When PA Rep. Joshua Siegel announced a $150,000 grant to Valley Youth House Sept. 25, he delivered much needed funding that will allow the agency to continue its THRIVE program, which supports trafficking survivors. U.S. Department of Justice funding had expired, leaving a financial gap on a problem that the FBI says is growing in local communities, according to VYH president and executive director Tom Harrington.

THRIVE, which stands for Transitional housing, Resilience, Independence, Victorious, Empowerment, “offers housing, meals, clothes and personal items for female identifying trafficking survivors between the ages of 14-21.” Support services such as drug and alcohol treatment, psychiatric care and health care are also provided.

Currently, a six-room safe house, with a confidential location to protect clientele, is situated in the Lehigh Valley. Harrington says data shows that one out of three teenagers is lured into trafficking within 48 hours of leaving home and Siegel says the Lehigh Valley’s proximity to major interstate highways makes the area susceptible to trafficking. “Pennsylvania is now ninth in the country in cases of new sex trafficking,” says Siegel.

Siegel credited both Jordan Harris, the PA House Appropriations Committee chair, and the Northeast Pennsylvania delegation of state representatives, many from the Lehigh Valley, for their support of the allocation to THRIVE. He says it had a “bipartisan spirit and was a collaborative effort.” He also credits the Commonwealth for doing a lot concerning the prosecution of traffickers and holds out hope that funding for THRIVE will become part of the yearly state budget.

Noting that 90 percent of people subject to trafficking are women, Siegel says, “they get a shot to reclaim their lives and shed the scars that have been inflicted on them,” through programs like THRIVE.

Valley Youth House vice president of housing and emergency services, Ken Klein, explains that it’s a very difficult situation because many who have been trafficked maintain a “trauma bond” and they often leave the program and go back to the people who have abused them. Klein says “their stories would break your heart.”

He says the funding will specifically help keep the lights on in the safe house. “My staff love these kids,” he adds, and finishes by stating, “on a personal note, I have been profoundly affected.”