What AmeriCorps Funding Cut Means for Survivors of Human Trafficking

Arnold00:00:00

The White House has recently suspended funding for AmeriCorps. AmeriCorps does a wonderful job responding to needs in our country, and it is community based. What are some of the issues?Who's going to be impacted and what is going to be the result? We're going to find out more on St. Louis in June. Welcome to St. Louis in Tune.And thank you for joining us for fresh perspectives on issues and events with experts, community leaders, and everyday people who make a difference in shaping our society and world. I'm Arnold Stricker along with co host Mark Langston. Mark, it's a sunny, Sunny Day in St. Louis after the great deluge we've been having.

Mark00:00:51

Yes.

Arnold00:00:52

I can't believe I actually saw the sun. And it's shining right now through the window.

Mark00:00:56

I'm loving it. I am enjoying it.

Arnold00:00:58

I got my sunglasses back.

Mark00:00:59

I know it. I know it. This guy named Noah's been walking around the streets of St. Louis lately.

Arnold00:01:03

That's actually floating around.

Mark00:01:05

It's a little disturbing. Yeah, I know it's been tough. I know it's good. I've noticed our weather events are a little bit more intense.

Arnold00:01:13

Yes.

Mark00:01:14

In the last few years. Yes. A little more.

Arnold00:01:16

We had in April. It was the.

Mark00:01:18

But there's no global warming. I'm sorry.

Arnold00:01:20

No. Yeah. April was the wettest April in St. Louis in over 100 years. And may kicked off just. I'm gonna beat you.

Mark00:01:33

Oh, no. I know. We want to do outdoor events in our family, too.

Arnold00:01:37

You can't do them right now.

Mark00:01:38

Graduations we're doing in the backyard.

Arnold00:01:40

Yeah.

Mark00:01:41

Forget that.

Arnold00:01:42

Plant rice right now.

Mark00:01:44

That's right. That's right.

Arnold00:01:45

We're glad that you joined us today, folks. We want to thank our sponsor, Better Rate Mortgage, for their support of the show.You can listen to previous shows@stlintune.com please help us continue to grow by leaving a review on our website, st.lintune.com, apple podcast or your preferred podcast PL platform. Our return to civility today is a good one related to our show. Go directly to the source of your frustration and take action toward a solution.The only good quote, unquote wine is the kind that comes in a bottle.

Mark00:02:17

Okay. All right. Gonna catch a plane to Washington, D.C. right now.

Arnold00:02:21

We're gonna catch a plane to Washington, D.C. now. There are groups that do that. They get busloads together. They go and from all over the country, and there's a lot going on. And we're gonna.We're gonna talk about that in a brief moment. Here. So go directly to the source of your frustration and take action toward a solution.

Mark00:02:41

Towards a solution.

Arnold00:02:42

Right toward the solution. Joining us in studio, Katie Rogue is founder and executive director of Healing Action Network.Courtney Hudsick is director of volunteer service at Healing Action Network. Welcome, ladies. Welcome, Katie, back to St. Louis in tune.

Katie00:02:57

Yes. Thank you.

Arnold00:02:57

Thank you, Katie.First of all, tell us a little bit about Healing Action so we can frame this for listeners so they understand because your funding has been cut off from AmeriCorps via the White House mandate. What was it last week?

Katie00:03:10

Yes.

Arnold00:03:11

So tell us a little about Healing Action Network and what it does.

Katie00:03:13

Absolutely. So Healing Action Network, we provide direct services to adult survivors of human trafficking.And that looks like case management, it looks like trauma therapy, it looks like peer support.And then we also host the Coalition Against Trafficking and Exploitation, which is our statewide network that brings together professionals, service providers to work on building a safety net for survivors across the state of Missouri.

Arnold00:03:41

Now, you guys with the cates, it's called the Coalition. You are the founding group of that or you're the organizing group of that?

Katie00:03:48

We were part of the founding group. However, it was.How is it another organization years ago, and then in 2018, the Healing Action took it over as the operational support for the coalition. So we've been building it since about 2018.

Arnold00:04:04

Okay. And Courtney, what is your role as director of volunteer service and Healing Action Network?

Kortney00:04:09

So I recruit, manage, and basically provide oversight for our AmeriCorps program, but also volunteers, recruitment for volunteers to help Healing Action Network, CATE and our services.

Arnold00:04:23

Now, were you anticipating some things coming down the pike? I know there had been, like, little flags had been or balloons had been flown up.And were you anticipating something, something this quickly to happen, or were you envisioning, like, maybe down the road, further in the. Into the year that this may happen?

Katie00:04:42

Yeah, I know that we got a little bit nervous when we heard that Doge was at AmeriCorps. We, I think, have all seen what happens when they go into an organization, and so we were a little bit nervous.What we did not expect was that the funding would be cut prior to the terminate or prior to the end of the contract. So our contract actually ran a few more months, and they cut all funding or most of the funding to programs before their contract term even ended.So we were not expecting that. We were anticipating potential cuts later, but not this quickly and then not before the end of the contract term, which.

Arnold00:05:21

That kind of begs a question.Is, does in the contract, does it allow for the government to Terminate services and funding immediately, or does that have to be a mutually agreed time, or is the contract to the end of the term?

Katie00:05:34

Well, the contract was supposed to be to the end of the term.There were things that could allow for contracts to be terminated early, but that had more to do with performance of the organization, not meeting goals, having issues with finances, which Healing Action did not have any of those things. As well as the other programs that were terminated, they were not experiencing those things as well.So it doesn't look like there was any rhyme or reason to terminate the funding prior to the contract.

Mark00:06:03

This is like insult to injury to me.

Arnold00:06:05

Absolutely.

Mark00:06:06

It's bad enough that they're going to cancel the funding. And I've always said if you guys want to do that, you want to cut the budget or whatever, at least give folks an opportunity to plan ahead.Like you say, it was not going to be canceled until the end of the term or what have you, but then they just go ahead and cancel it. And how is a small organization like yours gonna fight it?You're gonna go to court and pay for the lawyers and go in and say, hey, they're in breach of contract and we want the rest of our money. And that's probably gonna cost even more than it is. And nobody wants to do that anyway.Not for what you're trying to do, the good things you're trying to do.

Arnold00:06:43

Yeah, it's my understanding, I don't know. It's. 15 or 18 attorneys general have filed lawsuit to stop this, to this. Really. It's breach of contract, I guess, is what they're claiming.

Mark00:06:55

It's just sad to me. And I don't get it. I don't get we're. This is mean and hateful of stuff to me, and I just don't understand it.America, to me is a better place than that. Yeah.

Arnold00:07:07

And for those who don't know, AmeriCorps.AmeriCorps is an independent agency of the US government and supports volunteer and service efforts across the country by providing opportunities for community members to meet local needs and address pressing issues, including academic support and intervention for students, youth mentoring, as well as homelessness, food insecurity, health, and other key areas and communities. And they've been doing this for 30 years. And I wanted to mention, it's a public private partnership. Every dollar invested.AmeriCorps generates $17 in US wide economic value through private matching funds and the services its members provide to students and seniors, veterans and their families, and disaster victims. It's critically necessary to support communities across the country. So the money comes from the federal government to the states.It's disseminated through a grant program where you have to apply for the grant and then individuals get matching money. Am I correct with that? And then they go out and they serve the community. The community.

Mark00:08:07

It's hurting my heart here.

Arnold00:08:08

So let's talk about how you guys got involved. How long have you been involved with AmeriCorps?

Katie00:08:14

Yeah, so we've actually been. We started out a recipient of having AmeriCorps members. This was, this has been. Oh, Covid's really messed up my timeline.

Arnold00:08:25

Say 2000 for Covid.

Katie00:08:26

Yeah, yeah. It was probably 2018 ish, 2019 that we started having AmeriCorps members in our site.And what AmeriCorps has done, having AmeriCorps members have done has really allowed the organization to build up our grant writing and build up our ability to write grants, to collect data to be able to get the funds that we need to support the mission of the organization. And so through having AmeriCorps members, we were able to scale from about five or six employees to now 22 employees.And that's all because we've had AmeriCorps support. Now we knew through the coalition that several community partners anti trafficking organizations tend to be smaller organizations in the community.There's one other that are in Kansas City that's about the size of us. But most organizations are small, individually ran or volunteer based organizations.And because AmeriCorps did so much for us as an organization, we wanted to give that ability to other organizations in the community. And so we became an intermediary about 2020, 21.And so we were able to start placing training AmeriCorps members in anti trafficking and then placing them in organizations across the state of Missouri to help build them capacity. And so that, that has looked like helping with case management. It's looked like helping build operations so that they can sustain growth.It's looked like doing trainings in the community. All kinds of activities.

Arnold00:10:07

Courtney, go into if somebody, when somebody walks in off the street or goes to the website, by the way, which is healingaction.org healingaction.org they maybe submit. Hey, I'm ready to volunteer. I can do that. So what do you do when you get those names?

Kortney00:10:22

So when I get those names, I contact them, I give them a brief overview. If they're wanting to do the AmeriCorps program or just straight out volunteer, I give an explanation of what each looks like.And then if they are wanting to volunteer, then they do an application and then AmeriCorps also has an application process and background checks and all of that.And so basically once they are onboarded, we provide orientation, like Katie said, we, we provide them with human trafficking, one on one training, identifying trafficking within the communities that they serve. So that way they can provide services or help their community in that aspect.And then once they complete orientation, then they go to their respective service site and then they serve at our partner agencies and provide just extreme so much support to those agencies that. Yeah. That they're able to grow and give back to their community and serve.

Arnold00:11:21

Yeah.One of the things I read was that the goals was one of the goals was to get people who, when they have maybe fulfilled a time frame with you all that they would go on and continue with what they had learned in another setting and build the, as you said, build the understanding of trafficking and the need for assistance there. Is that part of kind of all of the training that you guys do or.

Kortney00:11:47

Yes.

Arnold00:11:47

Or is that up to the individual? Hey, I'm just a short term volunteer. Or me, I'm, I want to do this for a living. And maybe I have a degree in social work. And this is something else.You kind of get all kinds of people involved there.

Kortney00:11:59

Absolutely.So whether they're serving 100 hours, whether they're serving 1700 hours, they get all the same trafficking training that, that everyone gets with our agency. Basically they are going into other organizations with the same information and training that we do at, that we have at Healing Action Network.

Arnold00:12:18

Mark, one of the things about what Doge is doing is it's like going from one extreme to the other. Like the thought process that oh, we're spending all this money frivolously. No, we're not going to spend any money.And rather than look at areas or groups that do outstanding work, like I'm sure there's areas that are like questionable. Yeah. Like the military paying $800 for a toilet or something. Toilet seat rather. Something like that. But my point is. I lost my point.

Mark00:12:48

But days are better than toilet seats.

Arnold00:12:50

Yes, they are, by the way. Yes, they are. You can get a bidet toilet seat. No, that.Looking at individually at things like this, it's just not a, here's a check, here's money because they have to go out and get private support also. So how do you do that? Do you say, gee, we have this much money that we've received in this grant, are you willing to do this?And here's where I wanted to go is because of all This a lot of people now are pulling back when they used to donate to many organizations like locally, the arts locations here in town or the history museum, things like that, Opera Theater, St. Louis or the St. Louis Symphony. Now they're like, I don't know, because, you know, the economy, I don't know are they going to cut this now?Have you guys felt that on the private side also?

Katie00:13:37

I think we're starting to see the impact of really the 360 impact of what's been happening in D.C.because a lot of funders, a lot of foundations, individuals and also foundations, they get a significant amount of the money that they donate to organizations through the market and capital gains and things like.So we're not only seeing a reduction in federal funding, like you mentioned, a lot of individuals and foundations are not going to have as much to give because the stock market is going up and down and they're not sure if they're going to continue to have the funding. And so they're pulling back.Now that said, we do have some funders in the area that know what's going on with AmeriCorps, with healing action Network. And so they are rallying.There's, there's three funders that are coming together and talking about how they can either make up the difference or help support our organization so that it doesn't have a longstanding impact on the clients that we serve. Now that is locally here in St. Louis.I don't know if we're going to be seeing that at the statewide level, but I'm predicting that we're going to see a slowdown in foundation and individual giving as well. As this goes on, I'd be cautious to give.

Mark00:14:52

Are you going to be getting the support that you need from the government? Like you say, it's all a big piece of pie.And if you're not getting that, you're going to probably, I don't know, it's just going to be difficult, I think. What about maybe for Courtney? I know human trafficking? What to the audience, what is human trafficking really?Just maybe the 30,000 foot view of what human trafficking is. I know it's getting in the weeds. Or of course, Katie, you can answer too.

Arnold00:15:21

Yeah, why don't you guys both answer?

Mark00:15:23

Yeah.

Kortney00:15:23

Okay. Katie, you start.

Arnold00:15:27

She passed that one. Really?

Kortney00:15:28

Katie, you start. It's so broad, it's hard to nail.

Arnold00:15:34

Let me do a preface for this.We've done two shows with Healing Action Network and folks, you need to go back and listen to those shows because there is no Single area that is, I would say, ignored or bypassed or just gone into some kind of camouflage than sex trafficking and sexual exploitation. And it needs to be revealed. And there's a lot of issues out there, homelessness and food pantries, et cetera. This issue is unbelievable.And it's something that needs attention. Katie, go ahead.

Katie00:16:05

Absolutely. Human trafficking really is the. It's basically a method that people use to force people into forced labor.And so that forced labor could be labor employment situations, but it could also be in sexual exploitation. So that's what we consider sex trafficking.And so it's an individual or somebody who is using force, fraud, or coercion to manipulate somebody into some sort of labor practice and then taking that money. It usually involves significant violence. It involves coercion. It involves fraud, manipulation.And what we know about it is that for kiddos, for youth who have ended up in human trafficking or sex trafficking, the top perpetrator is actually family members. So it's a family person who is then exploiting that individual and then having monetary gain from that. And then for adult.For sex trafficking in particular for adults, the number one perpetrator, the most common perpetrator, is an intimate partner.So whether it's a husband, a partner, and so it's usually somebody that we know, or at least in the peripheral of our worlds, it's not necessarily a stranger. That is kidnapping. Now, that happened, but it's not the most common form of trafficking that we see here in Missouri.

Arnold00:17:27

Probably what you just said is probably one of the most misunderstood statements about sex trafficking and sexual exploitation, because most people would think you're going to get kidnapped and now you're doing this like in the movies.

Kortney00:17:39

But that's really not.

Arnold00:17:40

Courtney, what do you want to add to that?

Kortney00:17:41

I would just say just the means of technology also play a factor into that manipulation. And then security. Housing your basic needs is usually typically what is used in the manipulation and coercion tactics.And so that the need to survive and the fight and wanting to get their basic needs taken care of is usually what is controlled.

Mark00:18:05

I don't really think of a family member, a spouse, doing that to a loved one. It's astonishing. It's amazing. It's very sad. I was kind of like the movie guy.

Kortney00:18:16

Yeah.

Mark00:18:16

Somebody kidnaps them and holds their passport, whatever the case might be. You just got to this country and we're going to exploit you for a while. But that's disturbing that it's on that level.It's got to be harder to detect. Also that there's human trafficking going on when it's at that level as well?

Katie00:18:32

I would think, yes, it can be challenging. Same with labor trafficking. We don't get enough. There's labor trafficking happening in Missouri. Its identification is challenging.Language barriers are challenging.And ultimately the kind of rhetoric around immigration does not help in being people wanting to come forward when they are being brought here and they are being exploited. They don't want to come forward when we have a very strong anti immigrant rhetoric that's happening in the country right now.And so we tend to not see the labor trafficking.

Arnold00:19:06

It's Arnold Stricker with Mark Langston of St.Louis in Tune, we're talking to Katie Rhodes, founding executive director of Healing Action Network, and Courtney Hudsick, she's director of volunteer service at Healing Action Network. Katie, can you tell us how much funding you've lost?

Katie00:19:21

Yes. So we have lost approximately $250,000.

Arnold00:19:26

Okay. And that's just from AmeriCorps, right?

Katie00:19:29

Yes.

Arnold00:19:30

That's not counting the matching or the additional monies that you would get from the private partnerships that would go along with that, correct?

Katie00:19:37

Yeah, so far those are still secure.

Arnold00:19:39

Okay.

Katie00:19:40

The match funding is still secure, but it's the AmeriCorps funding was cut.

Arnold00:19:44

So what has that funding then done now when, say maybe they came down yesterday and they said at 5:00, boom, this happens today. Nobody shows up or you call people and say, hey, you don't have a job anymore.

Katie00:19:57

Yes, that's what we had to do this past. Or what two Saturdays ago now? My goodness. Time was the day. So we received an email April 25th that the grants were terminated.And so we spent April 26th on a Saturday notifying AmeriCorps members that they are not to report to their sites to be able to provide services. And that was approximately, I think it was like 10 members. Can't remember the exact number of how many folks we needed to notify.And then we spent last week trying to figure out how are we going to make up the money, what does it mean for the impact of the services being provided and then also for staffing here within Healing Action as well. And Kate, the Coalition against trafficking lost 3 staff. So 2.5AmeriCorps FTE of AmeriCorps staff immediately.So they are no longer with the coalition. So we went from having four and a half people worth of time to having two people within a week.So it's going to dramatically impact what we can do as a coalition.

Arnold00:21:09

Yeah, I want to talk about. It's one thing to lose your job. It's another thing to what are the services that you're providing?What about the people who are receiving the services from those people that lost their job? So that's let's briefly talk about how you're going to what sources you're going to seek out some other funds from.

Katie00:21:30

Yes. So we have started reaching out to our current funders. So foundation grant or foundation funders to say, hey, this is what's going on.This is how this is going to impact the folks that we serve because they also fund our mission. Right. So it could impact our ability to meet the outcomes that we need to meet for their funding. So it's working with them.We are also reaching out to major donors. So we're looking for individual support. We're looking for additional foundation support.So we've been furiously trying to pull together some possible grants that we could apply to to make up that loss.

Arnold00:22:06

Okay. So we're going to take a brief break.But when we come back, folks, I want you to hear the specific services that are going to be lost for individuals who are involved in sexual exploitation, sexual trafficking, who are trying to get out of it or work their way out of it or who are out of it and trying to put their life back together. That's what we're going to be talking about next. After a break, this Arnold Stricker with Mark Langston of St. Louis and Tune don't go away.The United States has a strong tradition.

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Arnold00:24:17

Welcome back to St. Louis in Tune. This is Arnold Stricker with Mark Langston.We're having a conversation with Katie Rhodes and Courtney Hudsick from the Healing Action Network. And we're talking about the funding which was cut off by Doge from the current administration.And prior to the break we were discussing individuals who were impacted. And after the break we're talking about the clients who are impacted.What is the impact on survivors of human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation?

Katie00:24:55

Yeah, I think the most pressing impact is the lack of folks or decrease in folks ability to serve them. With Healing action. We utilize AmeriCorps program to offer paid practicums for practicum students. And so we are unable to offer that right now.And so we're going to have less students that are able to help support our current team in serving victims.So that's going to potentially mean a reduction in hours, reduction of services, that reduction in case management, help with getting housing, help with getting substance use treatment. And We've trained about 50 students through the AmeriCorps program who are now going out and about in the community educating on human trafficking.And so not having that support internally within Healing Action is going to make it more challenging for us to serve our growing need of victims. And then I know with some of our partner agencies as well, they're losing support staffing.

Kortney00:25:55

Right.The trafficking organization out in the Kansas City area is losing AmeriCorps members that are able to serve their clients and so that they also provide housing, they provide therapeutic services and so case management, legal support. And so they are having a reduction in staff there.And then Also we have AmeriCorps members that serve communicating children in the schools about trafficking and just how to be safe as a child. And so that is also being impacted. And then we have domestic violence organizations that we also have AmeriCorps members placed at.And so that was their capacity building member. And so their funding and resources and support is also impacted by this.

Arnold00:26:49

So it's just not having an office somewhere and pushing paper around and picking up the phone. Are they getting out on the streets or they're getting out to explain. Because you talked about the practicum students. What exactly do they do?And I understand going into the schools, as a former educator myself, businesses that have somebody going around and talking to like the Elks Club or the. What are all those groups, Mark, the Moose, and you know what I'm talking about. I can't think. My brain's just.Yeah, all of the groups, the community groups that get to get like the Chamber of Commerce, they go around, I'm sure, doing those kinds of things. What do they do?

Katie00:27:27

Yeah.So with the types of services that practicum students and then AmeriCorps members provide is they do things like helping people get protective orders from the court systems from their abusers. They help them get access to naloxone or substance use treatment center or access to the substance use treatment centers.They help them find ways out of their abusive situation.So many of the folks that are served are running from abusers and so helping them develop safety plans, helping them find an exit strategy so that they can be safe. We also this the practicum students also help support, take them to doctor's appointments, help them find housing.Many of the folks that Healing Action serves, and I think the other organizations as well, also struggle with homelessness. They're not able to maintain housing.And so being able to help them find housing that is safe for them away from the abusers, helping them get access to therapy.So if you can imagine the trauma that's associated with experiencing trafficking, so being able to go into therapy and kind of process what has been done to them so that they can have less symptoms and be able to work in the community and maintain housing in the community. So those are all of the important key things that not only our students do, but other AmeriCorps members do, that is going to reduce.We're not going to be able to have as many folks in the office, many clients in the office as we normally do to be able to provide that service. And it looks like we're going to have to start a waiting list again. So we've had a waiting list pretty much the entire existence of Healing Action.And then with the AmeriCorps program, we've been able to reduce our waiting list to zero. And so without having the students and AmeriCorps members, we're going to have to start a waiting list again.And at any one given time, we have between 40 and 50 people on a wait list for our services.

Mark00:29:27

How long Is that list waiting period?

Katie00:29:29

It depends on. We were able to reduce that because we could offer crisis services.The students were able to offer, hey, you need immediate assistance, get into treatment. We could do that. But without those students, then we don't have any way to support them while they're on the wait list.So it could be a couple weeks, it could be a couple months before they get services.

Mark00:29:50

What a difference that makes. A couple of weeks. If you're in a crisis situation and.

Arnold00:29:54

We have people that complain they have to wait to get into a restaurant or wait to go through a line at McDonald's or something, and here you're talking about sexual exploitation and you're going to have to wait two weeks, maybe two months.

Mark00:30:04

Yeah, that's.

Arnold00:30:05

It's just, I'm trying to put this in perspective for people that are listening.

Katie00:30:08

Yeah, folks with opioid addiction, if they're struggling with addiction and they don't have access to treatment or support, it's any day they could have an overdose. So we try, we've tried very hard to triage and think through who do we need to get in first.And it's usually folks who are at higher risk of dying from not only their addiction, but from their abusers. And so if we don't have the capacity to serve them, then, you know, this can be real life or death situations. For the folks that agencies across the.

Arnold00:30:41

State are working with and the organizations of 501c3.

Katie00:30:45

Yes.

Arnold00:30:46

I'm going to make a, I'm going to make an editorial comment here. I normally don't do this. How many 501C3s are out there? There's a lot. Folks. If they all went away, who's going to pick it up?Who's going to pick it up? There's a lot of faith based groups doing a lot of things. If they all went away, who's going to pick it up?Everybody says the government's doing this, the government's doing that. Well, the government's funding, helping to fund these kinds of groups to help our populace.And if we're not now helping our populace, what's going to become of our country? Okay, I'll get off.

Mark00:31:21

No, I was just thinking the same thing, Arnold. It's like boots on the ground, right? The government's.

Arnold00:31:26

Yeah, these are like commandos. They are commandos within our community.

Mark00:31:30

I was thinking when you were talking, I was thinking let's just send everybody to Washington D.C. and they can just like knock on the front door of the White House, see if they'll Give them a hand.Hey, we need help now from overdosing or whatever, but yeah, their boots on the ground, cutting the funding for what?

Arnold00:31:45

Yeah, so what I know we talked about recourse at the front end of the our discussion here, and you guys probably aren't in the position to leverage some legal things, and I doubt that our state attorney general will do that either. Sidebar. Comment there for the attorney general, if you're listening. Yeah.What are, what can the people who are listening who, like, yeah, this is something we need to support. What can they do?

Katie00:32:13

They need to make a ruckus. Yeah. Is what I can say. Reach out to your representatives. Make them hear what is being lost as a result of these cuts.And I don't know if our state government has a lot of recourse from what the federal government is doing, but I think what we have seen is that they have reversed course before on certain thing.And so we're hoping that if we can continue to raise the flag and let people know this is what's happening and we get enough people reaching out to legislators, reaching out to our governor's office, reaching out to the attorney general's office, and then also reaching out to the federal legislators as well and letting them know that Missouri believes in taking care of human trafficking victims. And I'm hoping that would work. You're right. Most small nonprofits don't have the legal ability to go after the federal government.So we are, of course, talking to organizations that are able to do that at the federal level and let them know what's going on. But it's going to be a wave of public support, I think that is going to push them to reverse course on some of these things.

Arnold00:33:29

And I don't know that there's any national lobby group like I think of the National Child Exploitation Network, the one that John Walsh or Missing person, missing child thing, they have a little leverage because they're a larger group. They're going a long time.Is there any kind of national sexual exploitation or network group that can walk into the halls of Congress and sit down with these senators and congressmen and stuff like that?

Katie00:33:55

There is the Freedom Network. They are the technical assistants for some of one of the other government entities that provides funding for human trafficking.So I know they're doing some work. I know the national. I think it's the national foundation of Nonprofits, national association of Nonprofits.I know they've been a huge vocal advocate for nonprofits since all of this has started. And then there's, of course, Polaris project. But Polaris Project could potentially be seeing some of the same cuts. I'm not sure on that.So a lot of these large organizations, national organizations, are also receiving funding from the government. I think they're balancing to how much they can vocalize without risk of losing their funding.

Arnold00:34:39

When we all go through having to cut our budgets, you look at, okay, what do I want to cut? Maybe I want to eat two meals a day rather than three. Maybe I don't want steak. I'll eat hamburger. Maybe I'll buy cleaning supplies a little less.Maybe I'll make my own cleaning supplies. Maybe I won't travel as much in the vehicle so I don't have to pay gas. You do those kinds, you really say, how much value does this have to me?What do I really want in it? Do I really need all these subscriptions to Netflix and Apple and Hulu and Disney and all those kinds of things? Do I need all those things?When it comes down to what do I really need? How do I help keep the quality of life?And you talk about people who, their quality of life is not very good and now we have fewer funds to help them out.

Mark00:35:35

Only the strong will survive.

Arnold00:35:37

Unfortunately, in this situation, it's the perpetrators.

Katie00:35:40

It is, it is absolutely the perpetrators who.

Mark00:35:43

Yep.

Arnold00:35:44

And is that where we want to be as a society? Is that where we want to be as a community within the state of Missouri?

Mark00:35:51

Well, I know you said earlier, and budgets are great, maybe you need to cut back. Maybe you need to be more accountable for where the funding is going. But to just cut it off at the knees today and tomorrow is gone.There's no ramping up. There's no winding down. There's no, no planning available to anybody to try to find new funding, take it a different direction.But just like they had to send out an email within days. How do you make a decision like that? Who's going to stay, who's going to go? And we have to get rid of half our staff. It's just.And that's got repercussions as well. Those people now are not employed. Employed. Right. Yeah. And all the terrible things that go along with that.

Arnold00:36:38

Now they're going to collect unemployment.

Katie00:36:41

They won't have health insurance. They won't have.

Mark00:36:43

Yeah.

Kortney00:36:44

AmeriCorps members cannot collect unemployment. Really, because they're volunteers, because they're volunteer based. So they are not able to collect unemployment. So they are literally without a job.

Arnold00:36:53

So this gets me to another point, is that there, there is a country, not Israel is a country. That has. Everybody has to participate in the military. Okay, Everybody goes to the military.It used to be when we had a draft in our country, you and I, the draft stopped right before we were in high school. And During World War II, there was the Civilian Conservation Corps, the three C's, and they had a big base here in St. Louis.And they would go out and they would do things. They built the river depair. They did a lot of kinds of things. AmeriCorps is very similar. Very similar.Not quite the same, but you go out and you volunteer to help, and in some cases you get paid. And that's what this pay is about. I'm going out and I'm going to help kids learn how to read in school. Isn't that the teacher's job?I'm an assistant to help that.I'm going to go out and help this organization, Healing Action Network, find individuals who are trying to struggle to get out of their situation of sexual activity, exploitation. Oh, but we don't have any money to give that. So that's.We need something like this in our country where people are willing to volunteer their time without pay and then even get paid for some of those things. Okay, I've been on a. Wow. I want you both to speak to the individual who you've been providing services to.

Mark00:38:20

Quite a few.

Arnold00:38:22

They need help and tell them they still have hope. We're pausing because this is tough.

Mark00:38:28

It's a hard question to answer, if there even is an answer. Right.

Arnold00:38:33

Correct.

Mark00:38:34

Yeah.

Katie00:38:36

To our clients that Healing Action serves because they. They see the news and they see what's going on, and this has created some fear for the folks that we serve.And we are hearing that a little bit through the grapevine. They're talking to our staff about, hey, what does this mean for us and the organization?And I do want to say to them that Healing Action is not going anywhere. We have survived the last 10 years of being a startup, of trying to piecemeal this organization together.Some of our members know from the early days where what that looks like, and we have overcome those struggles as an organization, and we have survived. Covid and I initially thought Covid would be the hardest thing that we've had to go through as an organization, and it really wasn't.What we're experiencing now is the hardest thing. But to our clients, a Healing Action is not going anywhere. We are going to continue to fight for you.We're going to continue to provide the services that we can, and we're going to continue to be A safe place for you as our clients to come and heal. What that looks like might shift a little bit. But please know that our members, clients, they're always welcome at Healing Action.And we're going to do the best that we can and continue to advocate so that we can keep serving.

Kortney00:40:02

Courtney, I would piggyback on what Katie said and speak to what I told one of our AmeriCorps members just last week that asked me, what do I do if somebody needs services and who do I refer them to? And I said, you refer them to us. We don't turn anyone away. We pick up the line whenever someone calls. There's always someone there.And do not tell someone not to call because we will always be there for that. The survivors. And if they are trying to escape, if they are trying to look for help, we're still here.Like he said, it might look differently, but we're still here. So don't hesitate to not call because of what you're seeing in the news or what you're seeing online and all of that stuff.But we have dedicated employees and staff that really care about our members and care about the population that we serve. And they're passionate and resilient themselves. And so they're going to pick up up whatever tools in their bag and they're going to go to work. Yeah.So we're still here and we're. We will be.

Arnold00:41:04

So the strength of an individual, the strength of a group, the strength of a community, the strength of a state, the strength of a country is helping those individuals who are less fortunate and cannot help themselves.

Mark00:41:21

I'm at a loss because I don't understand why we don't help those people, people with every bit of our being being right. Yeah, there's 25, 35 million people that really need help in this country. Help them, for crying out loud. Help them.How do people find a healing action network? If I'm out there and all of a sudden I find that I need the service, I don't even know what I need, but I need you. How do they even find you?I'm not going to Google them.

Arnold00:41:48

Do you find them?

Katie00:41:49

Yeah, we do. We work with other organizations. Sometimes we work with law enforcement, Sometimes we work with hospitals.And we have not had to go out and find people necessarily because we get referrals. We just, we get so many referrals that we haven't had to necessarily go out and seek folks.But people can call us at 314-833-4515 and if they do have access to the Internet, they are able to look us up online@healingaction.org There is a little button in the right hand corner. So if it's not safe and someone comes in, you're able to hit that and it defaults back to a random website. And so please continue to reach out.We will continue to do what we can. We also refer to other organizations and partner with other organizations and it's really going to take the St.Louis and the Missouri community to rally together and and service providers to work together and to refer to each other and also, just also the community members. So even though folks are not able to volunteer through the AmeriCorps program, they are still able to volunteer.So if folks have it in their heart to still contribute to anti trafficking movement, you can absolutely reach out to healingaction.org and we would be happy to connect with individuals and connect them with other organizations as well that might need volunteer support.

Arnold00:43:18

And the fact that you have referrals coming in means that you've been doing.

Katie00:43:22

A pretty good job, I think. So, yeah, we hear that. We are, we've. Our clients send, seem to speak highly of the work that's being done.And really the service team that we work with are very passionate.They love working with the folks that they work with and, and they will advocate and they will go to bat for the folks that we work for or that we work with. And they're fighting every day to bring awareness and to make sure that we have the resources to serve folks.

Mark00:43:55

We should all be very grateful to the organizations, the companies, the individuals that are making donations to your efforts. Without them at this point it would be pretty bleak, I think. Yes, we're very grateful to.If you're out there and you're listening and you're making donations, a contribution to this organization, good for you doing God's work.

Arnold00:44:14

And I want to mention also, and it's a great point Mark, because Healing Action Network has been doing this going on 10 years now.

Katie00:44:21

Yes, 10 years.

Arnold00:44:23

And where would we be without a group like this? Where would our community in the St. Louis metropolitan area or the state for that matter be if they were not doing their work?

Mark00:44:35

Be worse off. Clearly be worse off.

Arnold00:44:39

Ladies, thanks very much for coming in and talking about this today. Hopefully we have spurred some encouragement of individuals.I'm going to post the phone numbers and email addresses of the congress people and the senators and the governor and the Attorney General and you can write what you want.I'm not going to give a blurb out There you write from your heart about what you want to do to help not only this group, but other groups that are impacted by the loss of funding to AmeriCorps.

Mark00:45:08

Courtney, could you give us the phone number and the email are the. And the website again?

Kortney00:45:13

Oh, so it's 314-833-4515. And then healingaction.org okay.And then I'd also add that Voices for Service has also provided information and basically templates for folks to contact their congressmen, their representatives. And they are. Yeah, if you. They have templates.

Arnold00:45:36

So Voices for Service. Okay, we'll put that. Those links in the podcast page so you can look for those folks.

Mark00:45:43

314-833-4515. Okay. Call them. Yes, before midnight tonight. Don't forget, call them now.

Arnold00:45:53

Thank you very much for coming in.

Kortney00:45:55

Thank you very much for having us, Mark.

Arnold00:45:58

Yeah, let's call it a day.

Mark00:46:00

I think it's. That's enough. But it's not enough.

Arnold00:46:04

No.We hope that we have spurred some interest and the whole point of the show is to give you information, help you be educated, think about things that are going on in our local and state and national and frankly, internationally.What are those things that impact you on an everyday basis, and the fact that both Katie and Courtney are individuals who make a difference in shaping our society and world. And without them, we would have a different society and world. So think about that, folks. That's all for this hour, and thank you for listening.If you've enjoyed this episode, you can listen to additional shows@stlintune.com consider leaving a review on our website, Apple Podcasts, Podchaser, or your preferred podcast platform. Your feedback helps us reach more listeners and continue to grow.I want to thank Bob Berthicel for our theme music, our guests Katie Rhodes and Courtney Hudsick, and co host Mark Langston. We thank you for being a part of our community of curious minds. St. Louis in tune is a production of Motif Media Group and the US Radio Network.Remember to keep seeking, keep learning, walk worthy, and let your light shine. For St. Louis in tune, I'm Arnold Stricker.