Catholic Charities Community Services received a $50,000 Women’s Development Grant from the Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Foundation. The funds will be used to help women in Catholic Charities’ DIGNITY program for prostitution recovery.
“We are so grateful for Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Foundation’s support,” said Erica Reed, DIGNITY program director at Catholic Charities. “There tends to be little sympathy for these women because people assume the women choose to be prostituted. People do not realize that most prostituted individuals come from abusive homes and were lured into ‘the life’ as young as 13. They have had no real home, life-skills or work history. This grant will help our women to reestablish a life for themselves—a life with dignity.”
DIGNITY is an acronym for Developing Individual Growth and New Independence Through Yourself. Catholic Charities reaches out to prostituted individuals, including girls, in the streets and in the jails. They also offer a year-long residential recovery program to help women build their self-esteem and their life-skills so they may transition to an independent life free from abuse and prostitution.
The Women’s Development Grant from Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Foundation will be used to help the DIGNITY women to complete job readiness and life-skill training, including financial literacy.
“When women build stable lives, succeed and increase their income, they are more likely to invest in the physical, emotional and financial wellbeing of their children, their families and their communities,” said Tracy Bame, president of the Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Foundation..
