Entrepreneurship Clinic Spotlight: Rescue Her, Inc.

Over the Summer, students in the Baylor Law Entrepreneurship Legal Clinic had the opportunity to work with Rescue Her, Inc., a nonprofit organization on the front lines in the fight against human trafficking. Rescue Her exists to empower survivors of sex trafficking to live in freedom by providing both crisis response and long-term advocacy to adult trafficking victims. The staff spends its days talking directly with survivors and supporting them in a variety of ways, from coordinating with law enforcement to locating shelter and providing necessities. For over a decade, the company has been helping victims from all over the globe and developing community engagement tactics to achieve one goal: to end sex trafficking.

Sarah Phillips is passionate about developing strategies to combat trafficking in her community.  She believes in the mission of Rescue Her and works each day to expand its reach and allow it to greater support survivors of sex trafficking. Her career at Rescue Her started with an internship and now, after over 10 years of devoting her life to the cause, she serves as the company’s Executive Director. She oversees the company’s day-to-day operation and helps set its strategic goals into the future.

At the beginning of the Summer, Sarah connected with Professor Allen Page, the director of the Baylor Law Entrepreneurship Clinic. She reached out looking for help with updating Rescue Her’s bylaws. The clinic’s students were put to work on drafting a new set of bylaws that fit the organization’s evolving needs. They were tasked with retaining the structure of Rescue Her while building in the flexibility for it to adapt to new challenges and opportunities. Together with the clinic staff, the students built a draft that fit all of the organization’s current and anticipated future needs.

Following the completion of the project, Sarah was asked about her experience working with the Entrepreneurship Clinic. Overall, she was pleased with the process, her interactions with the clinic staff, and the results that it yielded. She remarked, “Everyone I interacted with from the clinic was kind, patient, prompt, and completed their work with excellence. I really appreciated the staff taking the time to answer my questions and create a document that reflected the specific needs of our organization. We were not just another “project” to them. I felt heard.”

With its new bylaws in place, Rescue Her is ready to launch into its next chapter. When asked about the company’s plans going forward, Sarah responded, “Over the next 3 years, we are focused on expanding both of our crisis response and long-term programs. Our focus in each program is to provide depth and quality of care to every survivor we serve. This takes a lot of time and financial resources as many trafficking survivors have many needs that take time to meet. This means that each of our staff can normally only serve about 3-4 survivors at one time in order to ensure that each survivor gets the best care possible. We are hoping to triple our staff over the next 3 years so that we can serve more survivors without compromising the quality of care they receive.” Rescue Her aims to widen its reach so that it can provide even more survivors with quality care and support through crisis response and continuing throughout the legal process.

To learn more about Rescue Her, visit rescueher.org. If you are interested in contacting the Baylor Law Entrepreneurship Legal Clinic, please email the clinic at elawclinic@baylor.edu.