You’ve probably seen Franciscan Peacemakers at a farmer’s market around the Milwaukee area, and you might know that they are a social enterprise dedicated to supporting women survivors of sexual exploitation. You may not know that their products are 100% survivor-made, or that they recently expanded their residential program, Clare Community, to house up to six women at a time – doubling their previous capacity.
In the 27 years since the first iteration of Franciscan Peacemakers was born, it has taken several forms – from street outreach only, to drop-in centers, to briefly offering a summer camp for kids, to today: a social enterprise that sells hand-made bath and body products as the service approach for their mission. Katie Coffey, the Social Enterprise Director of Franciscan Peacemakers, met with me to discuss why and how they do what they do: “providing a pathway to healing for women survivors of sexual exploitation, trauma, and addiction, through housing, employing, [and] advocating.” Franciscan Peacemakers recognize that sexual exploitation, trauma, and addiction often feed off of each other, making it impossible to heal from one without recovering from the others.
Franciscan Peacemakers’ Nashville-based sister organization, Thistle Farms, encouraged Franciscan Peacemakers to adopt the framework of making and selling bath and body products in 2009, which led them to the business structure we know today. Making and selling soaps, candles, and other body products allowed Franciscan Peacemakers to eventually open a residential community for women who have reached 30, 60, or 90 days clean. Before Clare Community, 90 days marked the end of the Franciscan Peacemakers’ program – an important milestone, but only one stop on the path to holistic wellness. With their two-year residential program, Franciscan Peacemakers works hard to facilitate a deeper sort of healing.
After recent renovations, Clare Community now has space to house six women at a time, double the three-person capacity they had been working with since opening the residential community in 2009. After 30, 60, or 90 days clean, a woman can move into Clare Community, where she receives access to housing, employment, and resources that might otherwise be difficult to navigate. “Priority number one is healing,” for women in the residential program, said Katie, which means that everyone’s journey looks a little bit different. While living in Clare Community, women are employed with Franciscan Peacemakers at least part-time; some start working shortly after entering the program, and some transition to employment later, focusing their energy on healing in the meantime. Reaching wellness is hard work, and creating candles and body products allows for flexible scheduling, so women can work around outpatient treatment, meetings with financial advisors, and any other unique necessities they may have. By saving half of their wages throughout the two years in the program, women leave Clare Community with a solid financial foundation for a fresh start.
One of the biggest obstacles to ending sex trafficking and exploitation, Katie explains, is getting the community to acknowledge that it is happening at all. “People probably know it’s happening,” she elaborates, “but it’s a really hard reality when we’re faced with it… because it’s not talked about, it’s seen as a taboo issue, [and] when it is talked about, it can be overwhelming.” Wisconsinites have a tendency to think of this as just a Milwaukee issue, when in fact, human trafficking happens in all 72 counties of Wisconsin, across all races, ages, socioeconomic statuses, and genders. “It’s everyone’s problem,” Katie contends, citing the notion that our humanity and dignity are wound up in that of everyone else, even those we never meet. “We’re all interconnected; if one of us is hurting, we’re all hurting.”
In addition to their primary Milwaukee location, Franciscan Peacemakers have a well-established presence in Washington, Dane, and Sheboygan counties, among others – whether that’s offering food, empathetic presence, or simply conversation to women who have turned to sex work as a result of force, fraud, or coercion.
Katie also touches on the language of ‘choice’ that has been surrounding sex work as of late, and the idea that a person enters the field of their own volition. In her time with Franciscan Peacemakers, she argues, “personally, I have not yet encountered one of those women.” She cites the most common reasons for turning to sex work – childhood trauma (often sexual in nature), addiction, and lack of resources, particularly when it comes to mental health – and points out that “none of those things are choices.” When we refuse to talk about sexual exploitation in our communities, we deny ourselves the opportunity to acknowledge how detrimental the system is not only to sex workers, “but to all of the individuals who take part” in it directly or indirectly, knowingly or unknowingly.
As Katie mentioned, the first step to eradicating human trafficking is to start talking about it. “Prostitution and human trafficking are occurring; it’s okay to say that out loud,” she urges. Several members of Franciscan Peacemakers’ full-time staff are available to give talks around the community and at local universities, where students tend to be particularly vulnerable.
In addition to their storefront on Lisbon Ave, Franciscan Peacemakers products are available for purchase on their website, as well as in several shops across Wisconsin and throughout the US. The Workbench’s Made in Milwaukee Holiday Gift Sets also features a selection of products from Franciscan Peacemakers and are open for preorders now. Profits from their handmade product offerings directly support their mission and help them further the healing of not only Milwaukee but all of Wisconsin.
