Editor’s note: Este artículo está traducido al español.

When Veronica Anzorena founded Hope Co., she had a simple but powerful observation: Trafficking survivors had extraordinary craft skills and nowhere to sell them.

Nine years later, her Las Vegas-based marketplace for handmade jewelry, bags and clothing has grown into a lifeline — one she now realizes is just as urgently needed in her own city as anywhere else in the world.

“I realized we can do this here,” said Anzorena, who has the organization split between a nonprofit supporting survivors and the for-profit business. “We can support our survivors here in Las Vegas and in America.”

The issue is especially pertinent in Nevada, which typically has the highest rate of human trafficking cases. In 2024, the National Human Trafficking Hotline received 418 reports from Nevada.

While law enforcement focuses on getting people, mostly women, out of the cycle of human trafficking, Anzorena said Hope Co. is about supporting survivors’ transition into more independent lives.

A prime example of that is the first local woman she worked with, whom Anzorena was already advising in a financial program through the local Walter Hoving Home. The faith-based organization has a 12-month residential program for women dealing with different issues.

“She had taken out a few payday loans, and really didn’t have the income to pay it, and she was just stuck,” Anzorena said. “She was really in a spot that was more urgent than the class. It was going to take some time for her to get to a place where she was solid, but those loans were due.”

Anzorena said she pitched her idea of bringing Hope Co.’s global model to Las Vegas. After telling the Hoving Home resident that she would teach her how to make jewelry, Anzorena said she was ready to go.

The items are mostly sold at farmers markets or online.

“I started designing, she started making, and within two months, she paid off those loans. That was a win,” Anzorena said. “From there, she introduced me to her roommate, and then it just kind of grew word of mouth among the ladies who have come so far.”

Since establishing Las Vegas as her first domestic program for jewelry, Anzorena said she’s worked with around 10 women from the area. She emphasized that recovering from human trafficking is rarely a quick task.

Most survivors take five to six years before they’re fully independent, Anzorena said, and most of the women she’s worked with have gone through multiple programs. Many also deal with coinciding issues, such as drug addiction, homelessness and emotional abuse.

Rosie Dillon, program manager at Hoving Home, said Hope Co.’s program creates a sense of stability for the women she’s seen go through it — and that it’s a steppingstone toward further independence.

“I always say that anybody can do a program, right? It’s really when you complete a program and enter back into society; that is when the rubber meets the road,” Dillon said. “It takes a community and just an army of people to pour into just that one person, and in so many different areas.”

Anzorena said one of the best parts of the community of organizations tackling human trafficking is its interconnectedness.

“We see and recognize what each group brings to the table for these women in helping them,” she said. “We all together are pieces in a puzzle that creates solutions for these women that are more complete than if we were just trying to do it all by ourselves.”

Jessica Whittet — executive director for TrueID, which provides reintegration housing for previously trafficked women — said her organization requires that participants work at least 30 hours a week.

However, survivors struggle to find stable work with large gaps in their employment history, Whittet said. And even when someone does get an entry-level position, she said it can be difficult to get enough shifts to hit the mandate.

In some cases, she said, Hope Co. helped fill that gap.

Anzorena’s organization isn’t the only one taking her approach. Thistle Farms in Nashville, Tenn., has been operating since 1997, selling candles, soaps and balms created by survivors of human trafficking and other traumas.

The model of creating employment opportunities for survivors has become so large that it now has its own trade organization: the Freedom Business Alliance. Its website lists over 120 member organizations providing jobs for 5,000 people.

Anzorena credits her organization’s founding to a period around a decade ago when she and her late husband, who was sick at the time, “dug deep into our roots of faith.”

“Because of my faith, I believe that it’s part of my call and responsibility as a believer in Christ to play a role in helping people who’ve gone through hardship restore,” she said.