To sustain and grow their empowerment initiatives, anti-trafficking organization Beauty for Freedom (BFF) will expand their travel-abroad teaching programs to include a new mission in Mexico teaching creative workshops and music therapy to survivors of human trafficking and at-risk youth in partnership with Casa de Ayni, a foundation based in Mexico serving more than 75 grassroots organizations fighting sexual violence and abuse throughout Mexico.
Project Mexico, launching our 4th Mission in 2023, will provide free creative workshops to youth that will include photography, music therapy, mixed-media painting and mural arts.
ART THERAPY. MUSIC THERAPY. EDUCATION. EMPOWERMENT.
This is how we help survivors of human trafficking. We support recovery through creativity and skills training. We nurture our youth by removing the stigma of self-expression, legitimizing their ideas, hopes and dreams.
Our program equips communities with the building blocks to manage trauma and helps survivors rebuild their lives. Through both corporate sponsorships and your individual support, Beauty For Freedom (BFF) needs to raise a total of $30,000 by December 31st. This will not only fund 1 week of workshop programming led by 7 professional volunteers, but also an entire school years’ worth of arts & crafts supplies for students.
2023 marks BFF’s 9th year empowering survivors through a robust series of courses that includes creative arts, photojournalism, dance and a big mural design workshops.
USING ART & MUSIC TO FIGHT FOR FREEDOM
9 years ago, we launched our Expressive Arts Therapy initiative, a program that addresses trauma through, art, music, movement and mindfulness. Today, we’ve expanded this across the US, India, France, Hong Kong, Cambodia, Haiti, Dominican Republic and Ghana, empowering over 3,500 survivors worldwide.
Beauty for Freedom Project Mexico 2022
WHY MEXICO?
Mexico is one of the global centers of the child prostitution trade and a source and transit country for large numbers of migrants moving northward from Central America. There are an estimated 16,000 to 20,000 Mexican and Central American children who are trafficked for sex in Mexico.
In 2020, a total of 551 cases of human trafficking were reported across Mexico, up from 538 cases a year earlier. One major reason for the presence of human trafficking in Mexico is the social and economic disparity. Many victims are also victims of poverty, and they become trapped in trafficking after being lured from poorer regions with a promise of employment and income.
Although Human Trafficking statistics are always underreported, there was a 43 percent increase in trafficking from 2016 to 2020 in Mexico due to the global pandemic. The people most vulnerable to trafficking included members of the LGBTQ community, young girls, the disabled, single women with children, Indigenous people and migrants, including those displaced internally or transiting the region according to a Hispanics in Philanthropy Report Hispanics in Philanthropy www.hiponline.org
GRASSROOTS IMPACT
Since 2014, we’ve provided our programs through partnerships with local non-profits that focuses on rescue, recovery and rehabilitation for victims of trafficking in the USA and Abroad. Our BFF creative programs, include Art, Photography, Music and Mural workshops, have impacted over 3,500 survivors and shifted the narrative from survivors being survivors to published and exhibited global artists.
ABOUT BEAUTY FOR FREEDOM
Beauty for Freedom (BFF), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, is an organization dedicated to empowering survivors of human trafficking and at-risk youth through expressive therapeutic art, educational and mentoring programs, events and advocacy.
Together, with you, our team provides survivors with access to educational programs, opportunities and more choices for the direction of their lives.
www.beautyforfreedom.org
TESTIMONIES OF OUR IMPACT
“My favorite part of the photography workshop was modeling! I also was in the photojournalism workshop and it felt even better to interview. My hopes and dreams are if I grow up and become great in my future. I will help those in need.”
-Bright 11 years old, BFF Photography Workshop Participant
” This (Beauty for Freedom) art program has been a very nice program for my kids. Especially for those who don’t know to design and the freedom art (you are teaching). We are so fortunate to have you here.”
-Joseph Amakye Jr., Odobirba Methodist Academy | Teacher Class 5
“A” is a Texas native, single mother, and aspiring entrepreneur. After a hard-fought battle with addiction and commercial sexual exploitation, she has regained her dignity and her steps have been established by the Most High. She dreams of putting her two children, 10 and 2, through college and providing them with an IRA.
OUR BUDGET BREAKDOWN
FUNDRAISING STARTS NOW. PLEASE DONATE IF YOU CAN!
