OUR HISTORY

Kara Doan attended a summit where she learned about the prevalence of human trafficking in Illinois. At that time, she was a math teacher on the south side of Chicago and realized that the very students she had been teaching and pouring her life into were the same ages as those targeted by traffickers. 

Motivated to do something, Kara and her husband, Paul Doan, educated themselves on how communities could help individuals in exploitative situations. They encouraged their church to get involved and collectively spent a year strategizing how they would serve victims of human trafficking. Kara and Paul had experienced tremendous healing and restoration in their lives and wanted to give that same freedom to others. 

In 2015 they started Restoration61. The goal at the time was simple, to provide emergency services to individuals coming out of sex trafficking situations. Kara left her teaching career and, with the help of volunteers, began to walk with victims, supporting them on their recovery journey. 

Today

Restoration61 was awarded several grants, allowing it to move from a volunteer-based organization to onboarding a team of full-time staff members. Now, Restoration61 can provide wrap-around services to those impacted by human trafficking. Since opening its doors, Restoration61 has worked with over 3,500 victim-survivors, and it continues to be a place where lives are restored daily.

Restoration61 is growing to take on new initiatives, including offering housing to youth and adult victims of human trafficking, operating a behavioral health center in partnership with Timberview Wellness, and operating a state-of-the-art workforce education program for the clients we serve!