The last thing we would want is to set someone up for

failure by not providing crucial resources

Victims of sex trafficking will have a chance to get a college education
for free, thanks to a new scholarship fund at Point Loma Nazarene
University that appears to be the first of its kind in the country.
Beauty for Ashes, named after a verse in the book of Isaiah, is
scheduled to launch a crowd funding campaign on Indiegogo Oct. 30
with a goal to raise $40,000 in 40 days.
The school also plans to provide ongoing support for Beauty for Ashes
through a donation page. The fund was started with the idea that it
may need to be endowed, so that the scholarship can survive off of
interest.
The crowd fund is a public platform, a way to get the word out about
what were up to, to a wide audience. Its as much about friend raising
as fund raising, sociology professor Jamie Gates, director of the
schools Center for Justice & Reconciliation, told The Pulse by email.
The fund is intended to pay for one sex trafficking victim to attend the
school, which costs $30,800 in tuition and $9,600 for room and
board per year.
In practice, the fund will be used to support each applicant across all
four years at PLNU; we want to remain faithful until completion,
said Gates.
San Diego, where PLNU is based, is allegedly a hotbed of sex
trafficking, identified as one of the FBIs high intensity child
prostitution areas.
Aside from a deep faith in Christ and a loving Christian congregation
to surround them, there may be no more important long-term
intervention for the rehabilitation of survivors of human trafficking
than the loving, academically challenging and carefully mentored
environment of a Christian university education, according to the
Beauty for Ashes donation page.

It tells prospective donors their pledges will launch many passionate

young people into meaningful careers that tackle modern slavery with
wisdom and mentorship.
Sex trafficking victims applying for the scholarship must be referred
or endorsed by one of the 15 local nonprofits that PLNU and Beauty
for Ashes work with. Those include the Salvation Armys Door of
Hope, Interfaith Center for Worker Justice and Hidden Treasures.
Gates said that leaders of these organizations are excited about the
new fund and partnership with PLNU, which will give survivors their
next step in their recovery process.
At the moment there is at least one, and maybe more, woman in the
application process for the scholarship, Kim Berry Jones, an alumna
whos heading up the crowd funding campaign, told The Pulse by
email.
We are working with an admissions staff person to make sure these
candidates get the support they need during the process, she said.
Beauty for Ashes leaders acknowledge that scholarship recipients
success will depend on their hard work and determination, though
the school will pair those recipients with student mentors on campus.
The last thing we would want is to set someone up for failure, so the
school will work on a case-by-case basis on having the right supports
on campus to help recipients, whether its academic support, the
Wellness Center or resident advisers, Gates said. Anonymity will be
the default for recipients, but they will also be given the opportunity
to share their story as a survivor advocate.
If a survivor has children, Beauty for Ashes will work with the
previous organization that helped the victim to see if there are
options for childcare.
Theres a possibility that the schools Early Childhood Learning
Center could work with the survivor, Gates said. Knowing my
colleagues, I would imagine our staff at the ECLC bending over
backwards to making room for those needs.

Generate Hope, which offers a recovery program for sex trafficking

victims, supports the Beauty for Ashes fund. That group tells us
regularly that survivors tell them that going to college is one of their
dreams, said crowd funding leader Jones, who is also a volunteer
mentor at Generate Hope.
Leaders hope that Beauty for Ashes will be able to fund more than
one victims education per year.
Long term well continue to rely on the generosity of those that
believe in supporting survivors to a PLNU education, said Gates.
We believe our students, alumni, staff, faculty, administrators,
friends and others of good conscience are up to the task.