By Addy Ober

There were no trafficking survivor care homes in the state of Pennsylvania. That is until Alycha Boehm co-founded one in 2021. While meeting Alcyha Boehm in her Kutztown office today, I learned about the many plates she balances in her day-to-day life. While speaking, Boehm is clearly proud of the work she has done and loves to speak about her passion.

Boehm was working with young people in the Valley Youth House in 2017 when she noticed girls getting taken out of handcuffs and being put into detention centers because of their own safety. “It was really traumatic to watch, and they were traumatized, and I was wondering: why were they being put in jail when they are a victim?” After this event, Boehm decided to seek out training, work with survivor-led agencies in the United States and learn more about what trafficking truly looks like. “I just couldn’t let it go. I couldn’t understand why they were being criminalized.” Boehm states. 

Boehm reported the definition of sex trafficking is: “The exchange of something (labor or sex acts) for something else such as money, clothing, items, housing, a shower…literally anything. This is typically done through force, fraud or coercion. Young people under 18 cannot “consent” to exchanging labor or sex for these things therefore are always considered to be survivors of HT when they confirm something like this has occurred to them. Trafficking can come in many forms- often via familial, pimp controlled or for survival.”

She mentions that after looking up programs to help those trafficked, there were none in the state of Pennsylvania. “We started looking at programs outside of the state, and just like asking questions such as: what does your program look like and how do you do that?”, says Boehm. 

While Boehm was twenty-five, a colleague of her’s sent her information on a grant opportunity from the federal government in the Department of Justice and she became determined. “At this point, I went to my boss and said I really think I have a good idea here; I think we could do this.”

Boehm got to work, traveling to Boston and collaborating with an agency there and stating she had the knowledge and experience to get this grant. She then reached out to another agency that trained her priorly in New York and got some more framework from them.

 “I want to say that I did not invent anything, I took ideas that already existed and said how can we do this in Pennsylvania and how can we do this through Valley Youth House?”

Boehm and her boss set out and found counties in the area willing to participate in this program and fund it in order for them to make a match on their applied grant. 

“It is like a big research paper. Saying: here is why all these survivors need a trauma-informed, safe, healing environment.”  

In July 2020, Boehm and her team discovered they had been granted the $500,000 grant. They were one out of approximately 30 recipients nationwide who applied for it. “Me, my supervisor and my coworker, Megan (the now official supervisor and co-founder of Thrive House), have been working together for ten years. We took the grant and said: okay we’ll open it!” Boehm said. 

Thrive House opened in 2021 and there have been quite a few kinks since then. “We have closed-reopened-closed-reopened; we are open now.” Boehm states. Boehm and her team have learned a lot during this imperfect process from the kids and other state’s programs. 

“The framework and the vision stayed the same every time and I think that is what drives it.” 

Boehm claims that a major issue with the house is that it was not conducive to their healing and recovery. “We were thankfully given a huge donation of a home in the perfect location that truly supports their healing journeys!” said Boehm.

Boehm goes into what they feel is a priority with opening the Thrive Program again soon. “This time we’ve been spending a lot of time training, educating and making sure everyone is on board with the mindset of why we are here.” Boehm goes into the troubles she has had with staff in the past requiring more education and support in understanding the reality of working with trafficking survivors. “Many people’s perception of the survivors is often ‘oh those poor kids’ when in reality they have a lot of spiciness to them that many people aren’t prepared for,” says Boehm. In evaluating the needs of the program and staff, Boehm and her team recognized a need for more in-depth training and support, ensuring the team truly understands trauma-informed care and the framework of the program. “We currently have an amazing new team that has truly been working so hard to make the program a community, and a safe place for young people to heal. Their hearts are there for the right reasons and the relationship they build with the youth makes all the difference,” says Boehm. 

Boehm states this is all part of her journey with Thrive. It has been a good time but hard and she has thought of even shutting it down completely. However, she acknowledges that this is important to survivors who need a welcoming space to come home to. “I feel like what we are doing has meaning, purpose, and we have learned a lot along the way. This time it will be more sustainable.” 

Overall, Thrive is just a pilot program at this point in time. Boehm states that it takes five-plus years to get a program like this off the ground and she is confident it will keep improving. “We are such a baby program and there is no one else doing it in Pennsylvania to ask what they are doing instead,” mentions Boehm. Boehm, clearly passionate about her work throughout this interview, claims the job is not easy in the slightest, but she is happy with what they have done so far.