 Welcome to this episode of Fort Worth Ford. We're here at Onesafe Place on Hemp Hill, and I love getting to tell stories of great organizations helping people in Fort Worth. We're gonna visit with Ken Shetter, who is the president of Onesafe Place, as well as Katherine Thalken, the executive director of Ladder Alliance, and Stephanie Byrd, the chief operating officer of Unbound Now. Let's go. And now I'm here with Ken Shetter, who is president and general counsel of Onesafe Place. Welcome, Ken. Thank you. Thanks for letting us host this segment here today. You, we've been friends for a long time. You've done a lot of great work in this field. Tell us a little bit about what Onesafe Place is. Sure. So Onesafe Place has been around for a long time. We are, first of all, just a general crime prevention, crime and violence prevention agency. And we have been in existence since 2005, but we were kind of the successor organization to a long history of citizen crime commissions in Fort Worth that goes way back. But we started in 2005 to kind of take up the mantle of doing that work. And so we have done, we operate programs like Crime Stoppers, I know everyone is familiar with. So we're active in every city in Tarrant County with Crime Stoppers. Every high school, every middle school in Tarrant County has a campus Crime Stoppers program. And I'm really proud of some innovations we have made on Crime Stoppers. And I really believe we have the best Crime Stoppers program in the state of Texas and one of the best Crime Stoppers programs in the country now here, serving Fort Worth in Tarrant County. Some folks may have heard of our Imagine No Violence Art Contest where we have thousands of high school and middle school kids each year across Tarrant County. Every school in Fort Worth participates every high school and middle school. And there we invite students to produce original artwork that is based on ideas and concepts and images that they develop around promoting non-violence in our communities. And that's, we've had well over half a million kids that have participated in Imagine No Violence over the years. We lead the Project Safe Neighborhoods program for Tarrant County, which focuses creating multidisciplinary, cross-jurisdictional partnerships and networks to address crime and violence in particular neighborhoods that experience greater than normal incidents of gun and gang crime. So we've been doing that work for a long time. We also offer a lot of training and education to crime prevention professionals. Just yesterday we co-hosted with the Fort Worth Police Department a day long training session that focused on providing services to children that are exposed to trauma and violence. So we train thousands of individuals every year and we're really proud of that work. Probably the thing we'll spend the most time on today is our Family Justice Center program. And that is simply the bringing together of the services that victims of domestic violence and for us also trafficking, the services they and their children need in one location under one roof. That's critically important because it's not just a matter of convenience to victims and survivors, but domestic violence is all about power and control. It's a lot of people think it's anger management, it's not, it's power and control. And that power and control almost always includes an abuser controlling the very mobility of their victim. You add to that that part of the control is that when a victim leaves a dangerous relationship or is attempting to leave, it's one of the most dangerous times because they are in effect taking control and the relationship back for themselves. And so abusers often step up control. Yeah, they'll step up the violence in that moment to try to regain control. So the whole idea that we would expect victims to go to five, 10, 15, 20 different places to get help they need when their mobility is controlled and when they desperately need to keep what they're doing secret, that's dangerous. And it's one of the things that historically has forced a lot of victims back into dangerous relationships. And so half of the magic is get everything in one place. And it's not just that we are providing all those services, we invited all those agencies that have been doing that great work for many, many, many years to come in and do it here. And so it creates this collaboration. And so the other half of the magic in a family justice center is that you have all these agencies that are working together and actually sharing information, which by the way, only happens with the informed consent and at the direction of survivors. So while we are all working together and sharing information, survivors get to decide who it is among the partnership that they interact with. What you're really talking about is a collaborative effort. And I think that that's what is beautiful about Fort Worth is that we do work collaboratively in a lot of different settings. And so I think you also are now traveling nationally to talk about what we're doing here and sort of helping others create the same network. Right, so we're part of a network of about, there are about 150 family justice centers around the country. 65 of us are formally affiliated through the National Family Justice Center Alliance, which is kind of the national partnership. And so they have invited me to go around the country and provide the technical assistance that other communities need to help develop family justice centers. And I think they invited me to do it based on the strength of the work that we've done here in Fort Worth and the number of things that we're doing that have become kind of a national model. Michelle Morgan, who's the director over the Family Justice Center and our executive vice president, she regularly teaches across the country on a number of topics, including how to serve survivors who have been strangled from an advocate's perspective. So yeah, we really have become a model and it's based on, I think, what you talked about, that collaboration and our ability in Fort Worth to work together. So about 12 years ago when the national experts came in, what they saw in Fort Worth was A, a generosity in the philanthropic community and B, a spirit of cooperation that really created an opportunity to cast a new model for family justice centers. And I think we achieved that. That's wonderful. I know when I travel and go and look at other things, best practices, I learn a lot. Have you learned other things when you've gone on these now that you're coming back to bring back to Fort Worth? Yeah, it has been a tremendously valuable experience for me and I think it creates value for the work that we do here. I was sharing with you earlier that the most important thing that we do, the most important thing we did during our planning process and the most important thing that happens in other communities is that we talk to survivors. We do focus groups of survivors and talk to them about their journey of trying to get help and trying to get into a safer place in their life. And so this work has always been really guided by, driven by, survivors. And so adding that perspective of survivors across the country has, yeah, I can't overstate how important and how impactful that's been. How important for sure. You've been doing this a long time. I don't want to put a number, you can. But why are you so passionate about it? Well, so it's interesting, we didn't start out in one safe place. We used to be called Safe City Commission. And we operated for a good period of time without doing work really in the domestic violence area, right? But the chief at the time asked us to lead the strategic planning effort. That it's actually the city of Fort Worth that got a grant to do the strategic planning around the development of a Family Justice Center. And he asked us to lead that planning. That was all we really intended to do. I didn't, I think everybody thought the police department was gonna lead the Family Justice Center and we would lead the planning and then we would be done. But the thing I discovered, there were all these agencies that were capable of doing most of the work that needs to happen in a Family Justice Center, but there was one big gap. And that is there was nobody in the community that really was in a good place to develop systems to serve children who are exposed to domestic violence. And one of the things I learned was that the majority of the people that populate our prisons here and everywhere, the majority of people that commit our violent crimes are people that grew up in a home where there was domestic violence. And so that trauma, and that by the way doesn't end up being the only trauma that that person experiences in life, but that trauma leads a person down a path that very often ends in crime and violence. It also very often ends in the repetition of the cycle of domestic violence. So I became convinced and our board became convinced that unless we became part of a better way of a better way to serve survivors and unless we became part of building a system to serve this population that's very large by the way, the population of kids who have always really been ignored. There's been nothing done for those kids. Like they may get counseling here and there, but if they get services, that's kind of by luck, by chance, we've never had something that's really intentional and systematic to say, we're gonna identify these kids, we're gonna figure out what their needs are and we're gonna address their needs. And so I thought if we don't do that, then we could never fulfill kind of our most basic mission was to work with others to make this community as safe as it could possibly be. So part of my passion is that we can save the lives of survivors and that by doing this work, we're not just serving the immediate needs of a victim, but we're preventing future acts of violence and also that we have the opportunity to address the needs of this population of kids that's among the most vulnerable, marginalized, at risk people on the planet. And we have a chance to change that. That's amazing. I'll say this, I know from our council perspective, and the police chief says a lot, you're not gonna rest your way out of crime. You gotta have the prevention piece of it too. And so that's why I think we've been very focused on how we support crime prevention activities. And from our police department, we've just got a great police department, first responders, but we ask them to do a lot. And these kind of services actually allow them to do the job that they need to do, and y'all do the job of healing and helping the way you need to do. Yeah, and so one of the things we also love about this model is that we, part of the family justice framework is everywhere that law enforcement is a key partner. Sure. You know, we believe in criminal justice reform. Right. And we believe that we need to address the need for criminal justice reform even around domestic violence. But we also strongly believe that part of the solution to addressing domestic violence is to hold offenders accountable. And when you talk to survivors, they want justice. They want their offenders to be held accountable. And it's not just what survivors want, but it also turns out that the failure to hold an abuser accountable, specifically the failure to put somebody in jail, that commits violence against an intimate partner, increases the likelihood of lethality. That's right. So law enforcement has to be, is and has to be a key part of this partnership. And you know, but others don't, that the entire family violence unit is located here in this building. And so we are really proud to be working hand in hand with law enforcement. And in addition to the civilian victims assistance team who is all here too. So we work just as closely with them as we do with the sworn officers. Thank you. We could do a whole segment just on criminal justice reform, but we're not gonna do that. No, that's fine. Yeah. I just, there's lots to unpack there. And I'm not the expert on that either. I'm not either, I know there's a whole segment we could do on it, especially from things that I hear, but thank you for letting us be here today and talking with us. How could people find you? So we are located at 1100 Hemp Hill Street at the corner of Rose Dillon Hemp Hill, kind of right in the heart of Fort Worth and the hospital district. So we encourage survivors to come in. Got it. And just drop in. And our primary advocacy services are provided between nine and five o'clock. So we always have a full advocacy team here during those hours. There is somebody here around the clock that can bring somebody into the building. We can do a screening and determine what emergency needs there might be and keep somebody safe through the night. If we have to, there is a 24 hour, seven day a week drop-in center for trafficked youth and youth who've been trafficked. But just drop in. You don't have to call. You don't have to make an appointment if you are experiencing abuse. If you think you might be experiencing abuse. If you think you're in a relationship that is on a path to become abusive or might be, then you should come here and talk to us. If you have experienced domestic violence in the past and just never got the counseling or other service you need, come see us. If you experienced domestic violence in the past, you're safe now, but your kids were exposed to that and there's never been anything done to specifically address the trauma they experienced, then you should come see us. But you can also go to our website, which is onceaplace.org. You can call us at 817-916-4323. Awesome. Yeah, and I'll just add this. If you are a victim of domestic violence, you've experienced abuse and you've ever been strangled or what a lot of people refer to as choking, you are at significant risk. Sadly, most victims of domestic violence are strangled and most of them are strangled multiple times during the relationship. And it becomes, for some people, just too normal and I think too frequent a part of what they experience. That they become desensitized to it, but I just want to highlight that it's a sign that you're at severe risk. And so our staff is all very well trained and nationally recognized in the work that we are doing on behalf of folks that have been strangled. So I would particularly encourage you to come see us. Well, thank you. Yeah, thanks. Appreciate all of you and your team we're doing. Thanks for letting us be here today. Hey, thanks for giving us opportunity. Anytime. Of course, of course. Thank you. Now I'm here with Catherine Thalkin who is the Executive Director of the Ladder Alliance. Welcome, Catherine. Hi, thank you for having me. Of course, thanks for being here. Been a fan of the Ladder Alliance for a long period of time for our viewers that don't know what the Ladder Alliance does, give us a little background in history and what you do. Yeah, so we were started 21 years ago. This past December we celebrated our 21st anniversary and what we do is we really focus on empowering, educating, and encouraging survivors of domestic violence and low-income women so that they can have the tools to lead successful, independent, and self-sufficient lives. That's kind of the idea of the Ladder, like working your way back up. Ladder, we just visited with Ken Shetter. You're here housed at one safe place. Tell us about that collaboration and how that works for you. Yeah, so it's incredible. We are one of their largest partners here, square footage-wise, and we've been here, oh goodness, I think, about nine years now. So we were also one of the first to come in. We were housed in the basement of a church before we came here, so very grateful for the partnership here, but it's incredible to watch all the collaboration that happens. I mean, there are over 20 agencies, I think we're at about 24 now that collaborate here, and it's incredible to watch because it's not just collaborating with one safe place, it's getting to collaborate with all of the partners. That's great. What kind of resources do you bring if someone comes out as a victim of domestic violence? What resources do you have or direct them? Definitely. So we really focus on workforce readiness with a specific emphasis on computer skills. And so our goal is to really help those that come and seek our services to be able to get family sustaining jobs. We want them to be able to end that cycle of violence and the best way we can do that is by helping them to have an independent income. And so that's what we focus on at Ladder in this wonderful collaboration that we live in is really being able to help those survivors get those family sustaining jobs. That's great. So you have been executive director about a year. Yeah. How did this come onto your radar? And then what have you learned in the last year? A lot. But it came into my radar. So I've been involved in the nonprofit area with Fort Worth for about nine years now. I was previously at a different nonprofit that's also a partner here. I called the Parenting Center. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And so I was with them for almost eight years. And in that time, we actually partnered with Ladder on a couple of different things. And one was a grant that I had written. And I was like, hey, do you guys want to come on and collaborate on this? And that's when I really got to know Ladder. And the more that I got to know them, the more I came to love them. And everything that they do, that they stand for, that they bring to the community, that is what drew me to Ladder. And so the director of programs at Ladder, when their previous executive director resigned, she called me up and said, hey, would you consider applying for this position? I know how much you love Ladder and we collaborate very well together. So would you consider applying for it? And the rest is history. The rest is history. And what has the last year been like? I mean, it's been a whirlwind. Affiliated a little bit, but now you're actually in charge. So what has it been like? Oh, I mean, it's been a whirlwind for sure. And it's been interesting to see kind of the different mechanisms behind the scenes, right? Because I was presented, of course, a pretty picture and getting to see all the work that goes into producing the classes, having them, the legwork that the instructors go through to be able to prepare for every single class. Because even though they provide the same thing, right? Multiple times a year, depending on who's in their cohort, they have to adjust, right? And be able to, you know, come down on some things, go a little more advanced on other things depending on their cohort. And so getting to witness that and see that has been incredible. And then also getting to have more partnerships and going around Fort Worth and saying, hey, we're latter, we're here. And, you know, don't you want to partner with us? Right. What should someone expect when they show up here? They want your services, what should they expect? So first and foremost is empathy. And also that we are going to meet them where they're at. We are going to find out what they want to do, what they're good at. We actually just launched career coaching for anybody that's seeking services so that that way they can really, you know, explore, okay, what is going to be a career path for me? What is that going to look like? And so when somebody walks through our doors, we're really going to meet them, you know, with where they are in life at that moment. And then help them to take those steps up the ladder. At the ladder. So that they can have that family sustaining job. Great. Do you have a pipeline where companies are other things that they would go into or how do you, how do they get jobs afterwards? Yeah, so we are not a direct placement with companies, but we have a lot of partners that are. So for instance, there's a place called the 110 network and they really focus on being able to be that doorway to get to that first interview for people that may not traditionally meet the mold to get into the first interview. And so we have a lot of wonderful partners that we are able to connect our students with upon graduation and we say, hey, they have this skill set, can you guys help them? And we even have partners that want bookkeepers. So for instance, after somebody takes our QuickBooks class, they can be a bookkeeper. And so we have different partner companies that they say, hey, we're looking for bookkeepers. So we connect them that way and they go on their way. They go on their way. So what are the needs of your organization? Everything, I'm kidding. No, of course. Every nonprofit has needs. And so it's not, I want to give you a chance to ask. I appreciate it. I appreciate it so much. Of course, we are always looking for volunteers. So in addition to our computer skills training, we have what's called the Success Store. It's here in one safe place that actually just went through a huge renovation. I saw the news about it. I need to go check it out for sure. Please do. Happy to show you around. Okay, great. But it also requires a lot of volunteer manpower because we also are launching personal styling with the Success Store because for those that aren't familiar with what it is, our students as well as partner agencies, they can send their clients there to shop. And so whether they are looking for an outfit for court and then they go back into the courtroom to prep in that outfit so they feel comfortable, or if they're needing an outfit for their first job interview, right? We have that professional attire for them there that's at no cost to them. So when somebody donates to us, we never charge anybody for any of the clothes that go out. It is completely given to clients. No money is exchanged out. Do people donate clothes to that? People donate. Companies or other retailers donate clothes? Everybody. Everybody has. And if anybody wants to, give us a call. Check out our website. But we need volunteers to be able to help me in that store. So that's a huge need that we have. Another really big need that we have is we give out computers, refurbish computers to our students that meet the top of the ladder. So it means that they have attended 95% of their classes. They've passed the tests that they need to pass. And so we gift them a computer that's been refurbished. So we're always looking for gently used computers, so no more than three years old, so that we can wipe it. We will wipe it for people. And then we refurbish it and give it to our students for being top of the ladder. Because many of them don't have computers. And so laptops especially, that's a huge need that we have. So yeah, those are kind of our biggest needs right now are those two things. That's wonderful. Well, thanks for the work that you're doing. How can people find you? So our website is always the best way. ladderalliance.org. They can also give us a call, 817-834-2100. Or they can even stop in a one safe place. We're here Monday to Friday, so come by. SuccessStore is open Monday through Friday too. SuccessStore, and we're even working on some evening options for it too. And possibly a Saturday option, but we need volunteers. Okay, volunteers, I hear that very well. Well, Catherine, thanks for being here today. Thanks for all the wonderful work that you're doing, really appreciate it. Thank you. Thanks for all the good parts you're making Fort Worth better. Hey, I mean, Fort Worth is easy, you know? It's wonderful to be here. The partnership here is easy. So we're, I'm happy to be here, thrilled to be here. And thank you for having me today. Of course, thank you. Now I'm here with Stephanie Byrd, who is Chief Operating Officer of Unbound Now. Welcome, Stephanie. Thank you, Michael. It's great to be here. I'm excited to have you here. For those that don't know what Unbound Now is, tell us a little bit about the program. So Unbound Now's mission is to support survivors and resource communities to fight human trafficking. So we do that through a number of program areas, direct services for survivors of human trafficking. That's the bulk of what we do. But you can't do that and not want to stop it from happening in the first place. So we also do prevention, education, youth prevention, early intervention services, and then outreach and trainings for professionals. It's wonderful. I think that a lot of people don't understand, especially in our community, how pervasive the human trafficking problem is right here in Fort Worth, Texas. Do you tell us a little bit about that and why this is such an important mission? Well, just to give you a little bit of context, we served almost 330 survivors of human trafficking right here in North Texas in 2023. We didn't know when we started what we would find, but it's one of those where, once you start offering services, you realize how needed they are. And when the services you're talking about, and dive a little deeper into that, what kind of services in particular? So back in 2017, the governor's child sex trafficking team reached out to us and asked us if we would consider providing 24-7 crisis response and ongoing support and case management for youth recovered from human trafficking. And that meant hiring full-time staff, getting specialized training. It was a big investment, but we were so thankful for the opportunity to do that. We were endorsed by the Tarrant County Child Sex Trafficking Protocol Development Group at the time. We now serve on the care coordination team that is led by Alliance for Children, Tarrant County's Children's Advocacy Center. And so we go out when law enforcement or CPS recover a child from trafficking, we go out right away and we come with whatever is needed. So we always come prepared with some food, clothes, toiletries, fidget toys, blanket, whatever might feel most appropriate for the situation. But the main thing is just to be there for that youth in a moment of crisis for them. And we're so thankful that we get to do that. It's wonderful and I've had the opportunity to attend some of your lunches and hear some of the stories and understand that I think for the audience too to understand a little bit about sometimes these are runaways, right? Sometimes they are lured into it into where they're found. And so you help them emotionally get out of that pack, maybe sometimes physically get out of whatever situation they're in and then work them emotionally through it to maybe reunite them with their families in that sort of mission, right? Yes, exactly. I think it's helpful to know West Coast Children's Clinic did a study several years ago and what they found among the youth in their study, youth who had been commercially sexually exploited, is that 75% of youth are exploited for two or more years before being identified or recovered. 50% of the youth were first exploited when they were age 14 or younger. So it starts early and 75% of the youth didn't realize their own victimization. They thought it was their own fault what was happening to them. So that tells us how important it is for us to intervene earlier. And so that's what we're trying collectively to do now is make these identifications and intervene earlier. That's great. I'll say this to one of the stories I remember because I think parents think this can't happen to me. This won't happen to my child. That it really is some other children and it's bad home and all these things. But I remember the girl was a cheerleader. If you remember that story that she was a cheerleader, everything great, great grades, everything. And then something just pivoted in her life that sent her down a path and her parents were still there, unconditional love, et cetera, but she went away. Explain a little bit about that. What happens mentally with a child? Because I think, again, people think this can never happen to me. My children are happy and everything's great. Well, I mean, to some extent, all youth are vulnerable to manipulation. All of us as human beings are vulnerable to manipulation. We all have our off days. And if someone comes along offering something that we think we're missing in our life at that moment, we're vulnerable and can be taken in. So we see it all the time. Youth friending someone on social media. And it's not that hard for traffickers to look at their history, figure out what's going on. And if someone's just had a fight with their mom, they can reach out and say, you're so beautiful and so mature and I would love to spend time with you and get to know you. And next thing you know, there's a relationship. Developing online trust is built up. It's misplaced, but the youth doesn't realize that. Yeah, and they've been, they're grooming them, right? They're bringing them into a system. And sometimes it's, as I've seen to someone the same age, you know, a female that might be the same age or a little older or bringing them into the system too, or this guy will be your friend and then all of a sudden they're being trafficked. So we've talked about a lot of bad stories and things that happen, because I want people to understand, again, this idea that it's not someone else's kid. It could be yours. And so you have to be vigilant. You have to understand that about your own children. Maybe dig deep into what their faults are or what they think their faults are to maybe prop them up a little bit. And I know you've done that really, really well with your own children in a lot of different ways. You've got great children across the board. What are some positive stories that have come out of this, though, that people, I think people want to hear too? It is such a privilege to work with the survivors that we get to serve. They are brilliant. They are resilient. They have survived so much. They inspire us every day. So yes, please walk away with an overall sense of hope and no matter what someone has experienced, they still have tremendous value and we just help them reconnect with that and understand that they're worth protecting and worth living for and thriving. So we get to see that every day too. That's great. And I just want to make sure we mentioned there is here at One Safe Place, we're filming this, your drop-in center. So tell people a little bit about what that is and how that works. Yes, I'm so thankful for One Safe Place. For Ken Shetter and Michelle Morgan and all of the team here at One Safe Place who walk this journey with us and who host our underground drop-in center here. It's such a wonderful place to be with all the other partner agencies and services available. So as we started providing this 24-7 response for youth recovered from trafficking, we very quickly realized we needed a safe place to bring these youth when they're recovered. And so we started thinking through what would that look like? How would we create a space for that? The other thing we realized is that we're missing most of the youth who are being trafficked in our community. They're not being identified. They're not calling 911 and asking for help. They may not even realize that they're victims. And so we needed a way to reach them. The underground drop-in center achieves both of these. Now our advocates and other service providers in the community have a place 24-7 to bring youth, youth in crisis. It's not a requirement that they disclose victimization of trafficking in order to come in the drop-in center. But what we found is that about half likely have already experienced commercial sexual exploitation and the others are very much at risk for it. So it's helping us reach the population we set out to reach and it's creating an alternative for youth. So if they're out on the street and they feel like their only option is to sell their bodies for a place to sleep or a meal, now they have an option. They can come to the underground anytime and they're welcomed in, no questions asked and we can meet their immediate needs. They can rest in a safe place. They can get a meal, take a shower, do their laundry. And maybe most importantly, visit with our staff and build relationship, build trust, maybe over multiple visits. And then a lot of times they share what's going on in their life and we're able to connect them with services. So it's been a really beautiful experience. That's awesome. Well, I'm glad that there is a place like that where people can come in a safe space and one safe place too. Thanks for all you're doing. How can people find you? Website where, how can people find you outside the drop-in center that's here? How can they find you? Probably the easiest way is the website. I'm bound now.org. We're pretty easy to find. Great, good. Well, Stephanie, thanks for the work that you and your team are doing. It's really important in our community that we highlight these types of things and understand that there are bad things happening but there are good outcomes that can happen out of that too. And I just thank you for all that you're doing. Absolutely, thank you. Thank you. I hope you've enjoyed this episode of Fort Worth Forward. I think it's important for us to continue to tell great stories about Fort Worth, especially nonprofits doing work in our area to help those that have been victimized. If you have a story idea or a segment you'd like us to do, please contact us at district3atfortworthtexas.gov or 817-392-8803. Thanks for tuning in.