Images of Glory

Victory Academy A faith-based school for children in grades K-12th grade. VA offers all required core classes such as Language Arts, Math, Natural & Social Sciences, and Technology, as well as various special courses that are geared towards the creative arts and the world of entrepreneurship and business leadership. Youth Empowerment Center IOG Youth Empowerment Center provide a wide variety of programs and services for at risked youths in Orange County. The Center is staff by a professional counselors and case management staff which provides individual and group counseling for youths as well as their parents.   The main focus of the Center is to provide education, prevention and intervention services to address the needs of at risk youths. The Center provides classes to address the family as a unit and the youth as an individual. Course topics include anger management; conflict resolution; Effective Parenting; and Impulse control. Workshops are also provided to educate youth topics such as Sex Trafficking and  the importance of safety and Foster Care/Group Home IOG's Housing Division manages several group homes which provides an environment that meets the physiological, social, and emotional needs of young girls. In addition to a loving caring environment youth are equipped with the life skills needed to prepares them to be successful upon exiting the foster care system. The housing program includes academic tutoring and life skills including cooking, grocery shopping, problem solving, effective communication; goal setting, hygiene, resume writing; interviewing, budgeting and banking. In addition, licensed mental health and counseling, tutoring, and drug testing will be available on site upon request.   Victory Academy- $100,000  Youth Empowerment Center- $50,000   Foster Group Homes- $70,000 Foster Care youth and Human Sex Trafficking victims females ages 12-18 years of age Short Term: 90% of participants will increase life skills in the areas of self-care, communication, housing and money management, and career/education Short Term: 90% of participants will report decrease in at risk behaviors including truancy, aggressive behaviors, delinquency and or substance use. Long Term: 90% of participants will successfully live independently for at least 1 year after program completion 80% of program participants will report a satisfactory change in their life style Client Testimony: “My experiences are tragic in some people's eyes, but the events that occurred in my life have made me the intelligent successful young lady I am today. My experience started when I was 11 years old. My mother forced me into human trafficking because she was a prostitute herself, and her husband was her pimp. I had sexual relations with the landlords to pay her rent. She left me to move out with her husband. Often I stayed to myself and had low self-esteem and fear of what someone would do to me. When I was about 14 years old, I started hanging around the mall like normal teenage girls. When one day a man started talking to me while I was waiting for the bus to go home, he told me I was beautiful and smart and showed me attention I wasn't getting from anyone else. I gave him my number. We started hanging out with each other, immediately I started skipping school to spend time with him and sneaking out of the house late at night. After a while he made me have sex with him and his friends. Then he ended up abandoning me in an unknown town with his friends that I didn't even know. They had me prostituting for their gang and I was ganged raped by 13 men. I was sold for my body for almost 3 years. I was passed from pimp to pimp, city to city; some knew each other and some were just selling me off. I was on just about every drug anyone could think of. I was in and out of jail; I would say I was probably arrested every 3 months. There comes a time when people get tired of running and hating their life and themselves. Luckily for me there were people in my life that wanted to help me through my difficulties. Images of Glory (I.O.G.) helps young women get off the streets and off drugs. I.O.G. has helped me stay clean and off the streets. They worked with me and never gave up even though I put them through a lot. I am 18 years old and I am in my second semester of college studying to be a paralegal. So even though I have been a victim of human trafficking and have been on the streets, in and out of jail, it goes to show that you can be whoever you want to be in life no matter what your past is. All you have to do is ask for help and the right people will be there for you.  They'll give you a shoulder to lean on as long as you need it and truly want it. It's not about where you've been it's all about where you're going! God Bless You All!