Everyone needs a place where they can feel safe. When people don’t feel secure, it is harder for them to experience love, belonging, and fulfillment. Enter Safe House of Hope. Founded in 2007 by Denene Yates ‘10, health administration and policy, Safe House of Hope is a place where women exploited through human and sex trafficking can feel safe. Yates feels uniquely connected to the women she now serves. She says she grew up without much love and support, and now, as a mother of seven, she understands the value of having a place of safety. Yates says starting this non-profit has been one of unexpected turns and discoveries – an adventure she never imagined.

She took her first steps on this path when she got involved with You Are Never Alone (YANA), an organization that provided advocacy for women who had been victims of prostitution and sex trafficking. At first, she helped the group manage their budget, but she found herself drawn to YANA’s mission – she wanted to help the women YANA served gain the life-changing opportunities they had so long been denied.

“This is an epidemic, a big money industry,” Yates points out. It’s chilling to consider, but Yates explains that there are currently 27 million slaves worldwide – more than any other time in history – and that last year alone, the human trafficking industry made $33 billion.

Unfortunately, despite its critically needed mission, YANA struggled to support itself as an organization, and was faced with closing its doors. Sad to leave something she felt so passionate about, Yates was determined to keep YANA’s mission alive. After some time spent studying at UMBC, the fire inside was rekindled and the idea for Safe House of Hope was born.

UMBC helped turn her idea into a reality. She worked with her professors to design independent study courses that would allow her to transform the research and work of building an organization into college credit. She also found invaluable resources in the university’s Public Health Department, which emphasized the importance of prevention and improving health care systems. Yates even turned to UMBC’s Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurships and the Shriver Center for guidance and support as she worked through the process of becoming an established 501c3.

“I would not be here today if it weren’t for UMBC’s helpfulness in regards to providing resources, skills, and means to start this organization,” explains Yates. Now, Safe House of Hope is not just established – it’s flourishing. In fact, in 2013, the organization moved to its very own building on Curtis Avenue in Baltimore.

With its own facility and more space, Safe House of Hope has been provided with the opportunity to expand its services. Not only does it maintain its own building, but Safe House of Hope also has an emergency shelter, six beds, a drop-in center, a 24/7 talk line, a street outreach team, host families (families trained to have a client to live with them for a period of time), and a whole faculty of staff who work on community outreach activities such as Zumba, GED classes, and Bible studies. This year, Yates hopes to expand drop-in centers to three other communities with known street prostitution.

Yates considers herself part of a group of abolitionists determined to end modern-day slavery and encourages others to join her in this aim. She always tells her volunteers and those considering joining her team, “with just 10 hours of your time each month, we can change lives.” Not only does Yates believe this, she knows it. She has seen women’s lives altered before her very eyes – they find themselves homes, get jobs, and become self-sufficient. Because Yates knows that change is possible, she won’t stop fighting to make it happen.

While Yates does admit that starting a business – particularly one with work that can be so emotionally demanding – is challenging, it is this belief in the potential for change that pushes her to keep moving forward. It’s common for her clients to feel so stuck they won’t even want to think about tomorrow. But with hope in her eyes and passion in her voice, Yates explains that Safe House of Hope exists to “help people to dream again and to realize those dreams.” And being a part of that, she says, is worth every single second.

– By Jessie Orsburn

Have a story of your own to share?

A fifth-grade student in a Maryland school studies in a computer class. (Flickr photo by woodleywonderworks)

Will computer programming languages like PHP, Ruby and JavaScript soon be as commonplace in U.S. classrooms as English lit, American history and chemistry? Almost assuredly, if a growing vocal group of organizations and educators has its way.

Countless education advocates stress that a STEM education — that is, curriculum taught in science, technology, engineering and mathematics — will not just be indispensable in the future. It is imperative now.

Coding — more formally known as computer science — is a huge part of that education.

Nonprofits like Code.org, which lobbies for more coding in the classroom, says computer science education — and its constituent fields like back-end development and front-end web design — should be available in all schools. And teachers agree.

“The greatest need for future STEM workers will be in computer science-related fields, especially computer programming/coding,” Kevin Tambara, a sixth-grade teacher at Bert Lynn Middle School in Torrance, Calif., told Treehouse earlier this year.

Appeals for Students and Code at the Highest Levels

On Wednesday, prominent California CEOs, educators and community leaders asked Gov. Jerry Brown to consider partnering with them on computer science education in the state’s K-12 classrooms. In a letter to Brown on Code.org, they focused on proposed legislation that would increase computer science clout in schools.

Code.org says a coding education is wildly popular — in just four months, 34 million students participated in the Hour of Code, a program backed by Google and Apple — and classes could be even more successful if there is an institutional push behind them.

“Computer science education draws overwhelming support — not only from the tech industry and its leaders,” the letter reads, “but among regular Americans who want their children to be prepared for the software century.”

More preparation is needed. American students continue to lag behind their international counterparts in science, mathematics, reading and other skills.

In the United States, nearly 26 percent of 15-year-old students scored below the baseline proficiency for mathematics in 2012 tests conducted by PISA, or the Program for International Student Assessment. Only 9 percent of American students scored at the test’s highest levels.

In comparison, 55 percent of Chinese students from Shanghai performed at the test’s highest levels, while only 4 percent scored below proficiency. Education Week says the United States scored poorer than 19 other nations across the test’s math, science and reading metrics. American students trail 29 other nations significantly in math.

The post A Push for More Computer Programming in Public Schools appeared first on Treehouse Blog.

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9264569 - Android App Developer - Banana Bones
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