. Signals include any outreach to the hotline, including from victims. Of the 263 Massachusetts signals the hotline received last year, 74 were from victims or survivors of trafficking. State Signals received % of total nationally Cases identified Massachusetts 263 0.87% 84 Connecticut 219 0.73% 42 Maine 78 0.26% 36 New Hampshire 76 0.25% 29 Rhode Island 34 0.11% 13 Vermont 19 0.06% 7 Note: The National Human Trafficking Hotline uses the U.S. law definition of human trafficking as a crime involving the use of force, fraud, or coercion to exploit a person for labor, services, or commercial sex. Source: The National Human Trafficking Hotline Bell-Peña (right) speaks to a woman involved in the sex trade in downtown Worcester. "They just need somebody to see them as a human being that's deserving of kindness and support," she said. products to women engaged in the sex trade. She said she has even started to help women get into treatment, with many expressing their want to join her and her mission when they're sober. "All these girls that I'm working with and treating, they're like 'Can I come work with you when I get better?' and I'm like 'Yes, you can. at's exactly what you can do,'" she said. Bell-Peña is initially looking to rent a space and establish a drop-in center for women in the sex trade with the goal to eventually open another pro- gram, such as a shelter as LIFT once did. rough her nonprofit, she plans to offer peer support, advocacy, and substance-use disorder treatment while working to push for legislative action for partial decriminalization of the sex trade: a model enforcing legal penalties for sex buyers and not the prostituted individuals. Bell-Peña is already working to ready herself for the courtroom. She's going to school part time to earn her associates degree in human services and will transfer to a bachelor's pro- gram in criminal law. She will again start her organization as survivor-led, which she believes is essential to the work she does. "Nobody knows how to survive prostitution and the journey out like somebody that has lived it," said Bell- Peña. "If you haven't been there, you don't know the solutions, and that's why I think it's critical that survivors are at the forefront of everything that we do." ough the road to those solutions is not always straightforward, Bell-Peña said she does the work because she can't leave behind the women who gave her kindness and compassion when she was beside them in the sex trade. "It makes me feel like I survived for a reason," she said. "is work is always going to be a part of me." Redefining the mission When Doody and Ross Escobar were named co-executive directors of what is now Safe Exit Initiative, they took one big step back to analyze what their organization was, what they were good at, and how they could change to best support their partici- pants. When they did, they decided the non- profit's previous mission to end the sex trade wasn't as accessible or as accurate as they had once thought. "We're not ending the sex trade," said Ross Escobar. "It even sounds bizarre to me, but that's not what we're here for." What SEI is here for is supporting women who have expe- riences in the sex trade by providing resources and services no matter what their past or future holds. While the organization has participants actively trying to exit prostitution, SEI also has those who don't identify with a mission to end the sex trade and who want to stay in the life, said Doody. "And that's completely okay," she said. "We support people with lived and living experience." With SEI's shi in mission came a reevaluation and refinement of what services the organization was provid- ing. In September 2023, the organiza- tion chose to shut down the overnight shelter component of its communi- ty-based resource center HARBOR. e decision to close the shelter's operations was in part due to lack of funding, but was also a strategic move away from providing housing services. In fact, SEI turned down funding awarded to them by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to build transitional housing. "We just decided we don't want to be in the housing game. at's not our area of expertise; we're here for harm reduction, recovery, and policy and advocacy," said Ross Escobar. inking of closing HARBOR's shelter still makes Doody choke up, but she said closing was the right choice and one of the better decisions the duo made in regards to finances, stability, and organizational capacity. e closure even helped move patients into treat- ment and transitional housing, she said. New beginnings To support their participants most effectively, Doody and Ross Escobar came to the conclusion SEI needed to work to address the underlying system- ic issues of the sex trade, including mi- sogyny, racism, homophobia, poverty, and educational inequities. As a result, SEI moved its policy and advocacy work to the forefront, estab- lishing its Policy & Research Practice. e sex trade is understudied, and therefore best practices haven't been developed to provide the best types of services for those with lived or living experience, said Ross Escobar. To address this con- cern, SEI has begun its first research initiative through its PRP having received a $160,000 award from the Mas- sachusetts Gaming Commission to conduct a two-year study of the relationship between sex trafficking and casinos. e nonprofit is in the process of recruiting a researcher with the study slated to start in early 2025. Under Doody and Ross Escobar's leader- ship, SEI has built out its training and education department, aimed at equipping law enforce- ment, healthcare professionals, and community service providers with the knowledge necessary to best support those in the sex trade. In August, the organization celebrat- ed the reopening of HARBOR fol- lowing extensive renovations. Having operated from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. since the closing of its overnight shelter, the resource center and day shelter is now equipped with a fully functional kitchen, donation closet, and refur- bished first floor as it provides essential services from harm reduction supplies and case management to showers and hot meals. While SEI has experienced a number of salient changes in the past year and a half, the organization's values have stayed consistent, said Doody. "Even though our operating hours may look different, we're still treating every person that walks into either this location or Jana's Place with uncon- ditional positive regard," she said. "ey're welcome just as they are." Bell-Peña offers support and services to women in the sex trade whether they're looking to enter recovery or not. "It's important that when people are ambivalent and maybe aren't ready to take that step, that they still have love and support," she said. W

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