Do you want to help stop sex trafficking here in Portland?  Compassion Connect's Adorned in Grace have been accepted for a one month Challenge by Global Giving.  We have been given a building to build a Design Studio that will provide space to mentor at risk girls away from sex trafficking.  We need your support to remodel the empty space into a safe place where creativity can thrive.

Challenge:  Build a Design Studio to prevent Human Trafficking

* 1 month to raise at least $4,000 (total project is $50,000)

* 1 month to have 50 donors give

Click link below to view the Challenge.  Please give and ask 7 friends to do the same because we want to raise the next generation of girls into leaders rather than victims. 

GIVE and SHARE

The Justice Series...Join The Conversation

Starting in March, OCCV will be hosting monthly gatherings to dig into what it means to really follow Christ today.  We'll be exploring the connections between contemporary issues and learning from each other. 

Come join us every second Sunday at 3:00 pm at the Chapel Pub. 

March 11th: "Why does modern-day slavery exist?  How poverty perpetuates trafficking."

April 8th: "Am I my brother's keeper?  A Christian perspective on caring for the sick."

May 13th: "Where in all of God's creation do we fit? An examination of the Christian's responsibility for the environment."

Bring a friend!  We'll save you a seat. 

The City of Portland proposes to cut funding for the New Options for Women Program in 2012-2013
 
LifeWorks Northwest’s New Options for Women (NOW) Program was granted funding in 2008 to decrease street prostitution on 82nd Ave.  The NOW Program provides services to women and girls that have been involved in prostitution. Services offered are mental health and addictions treatment, peer mentoring, case management, wrap around services to assist participants in getting their basic needs met.  The NOW Program is the only service provider in the state of Oregon offering intensive treatment services for adult women wishing to exit prostitution. 
 
Without the NOW Program:
 
Women and girls without insurance (roughly 90% of our participants) will NOT have access to mental health and addictions treatment.
Of the 10% of women and girls that qualify for services elsewhere, they will be placed in treatment settings where it is not safe to address issues related to exploitation.
Women and girls wanting to make lifestyle changes will no longer have a program providing them with the array of services needed to address all areas of exiting prostitution.
Street Prostitution on 82nd Ave. will increase to the high numbers previous to 2008.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and histories of trauma will go untreated.
Drug and alcohol dependence will go untreated.
The collaborative system the courts, prosecutors, and law enforcement have built with treatment providers will no longer exist for adult women.
The City’s efforts to provide Collaborative services for Commercially Sexually Exploited Children (CSEC) will end when those youth turn 18 there will be NO services available.
Crime rates will increase on 82nd Ave.
Re-arrests for prostitution charges will increase, costing the community money for incarceration, court costs, and increased police activity.
Cutting this program is going to cost our community more money.
 
Your input does make a difference. 
 
Did you know City Officials log all letters, emails, phone calls, and comments left on the City’s website?

If you wish to voice your concerns to City Officials, enter your opinion online at    http://www.portlandonline.com/omf/index.cfm?c=26061
 
 
 
Carey Cogswell, MSW, CADC II
Clinical Supervisor
New Options for Women
LifeWorks Northwest
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The City of Portland's Human Rights Commission (HRC) requests your attendance at an upcoming public forum on human trafficking.  The purpose of the forum is to gather information on efforts being made to end human trafficking, particularly in immigrant populations, in and around Portland, and to identify what can be done to make those efforts more effective.  In addition to bringing the community together to discuss this important issue, the forum will also serve as a launching point for the HRC's Human Trafficking Task Force (HTTF), which will be comprised of members of the HRC along with representatives from various government agencies, law enforcement, non-governmental organizations and individual community members.  The information gathered at the forum will inform the goals and agenda of the HTTF moving forward. 

As most of you are aware, the trafficking of humans has become one of the world's most lucrative criminal activities.  Particularly horrifying is the trafficking of women and girls into the commercial sex industry.  In these enterprises, girls are little more than inventory and commodity.  But to all of us, each one is valuable and worth all that we can do.

As a Compassion First Golf Participant, you have the opportunity to help raise awareness and funding necessary to provide Restoration, Healing and Hope for the girls in our care.  When you register, you will have access to your own personal fundraising page.  There, you can share your story and why you've decided to participate on her behalf.

Click on link below for more information or to register.