Awaken’s mission is to increase awareness and education surrounding the issue of CSE and to provide housing and restoration for its victims. We are transforming our community with the ultimate goal of eradicating CSE. We aim for victims of CSE to be restored to their fullest potential and aspire to be an inspirational model for other communities.

Awaken’s programming falls under three main categories: prevention, restoration, and city transformation (see above). Our comprehensive model puts victims at the center of what we do — helping survivors restore their freedom and preventing more individuals from becoming victims of CSE. We also partner with community stakeholders to stop traffickers wherever they operate.

We have developed great relationships with law enforcement agencies such as the Reno and Sparks Police Departments and the regional Street Enforcement Team (SET); community-based agencies including local hospitals and schools; and other non-profit agencies. These organizations serve as excellent referral sources for Awaken. In addition, we also get referrals from current program participants who share about Awaken with their peers.

We have found that some of the greatest needs are met through therapy (both group and individual), life skills classes, mentorship, exercise, dietary guidance, religious activities/community (if requested), and healthy relationship building events.

The initial meeting with a prospective program participant typically includes a standard intake assessment. Often, though not always, this is followed by the assignment of the participant to a case manager. The case manager helps the program participant set, monitor, and achieve individualized goals. They also help the participants access other services provided by Awaken and community organizations such as therapy, workshops, mentoring, family support, the Awaken drop-in center, assistance with employment, and more.

Services are delivered with victim safety and program participant confidentiality as a primary concern. One of the first documents that our program participants sign is the confidentiality waiver. This document goes into depth regarding what their right to confidentiality is and in what ways, if any, they can choose to waive that right. When collaborating with another organization, we ensure a release of information is signed by the program participants. This allows us to share information a program participant deems beneficial for their services. In addition, staff members, mentors, and interns receive annual training on the importance of and restrictions on confidentiality. All staff, mentors, interns and volunteers agree to uphold Awaken’s confidentiality policy.

Every week is different at the Awaken offices. It depends on our program participant load and their needs, as well as what other events are happening that week (i.e. community events, trainings, etc.). We always have an “on-call” case manager since many times we get calls outside of typical 9 a.m.-5 p.m. hours.

We serve a broad range of program participants from young children to older women. Exploitation does not discriminate, even in age. As a point of reference, the average age of entry into prostitution in the U.S. is 14. Specifically at Awaken, 85% of our program participants are between ages 16 and 29. However, we have served girls as young as 11 years of age and many of the adult women report being forced to enter “the life” as minors.

Any sort of vulnerability creates a target, whether relational, financial, emotional, etc. To get an idea of more specific flags, you can click here.

The survivors we have worked with at Awaken have, on average, been trafficked for 8 years.

Understandably, establishing trust with an individual who has been through a great deal of trauma can be difficult. Therefore, we do our best to ensure a relationship is established and that the program participant feels supported on their journey to healing. In addition, the lack of knowledge and understanding regarding sex trafficking among service providers, law enforcement, and even victims themselves (who often do not believe or understand that they are a victim of a crime) also poses a challenge. As a result, victims often go unidentified and unserved.

Though Reno is not a new target for traffickers, our hope is that the reality of local trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation is starting to be more exposed. Our location along the I-80 corridor mixed with the legalization of prostitution in certain areas of Nevada has created the perfect conditions for exploitation to happen. It is estimated that over 1,500 women and children are being commercially exploited at any point in time in northern Nevada. We believe legal prostitution in our state increases the rate of sex trafficking.

Every day we encounter someone whose response to learning about the sex trafficking epidemic is, “I didn’t think it happened here!” Through our prevention and city transformation efforts, we are working to educate the general population about the reality of trafficking and CSE in our city and state. It is absolutely an issue that needs to have the attention of ALL sectors of our community. We need to continue increasing awareness and educate the community on not only the existence of trafficking and sexual exploitation, but also potential solutions.