‘God and community:’ How Fort Worth anti-trafficking group survived COVID-19 shutdown
When Texas locked down in the spring, Melissa Ice found herself in the same situation as many small employers in Fort Worth. Could she pay her employees when they weren’t making a product?
The question was especially pressing for her and business partner Sarah Bowden because their “business” isn’t typical, and neither are their employees.
Ice’s and Bowden’s venture, The Worthy Co, is a nonprofit social enterprise that employs women who have survived trafficking, prostitution and addiction.
It was founded in 2018, when Ice and Bowden discovered that the women they were helping through their umbrella anti-trafficking nonprofit, The Net, were struggling to find gainful employment even after graduating from the organization’s comprehensive and years-long recovery program.
“There are so many barriers to employment for these women,” Ice said. “Lack of work history, no soft skills, a criminal background — there are so many things to overcome.”
In Texas, four prostitution convictions lead to a felony permanently on your record, a reality that makes employment prospects dim for women trying to exit the industry.
A lack of legitimate work history doesn’t help, either.
But it’s often the compound trauma of years, sometimes decades, of sexual exploitation that makes finding and holding a living wage job a seemingly impossible undertaking.
Ice and Bowden realized that a safe and supportive employment environment — one that could teach marketable skills and provide an income while appreciating the specific emotional challenges survivors face — was the critical piece missing from their recovery programs. So, they created one of their own.
Ice and Bowden learned how to make candles in their kitchens so they could pass the skill along to the women in their programs.
They printed labels.
They began selling at local markets.
Local artist Heather Essian volunteered to teach the survivors how to make jewelry so they could diversify their inventory.
Ice and Bowden founded The Worthy Co, opened a virtual store, and poured 100 percent of profits into supporting their organization’s mission and the survivors it employs.
And before they knew it, they had outgrown their workspace and were hunting for a building to open for retail sales.
But moving to a larger building was about more than increasing space; it was about expanding opportunity.
“One of the things we really wanted to do was have our women have a diversified skill set that would give them enough skills to be in a career, not just in hourly jobs but salaried jobs,” Ice said.
A brick-and-mortar storefront would require different kinds of employment to operate — management, customer service, shipping and fulfillment services. They found a building to renovate in Fort Worth’s Near Southside that perfectly suited their needs.
Then, the pandemic hit.
“We spent four months completely shut down, not producing any product whatsoever,” Ice said.
Retail sales were affected, too, without markets to sell products and with potential patrons strapped for cash.
But through the generosity of donors and the incredible support of local patrons, The Worthy Co was able to retain and pay all of its survivor employees during the shutdown.
And while the ethos of the organization is empowerment rather than paternalism, Ice and Bowden have taken special care to ensure that their survivor employees have the grocery and child care assistance they need during these difficult and unusual months.
The Worthy Co began making products again in July. Its retail space opened in September.
To date, it has provided consistent, part-time employment to 12 women and have referred 71 percent of workers to other forms of employment, including full-time careers.
All five current employees are in stable housing rather than supportive housing.
“We trust in God and our community,” Ice said.
And even during a pandemic, both have come through.
