Continued from part 1 of an interview with Shannon Hopkins of Sweet Notions and Alissa Moore of Nomi Network.

How did you get involved in ministries aimed at helping those involved in sex trafficking?

SHANNON: In early 2004 Si Johnston and I were talking about the struggle to engage young adults in mission and also doing work that was seen as valid to the people we were trying to reach in emerging churches. As we talked it felt like we need to do something around an issue. At the time I had never heard of the term human trafficking … it wasn’t in the media at all. As Si, who had just returned from Asia, told me about trafficking I was in disbelief. So I did a bit of research and then we held a mini conference to learn about the issue. Throughout the conference it became clear that the gap was demand. If we can stop demand we can stop supply. And the western world is creating and driving this market. The campaign we developed was The Truth Isn’t Sexy and it was very successful. We did the campaign on 5k and massive volunteer effort. We innovated good practice for addressing demand, impacted culture, and changed legislation. However, we were exhausted and broke from having put so much into the campaign and choosing to do it on a shoestring. We need new work and innovative strategies to deal with issues in society today (trafficking being one of those issues) but it felt like the next step was to start an income generating enterprise that could help fund new initiatives and at the same time make a difference.

As we went through a reflection and evaluation period, Jessica and I began talking about what happens to the women once they are rescued, and felt like we would like to do something that offered women some of the opportunities that they have not had access to. Creativity can be so therapeutic and is also very empowering. It also is becoming clearer and clearer to me that our consumer choices, demand, impact most of the injustices in the world. One fourth of the people trafficked today are trafficked into bonded labor, you don’t have to look very hard to realize that it is children trafficked to pick cheap cotton or teenagers in factories to produce cheap goods for a western market.

What were the signs that it was time to close down the Truth is Not Sexy Campaign?

SHANNON: From the beginning with TTIS, we lived into the fact that it was a campaign. We wanted to put demand on the radar, impact culture and legislation. We did that and so it was time to close it down and move on. Plus we did the entire campaign on 5k and volunteer efforts; Sweet Notions was born in part out of the realization that we need seed money to create initiatives like TTIS. The new Web site is live but now we are in growth mode with Sweet Notions. We need boutiques, churches, and other enterprises to help us with collection events (our current campaign is “Bag Up Your Bling”) and to host boutique events. In addition to that we are working hard to launch the design camps.

And Alissa, how did you get involved with this cause?

ALISSA MOORE: In 2006 I attended Urbana, an incredible college conference that takes place every three years hosted by InterVarsity, and learned about the global tragedy of human trafficking for the first time. Several months later I met the co-founder of Nomi Network, Diana Mao, who also had a heart for this issue and had recently completed micro financing research in Cambodia where she encountered this tragedy first hand. We started to develop a business plan based on selling luxury products in the States to create stable economic opportunities for women in Cambodia coming out of sexual slavery. We returned to Cambodia together to more fully assess the needs of the organizations we hoped to work with and discovered a distinct need for product development and empowerment programs for the women. We started to revise our approach in order to create a network that could allow these organizations to do their work in a more effective and profitable way.

Briefly describe the Nomi Network’s “Buy Her Bag, Not Her Body” campaign.

ALISSA: The “Buy Her Bag Not Her Body”™ product line is growing quickly. With our initial product launch party in NYC and distribution in several retail shops nationally, we have been excited by the press and attention it continues to generate. Our ultimate aim is to move beyond producing cause-related products, and into creating mainstream products that consumers will purchase simply based on their design and utility. We are releasing our Spring Collection in conjunction with our inaugural Spring Cocktail Reception and Awards Ceremony in May, and we’ve already gotten really positive feedback on these bags (duffle bag, beach bag, cosmetic case, etc.) and the corresponding lookbook. We have a couple anti-trafficking organizations who have expressed interest in producing items in this collection and we are excited to have them on-board.

Shannon, can you briefly describe the Transformational Index that you’re working with a team to help devise.

SHANNON: Transformational and Missional are two words that are being thrown around a lot at the moment. They are the buzzwords of today that emerging and postmodern were a few years ago… however we haven’t put much definition around those words. I wanted to do something that created more education around what we mean when we use the word Transformational. It can become a clear standard and allow us (and others) to measure our work and also help in planning future work.

And how do you see social enterprises as a vehicle to bring faith communities and humanist nonprofits together to work towards a common social justice goal?

SHANNON: Humanists tend to be committed to human rights and have a strong hope in what can be achieved, Social enterprises provide a strong platform for humanist and Christians to work together for social change. For the Christian it is about doing the redemptive work of the Kingdom to bring justice.

What are some of the unique identifying markers of a sustainable ministry?

SHANNON: In the broad sense when we use the word sustainability we are talking about the ability to endure. And the need for sustainability has grown in light of a declining church and a growing charitable sector competing for donors and funds. So the need for income generating and lean infrastructure are more and more important. I think in addition to sustainability we also need to be looking for there to come a time that the ministry is no longer needed.

Any advice you can give to those who want to start a ministry in light of this financial crisis?

SHANNON: Know why you are doing what you do and what sets you apart from other ministries out there, find out who you can collaborate with and who your peers are and then go for it!

Becky Garrison will be speaking at “The Evolving Church: Kingdom Economy” in Toronto on April 10, 2010.