{"id":121,"date":"2025-10-14T22:06:19","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T22:06:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/121\/"},"modified":"2025-10-14T22:06:19","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T22:06:19","slug":"pa-211-call-line-employs-sex-trafficking-survivors-in-lehigh-valley-bethlehem-area","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/121\/","title":{"rendered":"PA 211 call line employs sex trafficking survivors in Lehigh Valley | Bethlehem Area"},"content":{"rendered":"

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Two organizations in Bethlehem unite in an effort to help survivors of sex trafficking flourish.<\/p>\n

The new partnership is meant to create meaningful employment opportunities for survivors of sex trafficking and exploitation, according to a news release from Bloom for Women.<\/p>\n

Bloom is an organization dedicated to providing sanctuary and care to heal, empower and employ survivors of sex trafficking and sexual exploitation in the Lehigh Valley.<\/p>\n

United Way aims to achieve communities where every person belongs and every person thrives through assessing community needs, raising funds, investing in solutions and advancing education, healthy aging and community stability throughout Lehigh, Northampton and Carbon counties.<\/p>\n

Together, the organizations are launching a workforce development initiative centered around PA 211, the state\u2019s only free, confidential, 24\/7\/365 information and referral service connecting Pennsylvanians with critical health and human services.<\/p>\n

PA 211<\/a> connects callers with local resource specialists who can provide assistance with food, housing, transportation, or other essentials.<\/p>\n

Officials say through Bloom\u2019s Flourish Workforce Development Program, survivors are being trained to staff the PA 211 call line, supporting community members in need while building skills for long-term career opportunities. Training for the first group of participants was completed in early October, according to the release.<\/p>\n

The Flourish Program equips survivors with professional experience through Bloom\u2019s social enterprises\u2014My Sister\u2019s Closet and Bloom Creative Studio\u2014as well as through partnerships with local businesses, the release says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis partnership with United Way and PA 211 is about more than jobs\u2014it\u2019s about dignity, empowerment, and using lived experience to help others,\u201d said Carol Andersen, CEO of Bloom for Women. \u201cOur participants are not only gaining valuable skills for future careers, but they are also becoming lifelines for others in crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Officials say for trafficking survivors, traditional workplaces can present risks of re-traumatization, and criminal records tied to their trafficking experience can create barriers to stable jobs. PA 211 offers a safe environment, a living wage, and the chance to give back to the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cTogether, we\u2019re both improving PA 211 service for thousands of people in the region and creating clear pathways to financial stability and economic mobility for program participants,\u201d said Erin Connelly, Vice President of Impact, United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know what it feels like to be on the other end of the call. Now I\u2019ll be able to help someone else in that situation,\u201d A Bloom participant currently employed in the program says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Two organizations in Bethlehem unite in an effort to help survivors of sex trafficking flourish.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":122,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154,174,177,157,173,172,176,175],"class_list":["post-121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news","tag-bloom-for-women","tag-flourish-workforce-development-program","tag-lehigh-valley","tag-pa-211","tag-sex-trafficking-survivors","tag-united-way","tag-workforce-development"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}