Recovering Hope & Strengthening Lives
We envision transformed lives filled with endless opportunities, meaningful relationships, and enduring peace while stewarding a promise to future generations to remain increasingly aware and actively engaged in confronting the distortion of our hyper-sexualized culture.
FACTS ABOUT HUMAN SEX TRAFFICKING AND PROSTITUTION
FACT: It is a 32 billion-dollar-a-year business.
FACT: It exploits the most vulnerable members of our community.
FACT: Some of the greastest risk factors for sexual exploitation include: poverty, little or no protection from family or friends, low personal worth or value, and a history of childhood sexual abuse.
FACT: Sex trafficking is happening in the Harrisburg Region – in truck stops, strip clubs, erotic massage parlors, in our streets, and through escort services and online prostitution.
FACT: The accessibility and anonymity of Internet pornography use have significantly contributed to the abuse of trafficked men, women, and children.
FACT: Many teens are lured into the industry by a pimp posing as a boyfriend and remain there by force, coercion, drug dependency, and a sense of belonging.
FACT: The average life span of a person being exploited in prostitution is seven years and the most common causes of death are drug overdose, suicide, and murder.
FACT: Once trafficked, very few victims of prostitution and sex-trafficking are rescued.
In 2008 a few moms gathered to pray...
Founded in 2008 to serve the Harrisburg metropolitan region, Peace Promise assists in recovering hope and strengthening the lives of those impacted by sexual exploitation in our community. In 2018 we hired our first full-time employee, an Executive Director, Patty Seaman after a decade of being 100% volunteer-led.
Peace Promise addresses the complexities of sex trafficking in the Harrisburg region by offering: outreach, intervention, and advocacy for those involved in commercial sexual exploitation; healing support and restorative care for sex trafficking survivors; and community education and awareness regarding the dehumanization and identifiers of sex trafficking, prostitution, and pornography.
Peace Promise accomplishes its work through a team of committed and dedicated individuals who represent many different faith communities located throughout Cumberland, Dauphin, and York Counties. On a weekly basis, Peace Promise Outreach Volunteers visit adult entertainment venues forming friendships with the women who work there.
The dancers affectionately refer to the outreach volunteers as "the church ladies” who bring homemade dinners and desserts to share during the visits. Outreach volunteers communicate a simple message: “You are precious. You are valued. You are loved. We are here for you.”
Once a survivor is safely transitioned out of the industry, Peace Promise offers an individually customized care plan based on that woman's specific needs and goals. The plan is intended to facilitate meaningful employment, healthy relationships, trauma support, and loving self-care.
It is easy to read or watch a documentary about sex trafficking and become overwhelmed by the scope of the problem. It is huge. It is complex. And yet, it is very personal. It is ONE face. One woman. One name. One very specific set of circumstances brought her to this place of exploitation. Despite the debilitating trauma, abuse, and addictions, there is hope. There is a community of women who will welcome her home and who long to see her restored and whole.
This is the mission, vision, and motivation for the work of Peace Promise.
