Women and girls fleeing a life of sexual exploitation often have difficulty finding and affording safe housing.

Why we care: Without consistent safe housing, it is nearly impossible for survivors of commercial sexual exploitation to escape their abusers and a life of victimization.

How we’re solving this: By helping Breaking Free—a Minnesota, U.S.-based comprehensive service provider dedicated to female victims of sex trafficking—provide relocation expenses, advocacy/direct services, housing and basic needs, life and job skills training, and criminal justice support for up to 15 survivors for 6 months in our Transitional Housing Program.

One of the most daunting barriers facing women and girls fleeing the life of sexual exploitation is their inability to find affordable safe housing due to a lack of formal education, job skills, and work history, as well as criminal history, often due to their abuse and exploitation. Up to seventy percent (70%) of the women and ninety percent (90%) of the girls Breaking Free works with are homeless.

There are few programs across the country specifically designed to meet the needs of sex trafficked individuals. Traditional domestic violence shelters are not equipped to handle the psychological, physical, emotional, and spiritual effects that survivors of commercial sexual exploitation/trafficking endure.

Many have been repeatedly beaten, raped, and sold to the highest bidder, and usually by people whom they have trusted.  Many existing programs are ill-equipped to provide the necessary services required to assist women and girls who have been victims of prostitution/trafficking, and therefore, cannot address the root causes that are essential for full recovery and restoration to health. 

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has ranked the state of Minnesota as having the thirteenth highest incidence of recruitment of minors by pimps and traffickers in the United States. Breaking Free is one of the largest and most comprehensive service providers in Minnesota for female victims of sex trafficking, and operates offices in St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Rochester, providing dedicated supportive housing programs and services for 400 to 500 victims and their children throughout the year.

Our Transitional Housing Program serves victims in the Twin Cities areas and surrounding suburbs of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, and accepts referrals for victim relocation from service providers, law enforcement and the FBI across the country.

The requested funding would allow us to provide relocation expenses, advocacy/direct services, housing and basic needs, life and job skills training, and criminal justice support for up to 15 survivors for 6 months. Our programs foster self-worth and dignity amongst survivors that allows them to gain the confidence and skills necessary to eventually become independent, self-sustaining, contributing members of society who have moved beyond their victimization to lead healthy productive lives. After gaining skills and participating in our recovery programs, many residents are able to transition into our permanent housing program or other safe housing upon exiting.