SUCCESSFUL SURVIVORS FOUNDATION, Inc.
Be a successful survivor
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Survivors of childhood trauma have a higher rate of depression, substance abuse disorder and suicide than the average person. We are the number one target of traffickers. We fall for the wrong people and too often wind up in toxic and violent relationships. Successful survivors of childhood trauma have learned how to actively fight depression. We have no need to self-medicate. We are living peace-filled, joyful successful lives. It's not that our trauma was any less tragic, but we've found our way out of the darkness and into good lives. Successful Survivors use the lessons we've learned to create good lives. Then we reach out to other survivors to help them do the same.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Purposeful Parenting Videos
You Can Do This Parent! A parenting video series that shows families healthy ways (and wrong ways) to deal with inevitable conflict.
These six videos represent the six most common causes of conflict in the home, including drugs, lying, stealing, angry outbursts, sexting and other inappropriate behavior.
These are NOT boring teaching videos! We hired a four-time Academy award winning producer and experienced actors to recreate the most common causes of conflict and tragedy in families. They act out the wrong way, get parenting tips from the pros, and then they re-create the scenes with what they've learned.
These powerful resources are completely free and they are often used for continuing education for foster parents and social workers.
Please use and share them! https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6MYCsFQzDCmw-GCi-z6m1AX51e-03pfu
Your Real Success
YOUR REAL SUCCESS is designed to help participants mine the lessons out of painful experiences and use those lessons as stepping stones to becoming the strong, resourceful, resilient people they can be.
Love Is Action Community Initiative
Love Is Action (LIA) is a public/private, faith-based community initiative that gives everyone safe and effective ways to help prevent child abuse, suicide, homelessness, and other societal ills that harm us all.
There are likely people and organizations in your community who are already engaged in the work of helping others. Love Is Action can help to engage others to come alongside existing programs, and to help you fill in any gaps by bringing in other proven effective programs.
By choosing a LIA vetted, effective, replicable program, such as the ones at www.loveisaction.com, you can begin immediately to help stop child sex trafficking, reduce domestic violence, child abuse, substance abuse, crime, and other societal ills that emanate from social isolation. Begin today by simply downloading the free materials that are included on our Resource Page. We're here to help you, so contact us and subscribe to stay in touch.
Succeed Because Of What You've Been Through Online Course
Succeeding because of what you’ve been through online course helps survivors of childhood trauma to mine the lessons from the pain that they’ve experienced.
We can’t go back in time, and we can’t undo what’s already been done. The best that we can do is to mine the lessons out of what we’ve been through and use those things to live our best possible life. These lessons are the abilities we learned while trying to survive like reading people’s body language and micro-expressions. The survival skills we learned, like learning when to tell a joke and when to redirect the conversation., when to speak up, and when to be quiet. They are the character traits that are developed in adversity, such as resourcefulness, resilience, tenacity, and courage. And they are the healthy coping skills we acquired to help us survive the things we would have done anything to avoid.
This course prepares participants to transfer all those priceless skills to the workplace. WE CAN SUCCEED!
PREVENT CHILD TRAFFICKING IN LAS VEGAS
Las Vegas is an international destination for child trafficking. Homeless and foster children are the most vulnerable to traffickers as their basic human needs of connection, safety, shelter and clothing are not adequately met.
Our proposed solution is to replicate a proven program operating in Nebraska for 16 years which provides 5 new outfits of clothing, shoes, socks, undies and a coat in the winter to kids in a "shame-free" boutique type setting, staffed by vetted, trauma-informed trained volunteers under the watch of social workers and foster parents.
The program seeks to provide connection, clothing and education on the ways that traffickers lure vulnerable kids with a counterfeit version of caring, clothes, shoes, food and shelter.
In short, this program will get to vulnerable kids before the traffickers do.
Where we work
External reviews
Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Organizing a fundraising event
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Input - describing resources we use
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Successful Survivors Foundation exists to help survivors of childhood trauma to mine the lessons out of all that they've been through and use those things to create their successful lives.
The lessons include character traits developed in hard times such as resilience, resourcefulness, courage and determination; and personality traits like a good sense of humor and optimism. They include learned abilities including the ability to read micro facial expressions and body language, conflict resolution, knowing when to run, when to hid, when to redirect the conversation and when to make a joke. Lastly, the lessons we learn in hard times include healthy coping strategies that will get us through anything.
When survivors take a real look at all that they've survived, own their stories and even embrace them, they are able to give themselves credit for the reality that they are stronger than the average person, more resourceful and more resilient and that all of the lessons they learned uniquely equip them to find and fulfill their good purpose.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
We are a survivor-led, all volunteer non-profit. We are not trying to build our organization. We work from home to avoid spending money on office space. We don't have any employees on payroll. 100% of the money we raise goes to fund the specific projects for which donations are given.
Our strategies for fulfilling our goals include working with other vetted, proven non-profit organizations who are already serving victims of child abuse.
We provide encouragement, education and empowerment through our online, self-paced courses, our Successful Survivors Podcast, blog articles, and Your Real Success curricula.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
We are part of a network of thousands of successful survivors of childhood trauma throughout the US. Many are part of Foster Care Alumni of America. Many are simply individuals who have joined us along the way.
Successful survivors are always willing to help other survivors so when a specific project is presented, we always have people who are willing to get involved with time or treasure or both.
We have assembled a group of volunteers for our current project to PREVENT CHILD TRAFFICKING IN LAS VEGAS.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
One very important project that we are working on is a CHILD TRAFFICKING PREVENTION Program in Las Vegas, NV. Las Vegas is a worldwide destination for the commercial sexual exploitation of children.
We can't stop the buyers. We can't stop the traffickers. BUT WE CAN GIVE THE KIDS WHO ARE THE MOST VULNERABLE TO TRAFFICKERS THE EMPOWERMENT TO KEEP THEMSELVES SAFE.
With the Formula 1 Race and the Superbowl attracting visitors from all over the world, the number of people trafficked in Las Vegas is expected to triple.
Traffickers offer homeless and vulnerable kids a counterfeit version of what we all need--connection and care. They often lure kids in with promises of clothes, shoes, food and gifts.
There are an estimated 1,295 unaccompanied homeless kids in Las Vegas. Add to that number approximately 3400 in foster care at any given time. In 2020, there were 922 children known to be trafficked in Las Vegas. Law enforcement estimates more than 3 times that number in 2022. Many are kids who did not return to school after covid shut-downs.
Our strategy is to give homeless and teenage foster kids kids real connection, community, and brand new, dignity-giving clothing, in an effort to meet these basic needs before traffickers offer their counterfeit versions of these things.
Our prevention effort is modeled after a proven program with a 16-year track record of giving foster and at-risk youth dignity through vetted, trained, caring volunteers in a private, shame-free boutique that allows them to choose 5 brand new, fashion current outfits, one pair of shoes, socks, undies, and a coat in the winter. The clothing is purchased wholesale, so the cost is only $130 per kid.
Volunteers will staff the "boutique" under the guidance of social workers and foster parents. They will provide a warm meal, a caring connection, and materials that educate kids on the tricks and lures of traffickers. The new clothing helps to alleviate the shame of poverty and family dysfunction. All together, these approaches provide dignity that empowers kids to say NO to traffickers.
So far we have raised enough money to serve 146 of the most vulnerable kids. We will continue until we can serve them all.
We will track our progress and present our program for state and federal funding for clothing for the kids in foster care who are served and for whom federal funding for clothing is already allotted but for which there is currently no accountability.
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
SUCCESSFUL SURVIVORS FOUNDATION, Inc.
Board of directorsas of 10/24/2023
Rhonda Sciortino
Rhonda Sciortino
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? No -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? No -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? No
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
No data
Gender identity
No data
Transgender Identity
No data
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data