In 2023, Catholic Charities is celebrating a different program each month with recognition and acknowledgement of the program, its team members, its patron saint, and the wonderful work  and outreach the program makes possible. Because January is National Human Trafficking Awareness Month, our first celebrated program is Bakhita Empowerment Inititative.

Mission
The mission of the Bakhita Empowerment Initiative is to increase awareness of human trafficking, provide training and technical assistance to professionals and community members, offer prevention education for youth, engage in outreach to high-risk populations, provide direct services to survivors of trafficking, and increase capacity to address human trafficking issues in Kentucky and the larger anti-trafficking field.

Catholic Social Teaching
Bakhita is rooted in the Catholic Social teaching of Human Dignity as survivors are exiting situations in which they have been treated as objects without dignity.

The team

Pictured left to right are Heidi Reyes, Mariya Kobayashi, Marissa Castellanos, Amy Nace-DeGonda, Raquell Jackson, Tamar Israel, and Rebecca Banks.

Check out this video, too: