What Happened to Breaking Free?

That's a very good question.

Breaking Free appeared to be at the top of the world as 2014 came to an end. The anti-sex trafficking organization, founded in 1996, had at least 32 full and part-time employees. It operated three buildings of permanent housing for survivors and one transitional housing building. In October of that year, Breaking Free opened Jerry's Place, housing for sexually exploited teenage girls funded through the State of Minnesota Safe Harbor Program.

In that same year, Vednita Carter, the founder and executive director of Breaking Free, was lauded nationally and internationally for her work with trafficked and exploited women and girls. She was Congressman Erik Paulsen's guest at the State of the Union address in January.

Congressman Erik Paulsen and Vednita Carter, January 2014

In March 2014, Vednita was named as a CNN Hero for her groundbreaking work. Donations, both in-kind and monetary, flowed in. The organization was overwhelmed with requests for speakers, to volunteer, for help in starting up anti-sex trafficking organizations similar to Breaking Fee. Vednita flew around the country and the world, lecturing about helping sex trafficking victims "the Breaking Free way." She testified at United States House of Representatives. Vednita proudly posed for a selfie with President Jimmy Carter at an event in May 2015.

Vednita Carter and President Jimmy Carter, May 2015

Flash forward two years to December 2016. Breaking Free reportedly reduced its staff from approximately 32 to 8 full and part-time positions through layoffs, terminations, and staff attrition. Vednita Carter stepped down as executive director amid scandal that broke out in the spring and summer of 2015, involving allegations of financial misconduct, a hostile work environment, and a culture of nepotism that benefited Ms. Carter's extended family.

Breaking Free lost its federal funding to operate the transitional housing program and the house closed. Breaking Free closed Jerry's Place after being in operation a mere 5 months. Weekly support groups, which two years before had been crowded with up clients, are reportedly ghost towns with few participants. St. Paul Police allegedly no longer refers women arrested on prostitution charges to the program.

Breaking Free's reputation has become so bad that one source in the nonprofit field stated: "No one will work with them. It's as if they don't exist anymore,"

What happened to this once-strong organization? Over the next few weeks, I hope to help answer that question from the perspective of a Breaking Free insider. Stay tuned.