Prostitution rescue agency forced to close
Sisters Offering Support projects gave judges a sentencing option besides prison
The only agency in the state offering services to help prostitutes escape commercial sexual exploitation could not get enough funding, and is closing Saturday after 10 years in operation.
Sisters Offering Support Executive Director Lorraine Faithful said she was "shocked and saddened" last month when the organization's board informed her of its decision to close.
Faithful said the decision was based on the inability to raise enough money to cover operational expenses.
According to its annual report for fiscal year 2005, SOS raised $217,966 and spent $216,046. More than half of the expenses, $121,395, went to salaries and wages.
Sisters Offering Support has offered prostitution intervention and counseling services to anyone referred by the courts, police, prison officials, friends and family members. People could also refer themselves. No one is charged for the service.
Between July 1, 2004, and June 30, 2006, SOS received 422 referrals for prostitution intervention, according to the annual report.
Faithful said she wanted to thank the donors, volunteers and board members for the agency's accomplishments over the past 10 years.
Until last month, Sisters Offering Support had three full-time employees: Faithful, a personal empowerment coach and a youth prevention program coordinator. A part-time prevention educator was laid off last November for lack of funding, Faithful said.
The nonprofit organization gets nearly all of its funding from private and government grants. The rest comes from fees and fundraising events.
Faithful said private foundation grants are still available but are restrictive in how the money can be spent. She said the availability of unrestricted funds had dwindled, forcing the decision to close.
The group gets 15 to 20 referrals per year from state judges, Faithful said. State law allows judges to sentence people convicted of prostitution to probation, and order them to complete a prostitution intervention course as a condition.
She informed the courts of the closure, and they have already stopped making referrals, she said.
SOS also has offered community education; in-service training for professionals working with high-risk populations; a community prevention program for parents, teachers and other school administrators; outreach services for incarcerated populations; and a prevention program for kids in middle school and high school.
Hale Kipa has taken the curriculum, Faithful said, and will continue the youth prevention program.
Kelly Hill, a former news reporter in Canada, founded SOS in 1995, drawing on her own experience of escaping prostitution. The organization opened its doors the following year with Hill as executive director.
