Programs
Her Future offers shelter, education and employment programs to survivors of gender violence and girls at the highest risk. Our long term, intensive support enables them to recover from trauma, rejoin society, and build a bright future. We believe passionately in collaboration as the only way to solve the worlds' biggest problems, and operate many of our programs in partnership with respected local agencies, with whom we have built relationships of trust over many years.
Shelter
Her Future partners with local agencies to build, expand & maintain shelters for rescued girls, and to support the ongoing needs of girls in shelter care: food, clothing, medical care and counseling. Shelter is the crucial first step in the girls’ journey to recovery and freedom.
Her Future partners with local agencies to build, expand & maintain shelters for rescued girls, and to support the ongoing needs of girls in shelter care: food, clothing, medical care and counseling. Shelter is the crucial first step in the girls’ journey to recovery and freedom. In 2015 we partnered with Women's Interlink Foundation to construct a 15,000 square foot shelter in Jalpaiguri, West Bengal, India. It is now able to house up to 150 survivors. In addition to the Jalpaiguri shelter, Her Future Coalition has expanded shelters in Calcutta and Mumbai, India, providing space for 250 girls to live, play, study, or learn a trade. We provide ongoing support for survivors at these shelters to pay for food, clothing and school supplies.
In the red light areas of India, children live in one room in a brothel with their mothers, making them extremely vulnerable to abuse by their mother's clients. 90% of girls and 70% of boys in Kolkata red light communities are sexually abused by the age of eight. Through our three Red Light Resource Centers, we provide shelter from morning to midnight to 200 children, allowing them to go to school rather than being trafficked alongside their mothers.
Education
Most survivors come to us with little or no formal education. With customized literacy and academic programs, survivors and at-risk girls are able to catch up, earning degrees that transform their future. We currently support the education of over 750 children. This education empowers girls to choose their own career path. Many opt for social services, medical fields, law enforcement and other engaged work that allows them to give back.
Child survivors of slavery, and kids born into brothel communities, are destined to grow up and repeat the cycle unless they are given education to build a different kind of life. We are committed to supporting our sponsored children to continue their education through high school and even college. Out of over 100 girls that we have educated through grade 10, not a single one has been trafficked into slavery or re-trafficked, even though their backgrounds make them extremely high risk.
Sponsorship costs only $30 a month. Donors can sponsor children through monthly payments, or through a yearly donation of $360.
Employment
Our job training and employment programs end the shame and powerlessness that many survivors experience, and give them the opportunity to learn a profession and support themselves independently. Women gain skills to find employment in respected professions, breaking the barriers in their families and society that once kept them vulnerable.
Survivors of trafficking and rape are stigmatized by society and often disowned from their families for bringing them shame. Financial independence erases that stigma. Survivors rescued after the age of 16 are often unable to take a traditional academic path because they have never been to school. Our job training programs lead to high wage, empowering options for these young women.
Without job opportunities or basic education, many girls would be trafficked again, or fall back into exploitative situations because they have no other options for survival. Our employment programs address this problem, empowering survivors to be independent and to remain free forever.
Since 2010, we have offered training in goldsmithing and jewelry design to survivors and vulnerable women. We now train and employ women in three locations in India and the training center we started in Thailand is now independently run by the women themselves. Our jewelers are breaking gender barriers as some of South Asia's first women goldsmiths. After completing our training, women are able to earn a wage comparable to a college graduate.
SHOP JEWELRY MADE BY SURVIVORSHer Future Coalition also supports survivors in vocational training or college education leading to diverse careers of their choice, including gynecology, nursing, accounting, veterinary technician, photography, social work, business, psychology, law enforcement, fashion design, and law.