Photo credit: Erin Bloodgood
Arnitta Holliman
People like Arnitta Holliman, who sacrifice so much of their heart to the people they serve, don’t see what they do as a job, but as a lifestyle. As the Director of the Sisters Program at the Benedict Center, she works daily with women in the street-based sex trade. With a career like hers, Holliman doesn’t simply clock out at the end of the day. She thinks about these women constantly, trying to find ways to improve their lives and prevent sex-trafficking from happening in our city. “You can’t get a peek into these women’s lives the way that we do and not be touched by it,” she says.
Holliman grew up in Milwaukee and has been in the city her whole life. As she explains, her early upbringing and faith in the church drive the work she does today. “I’d like to give whatever I can to the city, to the community that gave so much to me,” she says. With a background in clinical psychology, Holliman began doing counseling in a prison during her graduate studies. While working with her patients, she found herself getting frustrated when they were not reaching the goals of the program and she felt like she wasn’t making enough of an impact. Her turning point came when her clinical professor told her to change her idea of success, because success looks different for everyone. Holliman still carries that idea with her, looking for progress in the little acts that her clients do.
In 2016, Holliman found her way to the Benedict Center, which is an organization that advocates and provides services for women involved in the justice system. The center has three main programs: Women’s Harm Reduction Program, Justice Advocacy and the Sisters Program. Under the Sisters Program, Holliman organizes a street outreach team, case management workers and an education program for women in prostitution or sex trafficking. “Part of the work that we do,” says Holliman, “is advocating for women to be treated as they should be treated and be seen as people deserving of dignity and respect,” because they are not always treated that way. “It is common to hear people say that women choose to do this,” she explains, “but we have to take a step back and look at the system to understand why women get involved in prostitution.” Poverty, for instance, can be an extremely coercive force.
When these women are impoverished on the street, then receive a fine from the police for prostitution, it only worsens their situation. That’s why the organization partners with the Milwaukee Police Department and District Attorney’s office, allowing women to get help instead of becoming incarcerated or get ticketed. The goal is to bring women to the Benedict Center and build a relationship rather than punishing them in the criminal justice system.
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There are many ways to get involved with the Benedict Center, but “one of the biggest things people can do to help is better understand who the women are and see them as their neighbors.” Once the public accepts these women as part of their community and treats them with respect, we can make a tremendous impact on their lives.
Learn more about the movement at benedictcenter.org.
For more of Erin Bloodgood’s work and to find ways to get involved, visit bloodgoodfoto.com.
