The A Way Out Program

Program Mission Statement:

(self-reported)

The purpose of the A Way Out Program is to assist any woman and her children, regardless of race or religious preference, who desires to leave her profession in the sex for sale industry, namely topless dancers and prostitutes, to permanently escape the industry and re-enter society and the work force addiction free, trained for employment, possessing a value system that promotes a healthy lifestyle physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.

Score Summary

Overall Score:	Excellent
Practice Principles:	Excellent
Faith Related Elements:	Excellent
Outcome Measures:	Excellent
Change Process:	Good

Program Facts

• Paid (FTE) Staff Working: 1.5
• Program Participants Last Year: 60
• Meets about 35 time(s) with each participant per month
• Participants remain in the program for 36 months

Board Activities

Funding Overview

(self-reported)

	This Program	This Organization
Organization Budget: $354,862 Program Budget: $187,498
Foundation Grants	17%	17%
Government Grants/Contracts	0%	0%
Individual Gifts	36%	36%
Business/Corporate Gifts	34%	22%
Congregation/Denominational Gifts	25%	25%
Dues/Fees/Income	0%	0%
Other	0%	0%
	Average Program Funding From All Samaritan Programs	Average Organization Funding From All Samaritan Organizations
The next charts display the average funding sources for all programs currently in the Samaritan Guide for your comparison. Average Organization Budget: $3,817,897 Average Program Budget: $417,789
Foundation Grants	19%	18%
Government Grants/Contracts	6%	8%
Individual Gifts	37%	33%
Business/Corporate Gifts	9%	8%
Congregation/Denominational Gifts	10%	10%
Dues/Fees/Income	8%	9%
Other	9%	11%

It is important to maintain diverse income sources for your programs and for your oganization as a whole. Doing so provides long-term financial stability to your organizations and programs. It is also important to note that government funding often comes with stipulations and restrictions. More information is available in the Raising Resources Toolkit - pdf.

Score Details

Program Focus
Program Mission	Clarity and specificity of the program's mission statement.	Excellent
Target Population	Clarity and specificity of the programs target clientele.	Excellent
Eligibility Criteria	Clarity and specificity of the program's eligibility criteria.	Excellent
Program Requirements	Well defined requirements for client participation.	Excellent
Referrals From Other Organizations	Do other organizations recommend this program to their clientele.	Excellent
Referrals to Other Organizations	Does this program recommend other programs to their clients?	Excellent
Volunteer to Staff Ratio	Are volunteers effectively incorporated into the program?	Excellent
Past Participant Recruiting	Are past program participants recruited as volunteers?	Excellent
Evaluation and Practice Princples
Practice Principles	How supports and resources are provided to increase outcomes.	Excellent
Outcome Measurement	The ability to measure stated program outcomes.	Excellent
Change Process	Specific and measurable statement of the program's goals.	Good
Faith Related Elements	Integration of faith related elements.	Excellent
Measurement Frequency	Frequency of measuring client outcomes.	Excellent
Program Evaluation	Level of the budget allocated to measuring client outcomes.	Excellent
Institutional Stability
Organization Age	A measure of the organization's durability.	Excellent
Board Oversight	How involved in the program are the members of its board?	Excellent
Program Duration	Average duration of a clients participation with a program.	Excellent
Finances
Budget Diffusion	Diversity of the programs funding sources.	Excellent
Government Funding	Does this program accept little or no government funding?	Excellent

Program Score Details

---

---

Outcomes & Measures:

(self-reported)

Scoring for this section is based on the organizations ability to provide at least three clear and specific outcomes with corresponding measures in which a relationship is shown between outcomes and measures.

Outcome 1: Clients permanently leave the sex for sale industry.

Measure Used:
Number of clients who do not return to the industry. AWO maintains a 97% success rate of clients leaving their former profession and lifestyle.

---

Outcome 2: Clients become addiction free.

Measure Used:
Clients are randomly drug screened and must remain clean to stay in the program and they must complete the AWO's Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP)which is 15 weeks of recovery and lifestyle classes successfully as one phase of the program.

---

Outcome 3: Clients prepare to become productive in the workforce.

Measure Used:
The number of clients who successfully complete their GED's, job skill training and/or college classes and become gainfully employed.

---

Outcome 4: Clients learn to budget and manage their finances

Measure Used:
Client completes budget counseling clases and makes a budget and reports to an accountability partner for a period of 3 months to assess their ability to live by the budget they set.

---

Outcome 5: Client becomes healthy physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

Measure Used:
Client's level of attendance in counseling groups and individual weekly sessions and counselor feedback and client's ability to connect with a peer group and regularly attend a church of their choice.

---

Change Process:

(self-reported)

Scoring for this section is based on the organizations ability to provide clear, measurable, client-focused stages of change based on participant participation.

A Way Out is the only program in Memphis whose target population is women in the sex for sale industry helping them to leave the industry by giving them opportunities to be restored to a healthy, whole life. We provide clients and their children with:

1. Safe housing, food and clothing

2. Psychological assessment and long-term professional counseling.

3. Fifteen week intensive outpatient program, approximately 225 hours of recovery and lifeskill classes as one phase of the program.

3. Bible study, biblically based 12-step program and processing group sessions.

5. Parenting classes, budgeting classes, etiquette classes.

6. Mentoring with a trained mentor.

7. Health, dental care

Program Score - Historical Review

Note: Significant decreases in scores may be the result of incomplete data in a Samaritan Award application.

End Notes

Incomplete Applications

Significant decreases in certain scores may indicate failure to comprehensively complete certain sections of the Samaritan Award application. Please be sure to fill out every question in the Samaritan Award application.

Relative Scoring

Total program scores are partially computed against other programs from within the same pool of applications and so are not cumulative.

Additional Reference Material

More information on scoring and methodology may be found on the Samaritan Guide and Award website.

Acton Institute Relationship

The Samaritan Guide and Samaritan Award are projects run by the Acton Institute. Inclusion in the Guide does not signify endorsement by the Acton Institute. More information on why the Acton Institute runs this project is available online.