Comprehensive Longer-Term Safe Housing and Trauma-Informed Programming for Female Survivors of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in Marion, Pasco, Pinellas, Dixie, and Alachua Counties, Florida - Empowered to Change International, Inc. (ETC), a nonprofit organization based in Largo, Florida, requests funding to continue and expand Safe Housing and Programs, a long-term program serving women 18 years of age and older who are survivors of sexual exploitation, trafficking, and/or abuse, including young women aging out of the foster care system. ETC serves a five-county area of Florida — Alachua, Marion, Pasco, Pinellas, and Dixie counties — within the Tampa Bay region, one of the state's highest-need areas for human trafficking response. Safe Housing and Programs provides safe, structured, trauma-informed residential care for a minimum of seven to twelve months, moving beyond emergency shelter to support long-term recovery, stability, and self-sufficiency. Participants receive comprehensive wraparound services, including trauma, family, and substance abuse counseling; life coaching; Moral Reconation Therapy; educational and vocational support; and financial coaching, delivered directly by ETC staff and through community partnerships, including with Sapphire Woman Pathways for counseling services. ETC is recognized as an approved aftercare provider by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Florida Department of Corrections, and Operation Underground Railroad. This funding will allow ETC to sustain and expand its dedicated residential capacity for this population, replacing a recent loss of $750,000 in annual state funding, and to increase the number of survivors who can be placed into safe, long-term care rather than returning to unsafe environments. Expected outcomes include increased access to safe residential placements, improved participant safety and stability, reduced re-victimization and re-trafficking, and improved long-term self-sufficiency, including educational attainment and employment. ETC requests $1,750,000 in federal funds for the first 12-month budget period.
