Annie Lobert, founder of a local sex-trafficking survivor program called Destiny House, spent more than a decade of her early life caught in a cycle of manipulative violence at the hands of multiple pimps in Las Vegas.
When she finally escaped, Lobert started encountering other survivors in her day-to-day travels and realized she was perhaps better equipped than most to help them navigate the immense challenge of rebuilding their lives. This discovery led her to launch Destiny House as initiative with no permanent home in 2007.
Now based out of a property in Overton, Lobert estimates that her program has touched the lives of thousands of survivors in the Las Vegas region. Some of them end up living in the home full-time for nine to 24 months while they receive “holistic care,” including counseling and other wraparound services.
But the organization’s future may be threatened by recent federal funding cuts made under President Trump’s leadership, including for grants that Lobert says comprise roughly one-third of their $1.3 million annual budget. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has halted hundreds of federal grant programs that include numerous programs serving sex trafficking victims. According to a recent CBS News report, some of the 365 federal grant programs were halted through memos from the Justice Department to nonprofits, alerting operators that they were no longer “effectuate” priorities.
“We wanted to get a DOJ grant, but we can’t apply for one because they don’t have anything available. If you go to the grant website now, it's totally changed because of the extreme microscope on the grants and the pauses they’ve put on them,” Lobert says. “We’re doing private grants, too, but there aren’t a lot of those out there right now, either.”
Nevada consistently ranks as one of the top states in the number of reported human trafficking incidents per capita. Last year, Lobert says 23 victims were enrolled in Destiny House’s long-term program, but she’d like to increase their capacity to about 50 annually. But with just 18 employees—many of whom are survivors themselves—she doesn’t have the means to expand. Various federal funding cuts and delays have only further dampened that prospect for the foreseeable future.
“I've had to turn girls away because they're on a waiting list,” Lobert says, adding that Destiny House typically receives anywhere from 600 to 1,000 calls each year. “I need more staff, including an on-site therapist.”
To help mitigate the issue, Lobert is asking anyone who would like to help to visit her nonprofit’s website at pinkchair.org or its affiliated outreach program at hookersforjesus.net. While small donations can go a long way, she worries that an uncertain economy could also hinder people’s ability to give.
“Getting those donors that give $25, $50 or $100 bucks a month has a big impact. But when people are tight on their wallet they're going to pull back, and we're the first ones to get cut. To me, that's a tragedy, because when you partner with us your dollar is going to provide direct services. We’re actually taking that and helping a human being rebuild their life. Every $150, for example, pays for a counseling session by a licensed therapist,” Lobert says.
Donations are tax-deductible and Destiny House is regularly audited for compliance, Lobert adds. Though the program is notably rooted in her own personal Christian faith, she says clients are not obligated to share her beliefs to receive care.
“I built this whole program off of my own healing to focus on quality, not quantity. Through the grants and private donations, our clients are able to discover their purpose and start learning how to be a normal human again until they’re fully sustainable and able to make it by themselves,” Lobert says. “If they don’t get that healing, many will go back to their abuser and continue the cycle they’ve grown tired of.”
