A plantable paper social enterprise established to provide emotional &
economic healing for a community of women who have survived sex trafficking and prostitution.
Sexually exploited women not only need a safe place to visit or live, they need a safe place to work. Survivors have barriers to mainstream employment such as gaps in education, a consistent work history, marketable job skills, and arrest records. We are looking to establish Paper & Roots as a way to offer survivors dignified work that provides a fair living wage and path toward economic independence.
P U L P + S E E D S = H E A L I N G R O O T S
Why Seeded Paper?
Social entrepreneur and founder of Thistle Farms, Becca Stevens, believes that work for an exploited population, “…needs to walk hand in hand with healing in body, mind, and spirit.” The process of making paper is repetitive and soothing to a traumatized brain, but it’s also therapeutic in its symbolism; tearing up discarded and unwanted fragments, blending them, and forming them into something fresh and revitalized. Guided by counselors, the emotional benefit of paper therapy is enhanced when we express our daily struggles, our grief, and our stories through writing (or drawings)…THEN we shred and reset. Wow!
By adding seeds to the pulp, we’re adding a visual sign of hope and possibility. ‘To plant is to believe in the future.’
Is It Sustainable?
Seeded paper is eco-friendly and there are no chemicals or additives which means it’s a safe working environment. Given the ability to custom mix colors, and flower, herb, or vegetable seeds, each page is unique. We’ll use locally sourced seeds and oils for fragrance. We’ll enlist the help of schools and businesses to donate paper scraps for us to recycle and in exchange, we’ll offer classes in papermaking to students and the DIY community.
Seeded paper will be used by our survivor Paper Artisans to create unique:
