Who We Are | Mission and Goals

Our goals

Four sectors, one population

We started in 2010 as Hepzibah House and rebranded to LightHousePBC in 2021. The work has not changed: survivors of commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking, served across four critical sectors.

Pop-Up at the Laundromat. A mentoring program for individuals being trafficked along the Federal and Dixie Highway corridor.
JohnSchoolPBC. A diversion program for people arrested for prostitution, with separate courses for buyers and sellers, addressing both supply and demand.
Counseling and trauma therapy. Case management for individuals freed from sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation.
Awareness and prevention. Raising the alarm on modern day slavery so our youth and other vulnerable people are not tricked, trapped and exploited.

We also provide CEUs to medical and mental health providers so they can identify trafficking victims in their own field, since victims very rarely identify as such. And we are linked with Sharing One Love PBC, a consortium of county stakeholders serving this population.

To date we have provided mental health counseling, career counseling, mentoring and trauma therapy to over 100 women, and sheltered 14 in a previous safe house program.

A line of people standing shoulder to shoulder with their hands raised and joined against a sunset sky — No one gets out alone.

Our strategies

What this looks like on an ordinary Tuesday

On the street

Pop-Up at the Laundromat

Our signs in the area say, "If you are a woman living a life you never wanted to live, in a place you never wanted to be, we will do your laundry for you."

We bring a shade tent, camp chairs, refreshments, toiletries, used clothing, detergent and quarters. And cut flowers, because we want to communicate before anyone speaks: you are worth the extra effort.

The objective is to build relationships, so when she decides this life is not working for her, she has a face and a phone number to call. We can usually get her into detox that day, then help chart the next steps into rehab, a sober house and eventually healthy independence.

John School Palm Beach County

For those arrested on misdemeanor prostitution charges, buying or selling, our classes plus recent STI testing and payment of court fees remove the charge from the record.

The whole idea is education. Both buyers and sellers need to know about the 40+ sexually transmitted infections that are out there. Buyers pay tuition, sellers are scholarshipped, and the school is a funding stream for LightHouse.

We are also pressing judges to add John School to probation requirements once a woman is out of jail. The law now requires it, but it has not been implemented here yet.

What we are building toward

In the order we intend to build them, and all of them dependent on people deciding to invest in their own community.

Next step

LightHouse Dog Treats

A social enterprise baking organic, non-GMO animal treats. It becomes a funding stream, and it lets us hire women from the Pop-Up program on a cash basis so they have the dignity of an honorable paycheck.

Each woman would be paired with a mentor, with the goal of facilitating her escape from the life. We need start-up funding and volunteers.

The big one

Safe house and restoration

Helping survivors move from victims, to survivors, to triumphant thrivers. Processing trauma and addressing life skill deficits takes time and energy rarely available without external support.

We ran a small five bed safe house before. We can do it again, with backing from individuals and businesses, grants, and an in-house income stream.

After that

Transitional housing

A multi-plex housing unit. Full time employment required, rent paid as a percentage of income.

If her car blew up or she lost her job, she would not be on the street again at the end of the month. It lets a survivor learn to walk in her liberty with a safety net.

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Our dedication

We have been serving this population in Palm Beach County since 2010. Join us.

Volunteering is the ultimate exercise in democracy. You vote in elections once a year, but when you volunteer, you vote every day about the kind of community you want to live in.

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Shining light, bringing hope to women in the commercial sex trade in our county.