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Girls Rising Above Child Exploitation (GRACE) was founded with a goal: Our mission has always been to empower, support and provide services to trafficked, exploited and at-risk youth in San Diego County. We do this by recognizing gaps in other service providers’ scope of support and filling in where they cannot. The biggest factor that allows us to do this is being funded by individuals and agencies, not the government.
While many nonprofits recognize they would be operating at a loss without government support, the risk of receiving this specific funding is a loss of autonomy. Government support brings regulations that can limit the effectiveness of a fluid, flexible organization. At GRACE, we need to be able to respond immediately in unique ways to all of our youth’s needs. This means we must exist without red tape.
So, how do we do it?
How Your Support Meets Real Needs
Our funding comes entirely from our community of supporters. Families, businesses, churches and organizations who have seen the work we do and decided to partner with us. Small, monthly donations go a long way when you’re looking at how to provide groceries for a survivor and her 3 kids. Business and giving circle lump sum donations make a change in creating space for GRACE scholarships to send girls back to school, help purchase a car, or assist in a big move to a newer, safer living space.
Because our funding is unreliable, meaning we do not consistently anticipate the same government support each month, we have structured GRACE in a way that undoubtedly prioritizes our youth and their needs.
Our team of staff all work part time to limit administrative costs. We host groups out of community spaces and churches to limit overhead real estate costs. Our fundraisers are almost entirely “word-of-mouth” advertisements.
Your Dollar Becomes Action
At GRACE, we believe funding should move as directly as possible into the lives of survivors. If you want to see what 365 days of prioritizing direct services looks like, explore our 2025 Impact Report. But behind every annual number is a week-to-week reality: a survivor needs groceries today. A young mom needs a safe place tonight. A participant needs a ride to work tomorrow. Someone needs help moving out of an unsafe home before they can begin rebuilding.
This is where your dollar goes.
GRACE Refuge
Our GRACE Refuge was launched in January of 2026, and has hosted five clients for emergency three week stays since we welcomed our first resident seven months ago. Our GRACE Refuge is the only emergency transitional shelter in San Diego specifically designed to support trafficking survivors and their children. It is a safe place to find support during a crisis and stabilize while seeking long-term housing options.
Your giving helps provide:
- A safe, fully furnished place to stay during a critical transition
- A kitchen stocked with groceries for a resident’s entire stay
- Diapers, hygiene products, clothing, baby supplies and other necessities
- Emergency assistance and individualized support as survivors determine their next steps
Before our GRACE Refuge, crisis clients were provided with a hotel voucher to cover a few day’s stay. Often times we would be sending survivors in crisis back to the very places where they had experienced trafficking — hotel rooms. GRACE Refuge gives us an option that truly makes space for survivors to breathe deeper and feel safe.
GRACE University
Escaping exploitation is only the beginning. GRACE University is our long-term support program that helps survivors build skills, relationships, and explore opportunities to create sustainable independence.
Your giving helps provide:
- GRACE Scholarships for life-changing needs such as a first vehicle, education, career development, parenting needs, and other barriers to independence
- Back-to-school assistance, supplies, fee coverage, and educational support
- Job readiness, financial literacy, life-skills development, mentorship, and therapeutic programming
- Support for young parents working to create greater stability for their children and breaking the cycle of poverty & ending generational abuse
- Opportunities that help survivors move beyond simply surviving and begin building the future they choose
When Leah founded GRACE in 2017, it was because she saw first-hand the lack of long-term resources in San Diego. Many programs have services that are limited to a 6-month “recovery” period. We know true healing takes time. It often comes with relapses or crisis that requires a strong support system. Our first GRACE Alum has been in our program for four years and will be aging out at 25 years old in the months to come. We have seen her through relationships, the birth of her beautiful children, job and housing changes and so much more. Healing happens at GRACE University.
GRACE Meals
We work with youth ages 12-24 and their children. Did you know 27% of mothers who are exploited say they allow the sexual exploitation because it allows them to put food on the table for their children? A mom’s instinct to make sure her children are safe supersedes her own desires for personal comfort and safety. Additionally, traffickers and predators will intentionally seek out youth who are economically vulnerable. This is because “survival sex” is a common driving factor for youth exploitation. “Survival sex” is participation in exploitation to meet basic needs, including food. Youth without access to food are automatically considered high-risk for exploitation.
Your giving helps provide:
- Fully stocked kitchens for GRACE Refuge residents
- Emergency groceries for survivors and their children
- Meals during GRACE programming
- Formula, diapers, baby food, and essential household items
You would be surprised by the impact an emergency grocery delivery makes in the lives of the youth we serve. During a crisis when just getting out of bed is a struggle, sometimes a meal during our GRACE programming is the only thing getting a youth to show up and receive additional support. GRACE Meals are so much more than just a provision of nutrients. It communicates that there are other options; that there is a way out.
This is Direct Service
Recovery rarely happens in a straight line. One unexpected expense can destabilize a survivor who has worked incredibly hard to build independence. GRACE fills that gap because YOU said yes.
A stocked refrigerator.
A safe bed.
A ride to work.
A driver’s license.
A first car.
A school enrollment fee.
A moving truck out of an unsafe home.
A phone that stays connected.
A young mother who doesn’t have to choose between feeding her child and protecting herself.
Your dollar doesn’t just fund a program. It removes a barrier, meets a need, creates an opportunity, and gives a survivor another choice.
Your dollar becomes action. And that action can become safety, stability, independence, and a different future.
Direct services also look like funding that allows us to work with a team of licensed therapists to offer group therapy as well as GRACE Sponsored individual therapy sessions, hosting field trips so our girls can make lifelong memories, and making sure every group session includes a catered meal for our girls to enjoy.
Now is Your Time to Say Yes
Our favorite way to invite you into our community is at our Rise Above Art & Music Benefit. Last year, we were able to double our fundraising. This year, our 8th annual year, we are looking for more than a yes to financial support. People cannot rally behind our mission if they don’t know who we are.
The easiest way to invite your community to celebrate restoration and join us in hoping for the future is through table sponsorships.
Sponsoring a table not only directly impacts our capacity to support survivors in need, but it welcomes your community into our event and gives them an opportunity to learn about our mission.
Rise Above is our biggest fundraiser of the year, and it allows us to truly move mountains for our youth throughout the year. Help us be a lifeline for survivors in 2027!