Welcome to a special Powerful Ladies Podcast. This episode was recorded live with the Waymakers OC, a nonprofit that supports youth, survivors, and families in crisis. In this episode, Kara speaks with three women behind the organization - Ronnetta Johnson, Hether Benjamin, and Lita Mercado - about the realities of human trafficking, youth crisis response, and victim advocacy in Southern California. They break down the myths that keep people unaware, the programs making a difference, and how their work is changing lives and systems.
“Our job is to help these individuals make their way through crisis and conflict to a place of strength and stability.”
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Follow along using the Transcript
Chapters:
(00:00:01) – What Is Waymakers and Why the Work Matters
(00:02:00) – The Origins of a Youth Crisis Response Model
(00:07:55) – What Human Trafficking Looks Like in Orange County
(00:13:10) – Understanding Labor Trafficking and Legal Gray Areas
(00:16:45) – Rethinking Juvenile Justice and Early Intervention
(00:23:00) – The Perception Gap: Crime and Privilege in OC
(00:30:15) – Why Funding for Victim Services Is in Crisis
(00:36:50) – How to Volunteer or Partner With Waymakers OC
Welcome everyone to a powerful conversation series by powerful ladies. I am very excited to be joined today by these incredible women from Waymakers. I'm going to let them introduce themselves. I'm Kara Duffy. I am a business coach and consultant and founder of powerful ladies. And we think it's really important that we are talking about big things in the world and having a round table of women who are knowledgeable, educated, or experience it themselves to tell us what's really going on in the world.
And this is one such great example. We were introduced to Emma. And she presented Waymakers to us and there is such great and amazing work that's happening that I wanted to bring this conversation to everyone. So you guys, one, know that this organization exists. And to know what's really happening on the ground and how you can also become a part of it.
So without further ado, I'll let you guys introduce yourself. Let's start with Hether.
Hi, I'm Hether Benjamin. I'm the chief program officer for youth development programs here at Waymakers. And I've been a Waymaker for 19 years. I'm a licensed marriage and family therapist working with the youth in the agency.
Love that. And Lita.
Thank you for having us. I'm Lita Mercado. I'm the Chief Program Officer for the Victim Assistance Programs component of Waymakers and I have been a Waymaker since 2006.
Excellent. And Ronnetta.
Hi, I'm Ronnetta Johnson. I'm so pleased to be with all of you today. And I am the CEO for Waymakers and have been a Waymaker for 28 years.
Let's begin by telling everybody what Waymakers is and what it's doing for the world.
Well, Waymakers is a nonprofit that was born here in Orange County. It was started as a pilot project out of UCI and has been working on innovations in the areas of working with youth. And crime victims for over 50 years now.
And so we have basically five areas of impact. We shelter children. We have crisis residential programs for youth who are homeless, runaway, have threatened, or attempted suicide. We are the primary provider for crime victim services in Orange County. And so we work with victims of all types of crime.
We do counseling programs for youth that have mental health issues, are involved with the criminal justice system and we do mediation services and prevention work in the areas of sexual assault, human trafficking tobacco, alcohol and other drugs with focuses on youth and and really work to make positive and lasting change within Orange County.
You mentioned that it was a pilot program. Where did the idea for this come from?
Well, in 1972 there were not services available for juveniles who were at lower levels of getting in trouble with law enforcement. So they were either told not to do that and, and sent on their way, or they were it was bad enough, they might have to go to juvie.
And so a professor from UCI and a captain from the Costa Mesa Police Department got together and decided to do an internship program. And so they were doing counseling services for these kids that were getting in trouble. So they were working with the kids and working with the parents. And and they decided to embed them in the law enforcement agencies.
And now that seems fairly normal. But at the time, it was revolutionary. And really nothing like that had been done. They weren't particularly welcomed to the environment of law enforcement. But within about six months, they realized that there were, Significant changes that were happening. And so that's the roots of, of Waymakers.
You guys help so many victims across so many areas. You know, you mentioned people who are considering suicide. You mentioned people who are victims of abuse of human trafficking. How are you guys prioritizing where the community needs help? And are you adding new areas of support on a regular basis?
Well, I think I'll, yeah, I'll, I'll try to take that one on. So first off, I think it's important, and I really appreciate how you acknowledge victim in sort of the broader sense. Often folks hear that term and think of something very specific. So, Waymakers is unique in it. In that we really do the full spectrum of care from primary prevention to tertiary prevention, where, and then, of course, our intervention where we're providing services directly to victims of violent crime.
And so. We don't have to necessarily prioritize because of that. So we have so many comprehensive services that we can meet our community where they're at. So if there are families with young teens with mental health issues. Issues that have been unmanaged and are perhaps getting into a little bit of trouble partially because of that.
And we have programs in our community that can help fold around the families that can help fold around the youth and provide those services at that stage. But we also have. Services if someone is a victim of domestic violence, and they're in a different part of their life, and this is the need that they have, and there is a different program with a different set of folks that can provide services, and we were discussing this earlier, actually, that while we have a large organization of more than 300 staff, what our staff the diversity of our staff in terms of the skills level even just the types of people that we're hiring.
We're looking for people who are great fit for each of these communities so that the expertise and the skills meet the needs of that particular community member. So we don't necessarily have to prioritize because of that. But your second question. Also comes into play, which is then when we're identifying needs or needs are being identified for us.
We are trying to stay at the forefront of emerging issues. Our Orange County Human Trafficking Task Force was co founded by Renetta in 2004 just four years after the Trafficking Victims Protection Act came out, but still there were not services for human trafficking victims across the country.
We are one of the. We were one of the first task forces to be in development, and we're one of the first three to get federal funding for comprehensive services. So, we were just in the community working with law enforcement at that time, who acknowledged that trafficking was an issue. They believed trafficking may be an issue in their community, but didn't know.
And so, that's how it started. We got together to discuss this. Is this an issue? Is this something that our community needs? And discovered it was and we had to educate ourselves. And so that's an example of Things that we have built as we've learned the community has these needs. We have new prevention programs for opioid issues like that is also an emerging issue that Waymakers has been at the forefront of acknowledging that prevention is key and awareness is being needed by our community around over the counter drugs in this particular way.
And so we've built programming, access, and Accessing grant and funding to help meet those needs as well.
I'm so the human trafficking part is something that I think people hear and know it's an issue, but really don't know what it looks like in reality. There are, so maybe we just start by defining what is human trafficking and what should you be looking for to know if it's in your community?
Sure. I'm so happy to discuss human trafficking. So yes, it is something that I'll let me define it and then let me bust some myths here. So human trafficking is a deprivation of liberty. Either through the utilization of commercial sex or through the utilization of forced or coerced labor. So here in Orange County the last year alone, we served more than 270 victims of human trafficking.
And most of those Victims were identified through law enforcement. And the reason why I say that is because what that means is that there are hundreds, if not thousands more victims of human trafficking who are not being identified because using a law enforcement, a referral system, obviously, you're going to miss folks who haven't had the opportunity.
To connect with a law enforcement officer. So we here in Orange County, the vast majority of the victims that are being identified are victims of sex trafficking. Most of them over 80 percent are female. And usually somewhere between 25 and 29 percent are children and teens. So young people under the age of 17.
Now I don't think that that's necessarily. The full picture of what human trafficking victimization looks like in orange county. That's just what's being identified Labor trafficking is much more difficult to identify because often it's housed within legitimate businesses and our human trafficking victims we have been discovering Often don't identify as victims.
They're either young people who think that they are Making choices of their own volition and don't have a full understanding of the manipulation and coercion that the adults and their lives are employing or we have labor trafficking victims from other countries who are in a position that, quite frankly, is better than the war torn country they were in or the position they were in, and so it, they find it difficult to understand that what's happening Even though it's terrible they're just thinking like, this is better than where I was before and aren't, haven't been reaching out for help.
Yeah. I'm sure a lot of people who are listening, we're just part of a workshop we did with a guest speaker, Lindsey Ayers from the employment lawyer and really clarifying what all the rules are for employers, especially the state of California. And what is okay and what is not okay. Obviously the people who are in our community who were in that call are doing everything up to the law.
And I'm sure there's a lot of people now who are like, wait, am I labor trafficking someone? And I don't know. So what are some examples of labor trafficking? Is it having a nanny from a foreign country that isn't documented as enough paperwork? Is it like, what does that actually look like? Cause I know there's extreme cases of.
you know, slave labor, which I think is easier for everyone to identify. But I think there's a gray area where you said like, it looks like it might be legit, but it's not. And here's why.
Yeah, so there is a difference, a legal difference between labor exploitation and human trafficking and I guess I should say that Waymakers, we provide services to folks, even if it's potential human trafficking.
So we could receive a referral, provide services, and perhaps in our assessment with our legal partners, It might not meet the criteria for, you know, the penal code. That doesn't mean that waymakers can't provide supportive services, make sure folks are receiving referrals. So for service provision, the legal definition is important, but not you know, the qualifying factor.
So, but labor exploitation is often what folks are pondering. And those are things in terms of not complying with labor law, not maintaining minimum wage, not paying overtime those sorts of things fall into exploitation. Where it crosses the line, especially if you're talking about folks from other countries is if the employer is holding on to the document.
So we see that where the employees quote unquote join the labor force and their employer for safekeeping air quotes hold on to their work visas, but they don't have access to that. We've also had folks where. The the individuals live where they work and then as part of their wages or I should say their wages get deducted for things like rent and toiletries and water and the employer is controlling all of that.
So that's where then it starts crossing the line and working with individuals who are going through that need real assessments like, you know, they'll say, well, I do I get paid, you know, 100, you know, a day and then we'll have to you know, share. That's not the minimum wage. But then also, do you get that?
And, you know, then we hear No, I don't get that. It helps pay for my rent and my water. And then I can ask for money if I want to, you know, You know, go out to McDonald's. And so those are moments where we're realizing that it may move into labor trafficking. So it is a little harder or it's a lot harder to identify.
But we experienced the same experiences with our sex trafficking victims. And often, honestly, these are just that sounds minimizing. I should say these are often within domestic violence experiences. So if folks can think about domestic violence and what we've learned about that over the years on even folks experiencing it, not necessarily identifying that they're a victim of domestic violence.
Human trafficking is we just find that it's a little bit more compounded. And just a little bit of a side note but to pull back to the comprehensive waymakers umbrella is that often the programs that Kara oversees are almost hand in hand with our programs. So we have definitely had.
Folks in her programs that have experienced violence and then are receiving services through someone on the victim assistance programs team, but we also have had people on the victim assistance programs team that have, that we need to refer over to Kara because they're experiencing potentially they need some wraparound support with their family or have some mental health issues that have helped create the vulnerability that, that perpetrators are, are seeing and taking advantage of.
You know, I think when so many people think about Orange County, California, they think of Real Housewives. They think of TV shows like The O. C. Or Laguna Beach, and they're like, these problems must not exist there, and I think that people don't realize that Orange County has the greatest income disparity of any county in the U. S., and that Laguna Beach and Newport Beach are far extremes of what the whole county encompasses. What are some realities statistically about crime and the support that's needed in Orange County and the difference that you, like, to support the difference that you guys are making? Like, are things getting better, getting worse?
Are we just knowing of more victims now? What, what are the statistics and what direction are they going in?
Well, as way makers, half of the agency supports victims. The other half of the agency councils, individuals and families and helps keep youth in their homes or in a stable environment. But our youth are also victims of adverse childhood experiences that result in them having trauma in their lives, unmanaged mental illness and some of the ways that they've learned to survive happened to be the rest of the population would describe as unlawful. Things like shoplifting, stealing reacting as a certain way to aggressive encounters where they feel threatened and feel the need to defend themselves. And Our job is to help these individuals make their way through crisis and conflict to a place of strength and stability.
And so we want to treat our youth as Children while we're building resiliency. We're serving youth when they're in their homes. We're increasing family protective factors and we're connecting youth and families with services to improve their outcomes. Crime has always existed. Are we going to be able to prevent that crime?
No, but we are working hand in hand with law enforcement to change the way we handle those youth. You know, back when we began, It used to be, as Renetta said, a youth would get into trouble doing normal, developmentally appropriate things, testing their independence, hanging around with peers and following a group, not having the strength of self or self esteem to stand up and advocate for themselves and rather following others and making poor decisions. and an officer would come across those youth and one of two things would happen. Either stop it and go home. or arrest, detain and send to probation or juvenile hall. Eventually, there was nothing in between. Well, when you let the youth go, we don't discover the underlying factors to what issues were happening that may have led to the delinquency or by just sending them to probation or juvenile hall.
We again, Aren't addressing the underlying reasons. We're over handling those youth and punishing instead of using the opportunity as a learning moment. And so that's really the course even that I've seen in the 19 years that I've, I've been here. We started out as the hug a thug type of program was the name we were given.
And now law enforcement really sees the value in what we do. And we are changing the direction of how we work with youth in the juvenile justice system. It sounds like
Waymakers is giving that, you know, typical white privilege To juveniles who like if you in history historically if you were white and you were caught doing something you weren't supposed to that was It's your, I think you use the words like a juvenile experience, like something attesting the boundaries.
You would get caught, you would get talked to, and then you would be let go because you were being sent to your family who would handle it. And it sounds like Waymakers is creating a cushion where anyone who's experienced that in Orange County is getting a similar treatment to be course corrected in an appropriate manner versus permanently classified as a criminal.
You are absolutely correct. We are trying to help the most disadvantaged families that usually have the least amount of resources to get assistance from the community or from private agencies. Those that are underserved have no insurance. Our, all of our programming is at no cost to these families. And we're not the most well known agency out there to the general public.
But we are to the law enforcement, our district attorneys, our public defenders. And if you have been a victim of a crime and we're very much a preventative agency, we want to address the underlying issues that's resulting in the symptoms, the behaviors, the resulting impairments. So that that you can learn coping skills and how to self regulate themselves rather than rely on their survival skills that may be unlawful.
Yeah. I just wanted to add sort of your second part of your question is like, is crime increasing? So while I can't speak to the statistics county wide in comparison to, you know, the California and the country, what I can say is that our numbers in every program almost always are increasing, whether it's heart prevention, counseling, or intervention.
Is that because crime and mental health and other issues are increasing? Probably maybe but what at least for my teams what is really happening is that folks in the community, our partners that Kara mentioned are acknowledging that Waymakers exists. There's better access, you know, the advent of technology has created access.
We have, you know, social media accounts. So now folks who did not know, especially young folks who did not know that this existed now know that existed. So there is more awareness on that. We are here and how to access us that increases those numbers. So while you know, my, you know my goal is to stop crime and violence, sexual assault, human trafficking.
However, I find that the increase in numbers is a measure of success because what it's saying is that people know that we're here, we're making ourselves more accessible, our partners know that we're here, and people are able to reach out. And yes, that Orange County piece is real in terms of perception.
I can say when we, in 2010, when we applied to the federal government for one of the, it was a pilot project for providing comprehensive services to all forms of victims of human trafficking, we submitted an application. And I'll be honest to say that it was really more of an exercise of partnership that I wanted.
To engage in. Not that I thought we would have a real chance. And the reason why I didn't think we were going to have a real chance is because this is going to Washington D. C. and they're going to be receiving, you know applications from, from Detroit and from, you know, Chicago. And they're not going to give Orange County the, the grant.
Just by perspective. You know, perception alone. And lo and behold, we were one of the three, Chicago and Dallas were the other two. And what we were able to show is unfortunately, in terms of human trafficking, being a quote, wealthy county creates the sense of vulnerability. Nearly 92 percent of our victims of human trafficking are not from Orange County.
They are from other counties, other states, other countries. And traffickers are bringing folks into Orange County for the purposes of exploitation, because there is a market here in Orange County. for cheap labor, cheap products and commercial sex with adults and children. And so that is an Orange County issue that needs to be, like, put on the table that this, you know, this, this perception, first off, false, but also is being leveraged to create vulnerable situations.
Yeah.
And I think one of the things that's important to understand is that while our clients are, are predominantly in lower incomes we serve clients across the board and the, the kids that we're dealing with, the victims that we're dealing with, they're not that much different than anybody else.
They have special challenges that they're facing and we're trying to help them work through those challenges, but they're not people that, you know, you're not going to look and say, oh, that's a Waymakers client or that's a Waymakers client. These are our neighbors and, and people that are around. We were, I tell a story, we were, I was working with a board committee and we were in a small restaurant and At the end, we were standing around just talking and kind of blocking the aisles.
And this young woman walked up to us and I thought we were just in her way. She worked at the restaurant. And when I asked her if we, if we needed to move for her, she said, no, she said, I heard you talking about waymakers and I needed you to know that I'm a waymaker. And I've worked with your program for two years.
And I don't know where I would be without this program and this is not someone that you would identify as someone who would qualify for our program services. And so I think that's really important to, for everyone to understand is that our our work crosses all boundaries. And the people that we work with are, you know, have special challenges, but they're, they're no different than any of us in many respects.
Well, and all of us are dealing with big T or little t traumas all the time. You know, I, I think that is such a misconception that like who needs help and who doesn't and I'm, you know, since 2020 in particular, we've seen a lot more people saying that they do need help and asking for, especially in the mental health spaces, but I think across the board, like there's no, everything that you guys are helping people with.
It doesn't matter your education. It doesn't matter. Your. Economic situation. It doesn't matter any other demographic measurement that we would normally have. Chances are, you're going to need, unfortunately, something from waymakers at some time. And even I remember being in a course I was taking and this well to do mother was in the course because she was trying to figure out how to, you know, deal with the fact that her child who had gone to college and was on a path to being successful was now homeless on the streets and click was doing everything they could to get them to the help they needed.
And they were just kind of refusing it due to a combination of, of a mental health crisis and drug addiction. So you never know who something is going to impact. And at the same time, What you like what we think is common knowledge just so isn't, you know, I do a lot of work with Casa Orange County and I remember the story of a kid who got his first job and his advocate was helping him get it.
He was doing great. He's getting promoted and then he asked him. What are you doing with all the money you're making? And he goes, well, they haven't paid me yet. He's like, what? And he's like, well, and he, and because his kid thought you got paid with cash. Meanwhile, he has a shoe box full of envelopes. He's never opened of checks.
He's never cashed because he didn't know what a check was. Didn't know how to cash it. Didn't know how to have a bank account. And we make these assumptions that these things that are common are being taught. Like it's okay to go to therapy as just a silly example. And they're really not today. So I think that there's so many more resources that everyone needs that.
That's part of why I wanted to talk to you guys, because everyone knows someone who could need, who needs help at some point. We know that domestic violence, it crosses all boundaries. And in fact, I think sometimes it's talked about less when you're not supposed to have those problems at a whole other level
The work that we do. Our families, our individuals are in their most vulnerable position when we come to us. So our first barrier is to overcome the stigmatization that comes with I'm having a mental health crisis. I'm having a substance abuse issue, financial resource issue, domestic violence, child abuse issue, most vulnerable, stigmatized.
Where do you reach out for For help. So that's our first barrier is de stigmatizing and getting that word out. That the community is here to help you. We are, we're all part of Orange County and we all experience underlying family factors that contributed to our behavior.
Well, and I think also people knowing that when, if we deal with whatever crisis is happening sooner, it prevents the next crisis from happening as well.
How often are you seeing clusters of crises?
Well, I think that happens a lot when we. provide a service to an individual that may be the identified patient per se, but they are not in a vacuum. They have a family, a home, a family, a neighborhood, a community. An employer and all of those places interact with each other.
So we have to address the identified patient in all of those areas. If we don't make a change at home as well, that youth returns to the exact same environments that they came from. And they're the only one that's changed or been given hope, they're going to be shut down pretty fast because all of the people around them haven't gotten that same opportunity.
So we really do in Waymakers wrap around our community. We're coordinating care with all of the team members, all of the service providers, all of the family support people that are in their lives because it does take a community. Thank you To help lift up these youth in crisis. And crisis is never going to end what may be a crisis for me may not be considered a crisis for someone else.
It really depends on how much hope you have and what resources you have access to.
And the support team. You know, I think that the loneliness records are off the charts. And when you don't think you have support, it's the whole reason not to ask for it. Which is silly. I'm someone who's always amazed when there are public policies that are telling us that we shouldn't help our neighbors.
I don't understand this concept. You know, it's, I, if my, I, we, I think we jump ahead so quickly to federal level policies when It's like, is what's happening in my house? What's happening on my street? What's happening in my block? Like there's so much micro things that if our neighbor asks us for something, chances are, we're going to give it to them.
And I think we forget that sometimes our neighbor is someone we haven't met yet. How are you guys, what are you battling in orange County to get funds and support and recognition in that space of like. Making sure people know that this help is needed and that it is most likely someone within your proximity because we're all one degree away if we're living here.
Yeah, well, that's a big question. So I'll I'll just. Talk about the funding because the victim assistance programs is in the middle of our own financial crisis, so Victim assistance program sort of at all is Is a is a is a service That the country has committed to so federal funds are designated to support victims of violent crime.
And those federal funds for the 24 25 fiscal year that start October 1 are going to be reduced by 44. 7 percent, which is basically a 50 percent cut. And and that's not just for Waymakers. That's for every county in every state in this entire union. So I have been working with folks across the state just so that we can understand how are we going to adjust programming?
Do we really have to cut 50 percent capacity? How do I serve 24 000 clients with half of the people? It's just not possible So we have been trying to get together to support each other and i'm learning things like Grave crisis centers who are just going to close down. They're just cannot 50 percent cut is just unreasonable.
And so we're working with the state to see if we can sneak into the state budget, but we're also sort of ramping up our local asks, connecting with the county and with donors. And so part of the struggle is that folks, funders and and people actively participating in philanthropy see victim assistance program as.
As, as type of programming that has funding, right? The government supports it. They've got government contracts. So they're focusing in on maybe where there's a greater need, quote unquote. But the issue is that we are beholden then to whoever is in, you know, whoever is in office and how they're, what their policies are and how that lays out.
And then things just trickle down. Like, you know, the things that we're feeling now are far more. from practices and policies from years back, right? So it's just, we're just so beholden to that and they're full discretion, right? Where the money needs to go for A, B, and C, but I have community members that need D, E, and F.
To be supportive, but I can't use that money for that. So that's been a struggle. In terms of just again, perspective of where is the need? And now, Kara has a different problem where her clients aren't as supportive. Client population often aren't as attractive to funders just by virtue of, you know you know, she does a great job and she can help explain why obviously you want to help use and their families and how this impacts community safety and the well, even the economic well being of your community but to, you know, to say like, Hey, we need to be able to make sure that we have toiletries and clothing for our unhoused youth that, you know, committed a petty theft and are now.
You know, we're, we're supporting through probation of funders like, well, I'd really rather, you know, save the turtles or something that's a little bit more palatable which I do believe people should save the turtle. So that is not a comment on that. It's just, you know, the, the, when you talk about prioritizing at the very beginning of this podcast, it's, you know, we're in a position where, where do you put your priorities?
And that can be really challenging to support. To support victims of crime.
And I think that that's true across the agency as far as the funding structure. If you're at a university or, you know, you're in some kind of environment like that, everybody wants to support you because it was part of the best part of their lives and and they want to.
Well, people who work with Waymakers, Typically, we are not working with them at the best part of their lives. And so a lot of people, we don't have those natural kinds of, of donors that are built into the structure because and that's not to say that we haven't had clients that have donated. We certainly have, but it's not the same kind of system because a lot of times people Get through our programs.
They're very grateful for our programs, but it's a part of their lives that they then want to set aside and move forward. And we strongly encourage that. We want people to, we don't want people to be reliant on us for the rest of their lives. We don't want them to. Bill beholden to us for the rest of their lives.
But but that creates some challenges in regard to, you know, funding. And, and so we have to go to the community and we have to make the community really aware. And we were talking earlier about the fact, I think we've been a little bit too modest about what we're doing. So we're trying to get that word out a little bit more because the impact of what we do.
Is enormous and really, you know, it has a huge impact on the community, on generations, on, on how we're moving things forward. But we just need to be a little less modest about the work that we're doing.
Well, and I think that there's such a, there's a gap, right? There's, there's a gap of where you get support because we don't have all the social systems from a government perspective in place of like, you know, If you need something, where do you go?
Like we don't, you guys are the only option often. So first, like making sure people know that you exist is like top of my list. Because like we ha if you have access to these services, like take advantage of them because they can change everything. But then also remembering that we want the safety net to be there.
Like when you talk to people on a one on one basis, they want. Of course you want to help these people. Of course you want to make these, this difference. But when there isn't a clear sustainable funding program for it, it's not going to be able to keep operating in that capacity. So for obviously there's opportunities to donate and support financially way makers.
How else can the community come together to participate and support? And make sure that this is a program that has longevity.
Oh, I'm sorry. I was just going to talk about volunteering. I'm excited about that. So that's one other way. We do we do utilize volunteers in a wide variety of ways. That interest can be access through our website.
So folks went onto our WaymakersOC. org website. You can you know, click on how to get involved and there's information on how to volunteer. So we have volunteers. I can just speak to my program. We have volunteers on our human trafficking team. We have volunteers for our mediation so you can be a trained and certified mediator.
We have volunteers who answer the 24 hour rape crisis hotline. And provide crisis support over the phone and who actually show up at the hospital during forensic exams to help support clients. So there are things that you can do, you know, all the way from hosting a booth at the OC fair to talk about how great way makers are all the way to, you know, holding the hand of someone going through a forensic exam.
Sam. So that is another way. And I stole some of Renetta's thunder, so I'll hand it back to her.
Continuing on the theme of volunteering. We also have volunteers that work with our shelters that will go in and do everything from teaching classes to bringing dinners. And, and, you know, so we want to make it accessible for people across the world.
Way we have in our youth development programs. We also have volunteers that come in teach music teach art Help people with their career development teach them how to do financial things so so the volunteer opportunities are There are a myriad of them. And we also want to work with companies and a lot of companies have volunteer days.
So we're putting together our newest version of, you know, how companies can get involved and obviously people can donate. They can participate. We have a lot of fundraising events. And so they can do sponsorships, they can purchase tickets, and participate in those ways. So we're, the website's a good place to find out about a lot of those things.
And we're always happy to get creative with people if they want to work with us. We'll figure out a way to make that work. We work with local communities because that's where our youth are existing and so we'll work with local business owners to do an internship program for our youth that often have a difficult time re entering the job force or starting to get that experience because they've been in an out of home placement whether under In and out of psychiatric hospitalization or potentially in and out of juvenile hall until they reach one of our programs to stabilize them and then they have to start building up their resume and portfolio.
So working with our local employers. To do paid internships where we pay the employer to employ our youth and give them experience for a short period of time. And we're also reaching out into our future generation of staff where we're going into universities and colleges. educating those students about doing an internship with us to experience how they can give back to their community, get an experience, see what might be a good fit for them, and then eventually become a way maker themselves.
I'd love to open it up to any of our guests who are here today. What questions do any of you have that you want to ask this group?
I have a question just on the volunteering. Sometimes I live in Santa Monica and I'm, I try to pop in to organizations where just to lend a hand, oftentimes there's a lot of training or maybe you're not really, they want you to be prepared and ready to engage with people. And I totally, totally get that.
If someone is limited on time, but still wants to be like the holding of the hand thing sounds so cool to me. I would love to do that. What's the lead up process? Like, how do you physically get involved?
Yeah, that's such a great question because that is a difficult balance for us too, that we want volunteers and then, you know, sometimes fitting, making a fit can be hard because the training needs that.
So I can answer specifically about my programs, the handholding stuff and the mediation. So our, the task, I'm sorry, the human trafficking task force, the sexual assault task force a volunteer program and our dispute resolution program all have formal trainings and so, and they happen typically twice a year each of those.
And so, that's step one is folks would say that they're interested and then we would respond by saying the next training is, you know, at this time. And so that is difficult. I don't know if your name is Elise. I see that that's what it says on there. That's difficult. Just sometimes in terms of timing, but we always let people know, like, wait, if you want to become a mediator, training is in June, it's hybrid, both virtual and in person.
And then we let you know, as soon as you complete that, then we interview folks just to make sure that they're a good fit and then put them to work. Okay, awesome.
We do also have opportunities if you keep a look at our website, we do have opportunities that pop up for things, you know, in the shelters and in our different events and so.
That's a good way to get a touch point with, with Waymakers. Okay, but we,
but we'll provide the training, so you don't need to run off and do some training on your own. Of course, that's wonderful, but yeah, we provide the training, make sure folks are, have what they need to, to, to make it work.
Okay, great.
So I'd check the website as a next step to kind of, And there's a contact form or whatever and go from there. Absolutely. That's correct. Yeah.
And at least everyone who's part of our, our community, we're going to be sharing some information as well too.
Cool. Thanks guys.
And I wanted to point out that one of our colleagues wants to make sure that people know that we have social media links and, you know, sharing those out, sharing the posts and, and different things can be really helpful in raising awareness about Waymakers.
And what are those handles? They're at Waymakers. WaymakersOC. org. Well, at WaymakersOC. I'm not the best on social media. WaymakersOC. WaymakersOC on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, that's where you can find us.
Perfect. And then for people who are like our community is global. So for people who are wondering, is there a way makers in their city or a similar group?
If someone is in Philadelphia and they reached out to you, do you guys have sister brother organizations that you know of in other areas?
Well, the first thing I would say is Waymakers is unique, as far as the, the overall there aren't very many that are exactly like Waymakers. We can certainly, if somebody wanted to reach out to us, we can certainly give them places to connect with that, depending on what their needs are.
We can find, you know, Individuals, the human trafficking, there are task forces throughout the country, so we can make those kinds of connections. There are also national hotlines for both human trafficking and sexual assault that people can connect with, and then they will be connected to services that are in their local community, but we're always happy to help.
And if people want to reach out to us we will do our best to get them connected.
Well, I'm just so honored that you guys saw a correlation between what powerful ladies is creating and how we could partner to amplify the voices of way makers and what you're doing. We are always looking for ways to.
Volunteer and support our community and add to the list of organizations that we're supporting. Just thank you so much for the work that you are doing. Thank you for taking time today to share about it. I have one who owns a business, knows that you can't do anything alone. Anyone who runs a family knows you can't do anything alone.
And part of what I love about running this podcast and the powerful ladies as an organization is that I keep getting to meet incredible women like you guys who, I can sleep better at night knowing that you're doing your job because I can't manage the entire save the world to-do list by myself, , there's not enough hours in the day, or or any other, you know, individual resources.
So truly thank you so much for the work that you're doing. It is so appreciated and I hope you guys realize how grateful the community is for you. And the difference that you're making. I think everyone would much rather change a life than have it go any other way, but giving people hope and possibility.
So thank you so much for the work you're doing. We're very excited to have this episode go out. Thank you everyone who came today as a guest to listen and participate. But truly just thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Well, thank you. We really appreciated the opportunity to Speak with you and appreciate your support.
We're so happy to be part of the powerful ladies group because yes My daughter is very proud.
As you should be so we'll end the podcast episode there But I wanted to just share a few things with everybody while I have you guys anybody who wants to hang out tomorrow night in Newport Beach, we host a happy hour once a month.
I know Emma's been to some of them, but our next one's tomorrow. You guys are always welcome to come to them, share your story, make some new friends, and hang out. So if you're interested in that, please send me an email. Anyone who is a guest, you can email Kara or sorry, hello at Kara Duffy. com. And we'll get you guys what you need, or you can also just go to Kara Duffy.
com events and find them. So that's the most important thing. And then of course, for all of you who are here from waymakers, we'll be following up with what's next. This will be released relatively quickly. So there's anything else that we need from you. We'll let you know. And then we'll definitely be following up about what volunteering looks like both for us as a collective in a community and figuring out what that, what makes the most sense for us to bring our community to you guys locally as well.
And then I, my last question was, are you guys connected to Bracken's kitchen? We are. Okay, good. Because that's another group that we do a lot of volunteer work with. So making sure that's happening there. They're lovely to. Okay.
Yes.
Any questions you guys have for me or any final thoughts for the day?
Well, thank you for filling my bucket back up. I feel empowered. Yes.
Yes. Amazing. But yeah, this is great guys. Thank you so much. I look forward to seeing meeting you all in person eventually. And yeah, we'll be in touch soon. Great. Thank you. Bye.
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Instagram: @waymakersoc
Facebook: WaymakersOC
Website: waymakersoc.org
Email: info@waymakersoc.org
Created and hosted by Kara Duffy
Audio Engineering & Editing by Jordan Duffy
Production by Amanda Kass
Graphic design by Anna Olinova
Music by Joakim Karud
