WICHITA, Kansas -- The sex trafficking industry makes a home in Wichita and takes advantage of those who have no options. It is most often the homeless.
A growing percentage of the homeless population in Wichita are teenagers.
Nyeshia moore gives us a tour of her cozy apartment.
A comfy couch in front of the TV, a neatly made bed.
But just a short month and a half ago - Nyeshia's situation was very different.
"I was a victim on the streets been through a lot of stuff with that too," says Nyesha, also known as Nya.
Placed in state custody at the age of 14, Nya ran from the foster care system.
"I stayed on the run all the time cause I was not wanting to be with strange people. It went from friends to family to strange people that I don't know, I was couch hopping basically."
Every couple months - a new couch to sleep on.
"Bein' on the street as a teen girl is very hard."
Nya quickly learned her options for life on the street.
"Wichita has a lot of prostitution and stuff like that. For females without kids it's a lot harder to get into any shelters, it's like way hard."
While an exact number is hard to track, outreach workers tell us they're seeing more and more homeless teens in Wichita looking for help.
"As we see a rise in homeless youth, we will see a rise in young people subjugated to domestic minor sex trafficking," explains Karen Countryman-Roswurm, who is a social worker who specializes in working with homeless youth involved in sexual exploitation, also known as sex trafficking.
"What we're typically seeing is pimps involved in a gang or pimps posing as boyfriends to young ladies and they coerce them into getting involved into domestic minor sex trafficking," says Countryman-Roswurm.
Nya explains, "A lot of females tend to go out and find a man to try to take care of them and they end up finding themselves in the wrong type of situation."
A midwest city with access to several major interstates - outreach workers tell us Wichita is a prime location for recruiters, or pimps, to win over insecure victims.
Homeless youth are more at risk for falling victim to sex trafficking .
"I've been through that too, I ended up getting away from the situation that's when I ended up meeting a member from the S.O.S group," says Nya.
S.O.S stands for Street Outreach Services in Wichita - a place homeless teens can find help.
A social worker told Nya she could call anytime.
Countryman-Roswurm says, "We need to get to those young people before the perpetrators do because once they're propositioned the likelihood of them getting out of that situation is very slim. Only 6 percent were able to leave that situation."
S.O.S led Nya to Carpenter Place, which offers girls ages 6 to 21 a safe and stable home environment where they offer custom programs to turn young lives around.
"When I fall I have somebody to pick me up even when I doubted myself about the G.E.D they were all like, you're gonna get it - we know you're gonna get it," laughs Nya.
Nya got her G.E.D in 10 days, will soon start driver's ed and has plans for her future.
A future she owes in part to good choices and people who care.
"Lift their spirits up, cause not everybody is like me, can walk around happy after all the things I've been through but I still walk around happy because I have faith. Everything happens for a reason," says Nya.
Nya wants her story to help others who are where she's been.
The new youth resource center is available for homeless teens looking for help.
It's at 1157 North Emporia and is open Mondays and Wednesdays from Noon to 6 PM and Thursdays from 3 to 9 PM.
