Local nonprofit Rescuing Hope fights human trafficking in Cobb County

Jul. 13—In 2010, Cobb County resident Susan Norris learned the entry age into human trafficking is 12 to 14 years old. As an educator who worked with that age group, this encouraged her to do her own research, Norris said.

After posting some of her research on social media, a mother she knew reached out to her and shared that her daughter, who was the same age as Norris' son, was a victim of human trafficking and was in a recovery facility.

"That little girl lived a mile and a half from me," Norris said. "She had been in school with my son since they were in fourth grade. She worshiped at my church. I saw her at my Fellowship of Christian Athletes on a regular basis."

Norris said she realized human trafficking impacts every race, every socio economic background, every demographic. Since 2010, Norris has written a book about human trafficking and founded the organization Rescuing Hope, which works to enlighten the public about sex trafficking, educate potential victims and first responders and empower advocates and survivors. Rescuing Hope will also host its fifth annual gala on Aug. 20 to raise money for its programs and the survivors it aids.

"I wasn't reading data and statistics and research studies," Norris said. "I learned from the girls that were in the trenches, living the life."

Norris began her mission by writing a fictional book modeled off of real world experiences from survivors, traffickers and detectives she interviewed. At first, she thought the book was her part to play in bringing awareness to human trafficking, but soon she said the victims she interviewed began reaching out and asking for help.

"I served them as an individual out of the trunk of my car with my family bank account until I realized that I just couldn't do it alone anymore, and our family couldn't continue to fund it," Norris said. "So we established the nonprofit in 2015."

Rescuing Hope has a modest-sized resource center Norris hopes to expand and a paid staff of five, she said. The nonprofit focuses on enlightenment, education and empowerment, and runs several programs under each goal.

"People need to know the problem exists, or they can't fight it," Norris said.

The enlightenment programs include Reality Check for parents and communities and Play It Safe for middle schoolers. Both programs show what the problem looks like in real communities and describe what one can do to help fight this issue, Norris said.

The education programs focus on educating first responders like educators, medical professionals and law enforcement. Rescuing Hope also created No Longer Hidden, a 20-day, fully digital sixth grade curriculum. It is currently in its pilot phase as Norris looks for schools to adopt the curriculum, she said.

Finally, the empowerment programs give community members a way to volunteer and help support victims and survivors of human trafficking.

Rescuing Hope employs a caseworker who meets with and helps survivors and victims. Norris said victims and survivors first must reach out to Rescuing Hope before entering into a relationship with them. She said they understand the importance of building trust with the survivors.

"Trust is a commodity that is very limited with those that we serve," Norris said. "It has to be earned."

They build trust by asking the survivors to share only what they want. They don't make demands of them, and they provide very clear expectations about what Rescuing Hope can and cannot do for them.

"We really try as best we can to not stand in judgment, because they're making decisions based on their life experiences. We all do that," Norris said. "So they've had these horrible life experiences, and they're making decisions based on that. We have to help them build positive life experiences."

The survivors come from very different stages of life, so each person may need something completely different from the nonprofit. Norris said some may have just left the trafficking life so they would need a lot more support and resources, while others may be several years out of it and desire more of a community than anything else.

Rescuing Hope offers scholarships through the Marie McClanahan Fund which can help survivors pay for college, trade school or start their own business. They also have monthly gatherings called survivor support dinners where the survivors can form a community.

"It's hard for them to find their place and their people," Norris said. "And obviously you don't want them reaching back into the life they came out of, so we're trying to cultivate a community. They call it their sisterhood."

Perhaps one of the most unique aspects of Rescuing Hope is that the programs don't have a set timeframe, Operations Manager Crystal Burdette said. There are other nonprofits that work with survivors of human trafficking, but many have set timelines by which the survivors must graduate from the program.

"We work with survivors until," Burdette said. "Until they are self-sufficient. Until they're at a place where they're on their feet and they can turn around and help the survivors that come after them."

Rescuing Hope thrives off of community partnerships. Norris said they have relationships with attorneys, the Marietta Police Department, OBGYN doctors, Wellstar and even Marietta Perks.

It is a small organization without much money, Norris said, so they rely on people in the community to partner with them and help them provide resources and services to survivors. Currently, they're looking for a larger building to house an expanded resource center which will be open five days a week. In the survivor center, Norris wants to have a computer lab, a therapeutic art room, a sensory room, a teaching kitchen and more. Before they can begin to provide these services, Norris said Rescuing Hope needs a larger building.

This year's 5th annual gala is called "the time is now." It is a fundraiser to kickstart their digital curriculum No Longer Hidden and to raise money for the survivor center.

"We've had this curriculum ready to go for quite a while, and it's been very frustrating to know that we have something that would help children and we're not able to implement it," Norris said. "So the theme for this year's gala is 'It's time.' It's time and it's time to pilot the curriculum."

Norris said they are going to push even harder to get the curriculum piloted, and they're willing to pilot it for free anywhere in the state of Georgia.

The gala will take place on Aug. 20 starting at 6 p.m. at the Cobb Galleria Centre. There will be a cocktail hour with live music and a silent auction. Rescuing Hope will share their vision at the gala and present a video with some of the survivors' voices. Tickets are available online here and will be sold up until the event or until they sell out.