LYNN — In Essex County, there are more than 150 girls and women who are exploited sexually each year, according to Centerboard, a Lynn nonprofit with a number of community-oriented programs that advocates for survivors of commercial sex exploitation, including children.
Centerboard’s We Rise program has received $1,500 from the Lynn Walmart to continue its mission. The program “helps to prevent childhood sexual exploitation and assists survivors to find a path out,” said Mark DeJoie, Centerboard CEO.
“We will continue providing services to close the gap in specialized supports for the estimated 150-plus young girls and women in Essex County who are sexually exploited each year,” DeJoie said. “We will also increase our efforts to spread awareness around this issue and as well as our direct-prevention activities.”
The Centerboard We Rise program does a number of things to prevent, intervene in, and promote recovery in cases of commercial sexual exploitation of children — also known as CSEC, a term that encompasses child trafficking, child prostitution, child pornography, and live-streamed child molestation.
DeJoie said the money from Walmart, specifically, will go toward We Rise’s prevention group work, which includes public awareness campaigns and work with public schools.
In addition to the We Rise program, Centerboard has a number of programs that support housing for low-income families and help people gain education and employment. Centerboard also runs the nonprofit art gallery Visionspace, which encourages Lynn public art projects. The organization serves more than 2,200 people each year through its services.
The idea for the We Rise program began in 2015 after a young woman, who used Centerboard’s programs, was killed by a man who bought her for sex, and the program focuses on women up to age 25.
One We Rise program component includes a 24-hour hotline founded in February 2019 to connect young sexual exploitation victims with outreach workers, who are often survivors themselves. The hotline will take calls from women of any age.
To learn and inquire about Centerboard’s services, call (339) 883-2420, email [email protected], or visit www.centerboard.org.
