CJR Celebrates 10 Years of Empowering Human Trafficking Survivors with Beauty For Ashes Scholarship – Lomabeat.com

*Editor’s Note: Pseudonyms are used in this article when referring to the Beauty for Ashes Scholarship recipients, as their identities are protected to protect their privacy.

“It was definitely a transition,” said Jonathan Derby, the new director of the Center for Justice & Reconciliation (CJR) at Point Loma Nazarene University.

“Transition” has been a prominent theme in the Fall 2024 semester shift here at PLNU. Not only for the returning student body, in lieu of the University’s inauguration of a new president, but also for students taking their first steps toward higher education at PLNU.

At the start of this school year, three new students who have been victims of human trafficking have begun their pursuit of their degrees here at PLNU. This endeavor was made possible by the Beauty for Ashes Scholarship (BFA), a program that fully funds and supports the college education of victims of human trafficking.

In the past decade, eight Beauty for Ashes students have graduated from PLNU, one of whom earned her nursing degree this summer. With the enrollment of the three new survivor students, PLNU’s student body now includes seven survivors of human trafficking who are currently on their way to graduating.

According to Derby, “(the Beauty for Ashes Scholarship) really aligns with the ethos of Point Loma Nazarene University in terms of reaching people who are marginalized and meeting them where they are.”

After completing his law degree in 2005, Derby moved to India, where he practiced law.

“I worked with IJM (International Justice Mission) in Mumbai, which focuses on human trafficking, prostitution and commercial sexual exploitation,” Derby said.

The Beauty for Ashes grant is part of a restorative justice ideology and helps victims of human trafficking achieve their goals.

“It was really through that work that I saw justice as more than just the conviction of the trafficker,” Derby said. “Justice is just as much, if not more, about what that survivor needed to overcome the harm that they experienced.”

Over the past 10 years, BFA has not only built support networks for survivors through their PLNU experience, but also invested in their futures after college.

“After graduation, the domino effect that (survivors) individually can have on other people is really powerful,” Derby said.

Beauty for Ashes Scholarship Program Director Katie Hodson recently launched CJR’s Color the Future Campaign, a fundraising effort to contribute to the Beauty for Ashes Scholarship.

“One of the main ways we’re partnering with people this year is with churches,” Hodson said. “We have seven churches that we’re partnering with that are also connected to each of the seven scholars. They’re either advocating for each scholar, raising money to pay for that particular scholar’s ​​tuition, or just being a support system — they’re coming to them and praying for them.”

This year marked the first time that CJR paired a scholar with a church in partnership with the Color the Future campaign. One of the surviving scholars, Desiree* (pseudonym), had partnered with Normal Heights United Church.

“Our church has always had a strong connection with CJR,” said Brent Ross, senior pastor of Normal Heights United Methodist Church. “We are a very justice-oriented church, so there’s just a natural fit that happens there.”

“We’ve committed to a few things,” Ross said, “raising $1,000 for their school account this year (to support the scholarship) and praying weekly.”

Desiree is ambitious and would like to pursue an education at PLNU, with the support of the BFA scholarship and prayers from Normal Heights United.

“I am passionate about empowering women who have faced powerlessness and who have experienced abuse and violence,” said Hodson.

Hodson explained how CJR reaches out to survivors who may apply for the Beauty for Ashes Scholarship. CJR has built partnerships with anti-trafficking companies across the country so they can refer survivors to the BFA scholarship. CJR has worked with survivor scholars who traveled to San Diego to pursue their degrees at PLNU.

“I think education is a really unique way to empower people and show them that they can do whatever they want,” Hodson said. “Enrolling in university courses, with the help of Beauty for Ashes funding, often shows survivors that they have the strength, knowledge and courage to do this.”