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Harrisburg nonprofit working to employ survivors of sex trafficking

Harrisburg area nonprofit Peace Promise will open two businesses that will be staffed by sex trafficking survivors.

CAMP HILL, Pa. — New employment opportunities will be available to survivors of sex trafficking this fall and in the coming year.

Harrisburg area nonprofit Peace Promise is working to open two businesses that will employ victims: Soaps by Survivors and Ruby Coffee + Co.

Survivors of sex trafficking often never learned how to function in jobs and careers and have trouble holding down employment once free.

Peace Promise has been addressing this issue since 2008 by providing economic empowerment to victims and teaching them the life skills necessary to sustain gainful employment.

“I think what Peace Promise does really well is their care and kind of how they just do life with these girls,” said Rachel Reatty, co-founder of Ruby Coffee + Co.

The nonprofit's latest venture involves purchasing a building to house Soaps by Survivors and Ruby Coffee + Co.

Soaps by Survivors is a preexisting survivor-led soaps and bath brand owned by Peace Promise. They have been in operation for five years and currently sell their products at Route 174 Roadside Market in Mechanicsburg. Online ordering is also available but requires in-person pickup at the Mechanicsburg Brethren in Christ Church.

Ruby Coffee + Co. was created by two Messiah University students who envisioned an opportunity to employ and teach job skills to trafficking survivors. They partnered with Peace Promise to bring this vision to life.

"Peace Promise is such a cool organization, and we feel so incredibly blessed to be part of it," said Rachel Ferrence, co-founder of Ruby Coffee + Co.

Peace Promise has helped hundreds of women go through rehab and find employment. The organization also strives to educate women and young girls about their vulnerability to traffickers or other exploiters—especially women suffering from childhood trauma, substance abuse or living in lower socio-economic areas.

They offer women therapy and education in foundational skills such as problem solving, social/interpersonal relations and critical thinking, along with an occupation.

“We have always talked about economic empowerment, from the very early days,” said Brooke Dunbar, the Director of Marketing and Communications for Peace Promise. “That’s what we do, that looks like so many different things. Sometimes it’s helping somebody get an education so that they can, you know, go on and have the career that they want, sometimes it starts with drug and alcohol rehab.”

Soaps by Survivors is projected to open for business sometime this fall, with Ruby Coffee + Co. following in early 2023.

The two businesses will be housed together in the same building located at 244 S. 17th St. in Camp Hill.

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