How visits are expected to work
Women referred by partner organizations are expected to shop at no cost in a mobile boutique run by Columbus nonprofit His Daughters. The 8-by-24-foot trailer is nearly complete and has been under construction since last winter, according to 10TV’s report. The organization says it is seeking clothing, essentials, financial contributions and services to support the effort; its website describes a referral-based service in which women select items for themselves.
Before each stop, founder Brittany Carter plans to coordinate with partner organizations about clients’ sizes and specific needs, 10TV reported. The trailer is intended to travel around Ohio, with donations supplying the items available to shoppers. Carter told the station that some women entering safe houses have very few belongings and said she hopes the project can offer support while women make their own clothing choices.
The project’s aims and origins
Carter told 10TV she had wanted to serve women for more than a decade before the mobile-boutique idea came to her about a year ago. She described the service as one way to support women during a longer recovery process, with clients choosing what they need for themselves.
Statewide figures and another service model
The 2026 Ohio Human Trafficking Report records 334 situations reported to the National Human Trafficking Hotline in 2024, involving 509 potential victims. It says 49% of those potential victims were adults and 51% were female. The report also counts 525,697 commercial sex advertisements in Ohio that year and estimates 190 illicit massage businesses statewide.
The same report counts 74 federally prosecuted trafficking cases filed in Ohio from 2000 through 2023, involving 121 defendants and 177 victims. Toledo and Columbus each had 19 trafficking-location references in those cases, followed by Cincinnati with 17. It gives Ohio’s sentencing range for trafficking convictions as a 10-year minimum and a 15-year maximum, and says the state had enacted 14 of 25 tracked trafficking-related policies, with none added in 2024.
Other Ohio services and funding
Beyond donated clothing, survivors may be eligible for state crime-victim compensation. According to the Ohio Attorney General’s application, eligibility may depend on reporting the crime, cooperating with law enforcement, not committing a crime that caused or contributed to the injuries (except in homicide claims), and having expenses not fully covered by other sources. The application lists clothing damaged by medical treatment as a possible reimbursable expense, a narrow category distinct from ordinary clothing costs. The Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services says its Direct Services for Victims of Human Trafficking State Grant funds providers for victim advocacy, mental health services, education and employment support, and shelter or housing programs. The state’s Fiscal Year 2026-2027 operating budget continued funding for the program.
A clothing boutique can also be one part of a larger service center. In Sacramento, 3Strands Global Foundation opened a 13,000-square-foot empowerment center in January 2024; its drop-in program, The Table, offers basic needs, case management and other support alongside employment training, education resources, a library and a clothing boutique, CapRadio reported. The outlet also reported that The Table operates five days a week, and that 3Strands had served close to 1,100 clients since 2016 and reported an 82% employment-retention rate.
