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KTBS Podcasting and the Committee of 100 present Good to Know Shreveport-Bossier, a podcast series showcasing the good things happening in our area. We’ll go in-depth about economic development, community growth and other topics about initiatives that are having a positive impact in our community. We’ll have new episodes every other Wednesday. You can find the KTBS Good to Know podcast wherever you listen to podcasting. Or go to KTBS.com or KTBS Now on your streaming device to see the full interview.
Hello again, everybody.
Welcome to another edition of Good to Know
Shreveport Bossier.
This is a podcast.
We showcase all the good things,
the positive things
happening around the community.
My name's Jeff.
By and for over here to my right,
I'm going to just Paul Risser.
I'm just going to refrain it easy on me
to do the things I normally say.
A local business.
Dan a member of the Committee of 100.
Now, every podcast we focus on topics,
initiatives that are having positive
impacts around the community.
As I said, we have new episodes available
every other Wednesday,
and you can find good to know
wherever you listen to your podcast.
So once again, the honors belong to you
to introduce our special guest.
Thank you, Jeff,
and thanks for taking it easy on me today.
I know it's rare. Don't get used to it.
So now today
we have, as per usual and awesome guests.
Okay, so her name is Cassie Hammett.
She is executive director
and founder of the Hub Urban Ministry,
which has a very unique way of addressing
homeless people where they are,
but also helping people
get out of homelessness,
which is something you don't see
very often, very successful.
Also,
founder, executive director of Purchase
Not for Sale,
which is an organization that helps women
get out of sex
trafficking and prostitution.
It's amazing the things that she does
and the unique perspective that she has.
She's a nationally sought after speaker
podcast host, television person,
very busy man.
We're so lucky.
Fortunate to have you here today.
Cassie Hammett, welcome to the show.
Thank you for having me. Yeah,
thanks for being here.
So I was unaware
as we were talking off the air
about your work,
so I'm really interested to find out
all about it
and excited to be able to talk about it.
Well,
I didn't do a great job of explaining it.
There's there's The Hub
is the kind of the spoke to the. Yes.
But you have several ministries
and it's right here in Shreveport.
And even though you're all around
speaking and being on TV,
I didn't even mention you won an award
in New Orleans from the FBI.
Yeah. Yeah. Really?
That's great work with sex trafficking.
Just amazing the things you've done
so well.
They'll do a better job than he did to
explain what this is all about.
Yeah.
So the Hub Urban Ministries is a nonprofit
here in the city.
This is our 17th year
of being in Shreveport, working
under the umbrella of the hub
are three main ministries,
the Lovewell Center,
which is in downtown Shreveport.
We serve those experiencing homelessness
and material poverty there
through an earning and empowerment model.
Our second ministry under
the umbrella is purchased
not for sale, like he mentioned,
which is an anti trafficking effort
here in the city and in the region.
And then our third initiative under
the umbrella is Rise Up and Roast,
which is a social enterprise
employing individuals out of homelessness,
poverty and sex trafficking.
It's a coffee company
and we partner with Rhino Coffee.
Nice.
So the second one you mentioned
is purchase, not for sale.
That's the actual name.
Yes, that is the name purchase,
not for sale.
Explaining the origin of that name. Yeah.
So we're a faith based organization
and there's a scripture that talks
about how through Jesus
we have been purchased no longer for sale.
And so the messaging to
those that we're serving,
is that the reality of you physically
actually being bought and sold and traded
is that you aren't for sale as a person?
And that's the message
that we're trying to get out to people,
too, is that humans are not commodities
and should not be able to be purchased.
Right?
So that's kind of the origin.
This is an abhorrent thing
that's going on.
I guess it's gone on throughout
time. Yeah.
So all this, it's just unbelievable that
this time this stuff is still happening.
Yeah, it is.
And for most people
it is really hard to wrap your mind around
because more than likely
you're not stumbling across it, Right?
It's not it's not necessarily visible,
especially in the last decade,
most of prostitution and sex trafficking
has actually gone online,
where usually before that back in the day,
which wasn't actually that long ago,
10 to 15 years ago,
it was more of a geographically located
issue, meaning certain parts of town
and things like that.
But that's not really the case anymore.
Everything's done online, just like
all of our lives are done online.
And so it causes it to be less visible.
And so most people don't understand
that it's something that's happening
in our city, but it is happening
in our city
at pretty large rates, in fact.
So yeah, so we're working every day
in the city to give exit to those
who are experiencing sex trafficking
and to create a pathway out to women
who are engaging in the sex industry.
Maybe they're not victims
of sex trafficking.
Maybe they're in exotic dancing
or prostitution of their own volition
or choice.
We have pathways out
for those populations as well,
and we unfortunately have
pathways out for children.
And that's something
that we're working on every day as well.
And the thing
I mean, what I've always been
so attracted to of your ministry,
I've been following you for 17 years
when you were just that's
why I keep calling you the young lady.
You're still very young.
Yeah. Thank you. I'm back.
You were 22 years old.
I turned 40 in two weeks.
Oh, yeah. You're really.
Yeah, but it's so action based,
and you're connecting people
in the community that want to get involved
who don't know how to get them.
Yeah, Whether it's with a business
or just a church group,
you're actually connecting people.
This is an action based organization.
So how do you get someone like,
I met a guy, Herman.
I started out homeless, just out of jail.
And you're like, Well,
this guy needs to get a job.
But ask maybe that's kind of tough.
But now.
Herman So tell me the the journey that
Herman took through your organization.
Yeah.
So I think it's important for people
to know that the the chasm
between material poverty and employment
and self-sufficiency
is incredibly wide for some people.
And what I mean by that is, you know,
you may pass someone on your drive
or wherever, and you may have a thought
subconsciously or even say out loud, man,
I wish they would just get a job right
or do something else.
And I think it's important to understand
that poverty
affects a person
at every level of their life.
It's not just a material problem.
It affects their psychological effects
of poverty.
It changes the brain.
Research shows that living in poverty
changes your actual brain
and your brain chemicals
and your brain's ability to function.
Trauma.
Those experiencing homelessness
have been through significant trauma
that also changes your brain and lowers
your ability to do certain things.
And so, you know, it's
not as easy as just go get a job.
The hurdles between that person
on the side of the road, flying that sign
and then that person actively employed in
the community are significant.
And so our our organization works to start
wherever that person is.
And to do with them, not for them.
The things kind of
to walk the path with them.
And our job, we see our job
as mainly to remove the hurdles,
right to go ahead of them.
And we're going to say like if
you see
a homeless guy and you say, go get a job,
you think that he might be trying
to get a job that's right.
But the people that run
businesses are like, we're not sure
your organization is kind of a go between.
You kind of knock down
some of the hurdles. Yes.
And so we walk with people
through whatever.
I mean, every single
and this is the other thing.
Every single person you see that is
impoverished is completely different
than the next, just like
the three of us are completely different.
Thank goodness That is true.
That is true.
And Paul Yeah, that's true about people
experiencing material poverty
is that every single person
is completely different.
And so what we do at the Hub
through the Lovewell Center,
it's a membership based place.
So we do that on purpose
because those that we're serving
in material poverty
often don't have a place they belong.
And when you're a member
somewhere, you're supposed to be there,
and so you're there.
Card carrying members,
they have a little card
that looks like a debit card.
That's a good idea.
So it's created
the way you guys have approached
all these things because these folks,
a lot of these folks, maybe
they're not used to belonging anywhere.
They don't.
Yeah. Often
they're only tolerated at best.
And so as a member of the Lovewell,
we're communicating.
You belong here. You're expected here
When you walk in, you're.
That's not a surprise to us.
But you also have a voice here.
And there are perks to being a member.
So the perks are every single day
that we're open,
there are classes going
on, different projects,
things that members can participate in
to earn credit on that membership account.
And then inside of the Lovewell,
we have stores, we have a grocery store
called the Eat Well,
a clothing store called The Dress Well,
and then a laundromat
called The Smell Well.
And that we're super
real creative.
Yeah.
Attaching words to well, but yeah
and members can go into those stores
or use those resources using their credit.
So nothing we have inside of
the lovewell is technically free.
The reason for that is because
we want to re instill in people's lives
this idea of value and worth and skills
and dignity, honestly.
And so individuals who come in and become
members are engaging in classes.
You can also turn in your work sub
if you work an hourly wage job
and maybe you're riding that like low
income line between housed and unhoused,
but you can't.
But you're working all day.
They can bring in their check stub
and we will give them point for hours.
So let's say someone worked 40 hours
last week, they can come in and exchange
that for 40 credits.
And the reason we're doing that
is because we are a
for a lot of people that we serve,
we are a supplement
to their income, right, to their budget,
their bottom line.
So we do we serve a range of people
from those who are unhoused all the way
through the materially poor.
It's such an opportunity
because a lot of times you're like, Well,
that guy's working.
Why should he get something for free?
But if you're if you're under paid,
I mean, if you're in the working poor,
you need that extra help.
And we don't want to
I don't think you want to penalize
somebody for not getting a job. You.
All right.
So this is an example of this.
Just last week, one of our rise up
and most employees, she's working
40 hours a week at a local restaurant
and her check was $315 for the week.
And when we went over her budget, she,
you know, went over all the line items
that she's spending money on.
And I was like, I notice there's
no budget line item for groceries.
And she was like, I just eat at work.
I don't have the buffer to buy myself
food.
That's why you don't see.
And so you have this individual
who's working 40 hours at a job
but is not eating because
there's not enough buffer there for her.
And so, yeah, I think for a lot of us,
it's it's maybe been a long time
since we've had a low wage job
or maybe we never have.
I mean, that's a lot of people's reality,
but so we serve our real problems with,
with government organizations to me is is
you keep a person at a at a bottom level.
And once they begin
to start to climb out of it,
you take away their benefit,
you penalize them for doing well.
And what you're doing
is actually encouraging people to do well,
because if they get the job now,
they get extra points.
Exactly. Exactly. It goes on there.
I love this idea, but
it's on their account and they can come in
and save money by shopping in our food
store and buying clothes.
And one thing that we have
a really high standard of at the hub is
what is on
the shelves is the best that we can find.
We believe that those we're serving
are not that different than us.
They're materially our differences.
But honestly,
that's not that big of a deal, right?
Like,
that's not that big of a dividing line.
We make it in our culture,
a dividing line. But,
you know, we think, what would we want
when we walked into a store?
Well, we wouldn't want people's leftovers.
We wouldn't want to go into a food store
and it just be like expired
back of the pantry items.
So or this is your ration.
You get these five things. Exactly right.
So that's another thing about the love
well is
so it has the the belonging
through the membership
earning and empowerment is through
those classes and projects.
And then the last thing
is the power of choice.
So for most people in material poverty,
they show up somewhere
to get access to what they need.
And it's a pre-made food bag.
They didn't choose the items.
Maybe it's clothing that doesn't fit them
exactly right or honestly, people,
this is kind of like outside of the box
thinking, but maybe they don't like
the clothes, right?
Like maybe maybe they don't like the food
that's in the bag.
And so at the lovewell,
they're choosing everything there.
There is no one telling them how
to spend the things that they've earned.
And I think
they're leaving our building every day
the same way that you and I leave stores.
We don't think about this,
but they're leaving proud of the things
that they earned and excited
about the things that they chose.
And so what we're trying to do
is create an environment
so every class they're going to
is is designed to move them out of poverty
or move them out of addiction or move them
out of unhealthy relationships.
Right.
All of these sort of systemic things
that that happen when someone's
because material, lack of material
things is the least of their problems
typically.
So we're aiming at addressing the root
that's going on
so that they can truly move out of poverty
and be self-sufficient.
That would be the goal.
And so we serve a wide range of people
from unhoused individuals all the way
through the working poor, those
who are working low wage jobs, hourly pay.
And then we also have a section
of all of our members that don't need us
materially, but they need us relationally.
Maybe they're in isolation
or they're lonely
or they don't have connection
in the community.
And so they come there
to be a part of that.
They may not need what's in the stores.
I think a story that sticks out to me
that will forever,
forever changed
sort of my perspective of what we're doing
is there was an individual or a member
whose son is very,
very high special needs and an adult son,
and they come every day.
They're there every day.
And one day we were he was shopping
in the store and we looked at his account
and he had thousands of points
like he was lovewell rich.
And so
someone a staff member,
like literally just in
passing was like, why do you
what do you store in all this up for?
Why do you have all these points?
Because he goes to all these classes
and just like it was,
it was said so simply, but it was such a
earth shattering moment for us.
But he said, Well,
my son will never be self-sufficient.
More than likely.
And when I pass away,
this is his inheritance.
And what we realized was not only are we
giving access to survival basic needs,
we are creating an environment
where people are getting to do something
they never thought they'd be able to do,
which is leave for someone else,
something that will outlast them.
And that caught me off guard.
I mean, I that's pretty powerful.
Yeah, it's very powerful.
And it's what we see happening at the love
well is we see generosity happening.
You know, we have this
this population of people, that society
for the most part has decided on.
But what we're seeing
is that they're very generous
when given the resources
and that they want to help each other.
You often hear
someone in the back of the line
hear that someone at the front of the line
doesn't have the points they need
and never has it ever ended with that
person not getting what they need.
They all work together
to provide for each other.
Also something
they probably thought they never could do.
Right, Because now they have a currency
to be able to do that.
And so we are seeing people leave poverty.
We're seeing people
go from unhoused to houses.
We're seeing really radical change
happening in this population of people
that we're serving.
And but we're also seeing a cult,
a whole culture change
when you come into the love, well,
it is not what you expect.
What maybe the maybe an outsider
would expect.
It is calm and peaceful.
And for the most part,
you know, every once in a while
there's a full moon
and things get a little.
But that's what falls there.
Yeah, so it is it's their place
and they want to be there
and they're proud to be there.
And they care for it in that way.
And they're going to classes that range
from addiction recovery
and heavier things
like we have a class called Trauma Trauma,
which is basically like how to learn, how
to process your trauma trauma
all the way through drum circle
and creative writing
and these spaces to be able
to just express themselves.
And so it's not a place
where people just come and be services.
And that's why I was so interested
in the Herman story.
Just kind of quickly
talk about his path. Yeah, so
individuals get the opportunity to sort of
go through the process
and come back in as a helper
and as a person who's engaging and making
sure that people get what they need.
Herman was we have a
the Lovewell crew is what it's called,
but it's essentially interns.
And these are individuals
who have engaged in the level programs,
who have gone to the classes and are now
wanting to just volunteer their time
to be a part of taking care of people.
And so we do have a group of people
every week,
our crew, interns that are coming in
and helping us run the facility.
And these are people
who have benefited from and whose lives
have changed from the Lovewell Center.
And now they're sort of circling back
around to be a part of it.
I can tell you have absolutely no
enthusiasm, none what you do. 005
But I am the way
you explain this is very intricate,
the way you have this all set up.
I'm intrigued by
how did the design for this come about?
Was this was this you're doing or was this
this was all you?
I mean, me and the team of people.
Oh, yeah, it originated with us.
It is up this 22 year old girl
that came in to this
talk to these kids with so much
and through just like this 17 years.
Yeah I did actually start
out of the trunk of my car.
Well I didn't go to school for it.
I didn't have this big shiny plan.
What you see now is has been learned
through relationship
with those in material poverty.
It's a response to
the truth about their lives.
It's a response to what they were lacking,
but also what they're capable of.
You know, And I think that you get others.
I'm sorry. No, you're fine.
How did you get others to buy
in, for lack of a better phrase, to
to assist you
with what you needed to assist them?
That's right.
So the hubs model is we essentially
keep a very lean staff
so that we have to ask other people
to be involved in the community
because we we don't want to be a nonprofit
that's just doing all the work
and doesn't need people like you.
And so at the beginning, honestly,
it was a very organic
like I was learning about all these things
with the new friends I had in the city
that were experiencing homelessness.
And I was raised here.
So I was just going to people
I knew and just telling their stories
and saying like, we have to,
we have to do something.
I never
the Hub never was.
It has never been a place where I said,
Here's what's going on and here's
what I'm going to do.
It has always been,
okay, you now know this like I do.
So what are we going to do?
And and so I was a little or a lot organic
at the beginning of just people
hearing these stories and asking me, well,
what what do what do you need to do?
And me saying, Oh, no, no,
what are we going to do?
And taking people with me and saying,
I want,
you know, Paul Paul was around
at the very beginning, like, I want you,
Paul, to meet this person because it's
not just my job to care for this person.
And at the beginning
it actually wasn't even a job.
I wasn't being paid to do it.
But and even now, that is something that
the hub fights really hard to keep intact.
17 years later,
you know, fully formed nonprofit.
We have all these things going on, but
we still turn to the community every day
and say, here's what's happening.
What are we all going to do about it?
And so now, 17 years later,
we do most of that through our networks
of partners in the city, whether that's
churches, businesses, volunteer networks,
that it's a little more less organic
now than it was.
But it's still the same idea of
this is our city, We all live here.
What are we going to do
collectively to improve the standard
of living perspective for people?
Yeah, I think it's really
I applaud you speaking.
Fantastic story.
Thank you.
So anyone that wants to get their church
group involved or your business of
obviously
I wish I could do something I can.
That's a dangerous thing to say
in front of me.
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, I got
any time or, or funds or anything
I've ever directed to your organization
hasn't been well utilized.
I mean, you guys are efficient and
you have a great mission, so I love it.
So I would recommend to anyone that wants
to get involved to reach out to you.
My husband always jokes, Don't
tell my wife what you do for a living
because she'll figure out
some way to be like, Oh, hey,
how about you do that for us for free?
Yeah, you're so, you're so creative.
Like all these things you say, Oh,
it's not very creative is just to put a
well in front of it is so creative.
It's I think it is to just
hearing about it for the first time.
And now I hate that
we had to just like quickly say
but the but the purchase is so powerful.
Also,
you're talking about breaking the cycle.
We don't think about the cycle
of that next generation.
But so many of these ladies have have
children that's going to be stuck in.
And a lot of the women that we serve
are all of the women that we serve
are experiencing material poverty.
So they think about the hubs ministries
as they're all woven together.
But yeah, so we do
we serve women who have children.
And it is a generational thing.
You're watching not only this woman
get exit out of sexual exploitation, which
by the way, is one of the most traumatic
things that can happen to a person.
But you're
watching subsequently their children
gain access
to freedom through their parents
life change.
And we see that happening all the time
through the women that we're serving
and also the teens,
the teen agers that we serve, too.
I mean, you know, too,
that you are shaping them at an age
where they're they're going to go on
and now be adults in the future.
And the hope is that you're catching them
and giving them exit out of exploitation.
And they have so much runway of life
ahead of them.
And so, yeah,
so it is a very profound change.
Sex trafficking and sexual exploitation
is incredibly difficult to leave,
just like poverty.
It it is far more complicated
to leave than people think.
I think the like just go get a job
when it looks like in the exploitation
realm is, well, she could just leave
or she could just stop dancing
or she could just stop prostituting.
And it is absolutely just not that simple.
And so our organization works
purchase works in the community
with law enforcement, foster care system,
all the hospitals, the DA's office,
any system that is involved
in the lives of those being exploited.
We have a seat at the table.
And what I will say about our community
is that all of these places
I've mentioned, there's so many more.
But the gingerbread house, Cato, the Cato
Juvenile Court, both Bowser
and Cato's DEA offices, the sheriff's
office, Shreveport Police, Bowser police.
We have over the last decade created
and incredible response
to sex trafficking in our community.
It is, for the most part, efficient
and responsive and clear.
And because of that,
we're seeing people like that
get out when they when they say
they want out, there is a pathway.
It is not a confusing pathway.
It's not easy.
But we've done the work over the last
ten years and we're reaping that harvest
now of just seeing.
I have a meeting today with Speedy,
like the act, the active approach
they have to working with our NGO,
which is pretty rare
and we work with them regularly.
The DA's office, we have diversion
programs where women can go
into our program in place of jail time.
So I do want to say that, yes,
the hub is is leading some of that effort.
But I can't leave out the fact
that all of these systems
that typically would not would miss this
in our community are not they are standbys
working together to see this cure.
And I was only half joking
when I mentioned the Congress and the work
you're doing, how it fits
with everything that's going on right now,
particularly at the southern border. But
this is having far reaching effects
throughout the country.
What's going on at our southern border?
Are you seeing some of those folks come
this way?
Not really, no.
No. Most of most of our the individuals
we're serving are either local from here
or have moved I-20 are moving up and down
I-20 from other cities.
So, no, not necessarily.
But I mean, it does happen from
time to time, but it is relatively rare.
Well, I mean, that's a good thing.
Yeah.
I was just curious,
just because it's a great question,
because it's spreading
throughout the country and
I don't see it stopping anytime soon.
So I think organizations like yours are
going to be very critical moving forward
in your your bravery,
the way you approach these things.
So the way I found out about
you is from my daughter.
I want
to cry on the show for the first time.
Oh, no. Oh,
she's a tiny little thing like you.
Just a tiny little thing.
And. And you.
And next thing I know,
when she's in high school, she's like, Oh,
I want to go work with Cassie at The Hub,
and we're going to go to strip joints.
Yeah, I know you are not.
She's like.
And I, you know, actually, by that time,
knowing my spunky young daughter,
I didn't say, No, you are not.
I said, Well, what are you going to do?
And she's like, Well, I can't actually go
in because I'm not 18, but just this.
And I hate to say real quickly,
but I mean, the creativity and the bravery
and the walls that you have broken down
to meet people where they are,
you know, we can't just say get a job.
So how do you how do you approach. Yeah.
So for for women experiencing ladies
yeah exploitation
or for women in sex work,
our philosophy
is that we want to show up in their life
now, not when they say
they're ready,
not when they get their act together.
You know, now.
And we want to be their friends.
We want to be their community.
We want to be a group of people that
aren't putting a lot of demands on men.
Hey, we'll help you
if you decide to leave this industry
or will be here when you when you decide
that you don't want to do this anymore.
And so, yeah,
we don't want to interrupt to 2 minutes.
Yeah, go ahead. Yeah.
So, yeah, we go into those strip clubs
regularly, we go to different
parts of the city that are higher
trafficked area is we go into motels
and all of that and that's a weekly thing
and we're just trying to earn trust.
We're trying to connect and be friends
so that when someone does
have crisis or wants out,
it's a lot easier for them to reach out
because they trust us.
Now, as a follow up, how hard I mean,
I mean, I know very little about this,
but I've always heard that
these women are controlled by men.
I guess.
How hard is it to get them away from
those men that are controlling
and incredibly difficult,
Incredibly difficult.
So often it requires, unfortunately,
something pretty traumatic happening
that lands them in a hospital
or lands them be getting arrested.
Sometimes that saves people's lives.
So it is incredibly difficult
to create an environment
where they are away enough
for us to be able to get them out.
And that's we work with law enforcement
really closely on that.
Okay. We're in our last minute call
man doing.
We haven't even talked about Rise
and Rose.
It's a work that you then you come back.
I can come back.
Yes, I will come back because
she's making an impact in our community.
I really do. Yeah, Very valuable.
How do people get in touch with you
if they want you to come
speak to their organization
or if they want to get involved? Yeah.
So it's really easy.
They can just go to the hub ministry dot
com and everything lives on that website
and you'll see when you go there
how to volunteer.
You will see how to donate if you.
You want to financially give
and then you'll see.
Specifically, one thing I wanted to
highlight was we have a local business
network called Make It Your Business,
which is essentially saying
Paul has made it his business to in sex
trafficking or to in material poverty.
So we have, you know, 20 to 30
local businesses that are in that network.
And so you can go and find out about that
on the website, too.
There's just literally a thousand ways
that you can get involved
in what we're doing.
The main one is the hub ministry.
The hub ministry dot com. Okay.
Thank you for being here.
Thank you for having me.
Absolutely. With that,
we're going to have to wrap this up.
But we're having Kasey back.
This is an incredibly good conversation
and and I think there's a lot more.
Yeah. Thank you. All right.
You can watch this podcast every week,
wherever you find your podcast.
Thanks for being here.
And as always, this has been good to know.