Find Voices for Dignity in the news!
Mar. 12, 2025
The ‘Cottage’ Blooms: From Dilapidated to Delightful, Boutique Empowers Women
What was once an aging relic in the heart of Colorado City has undergone a remarkable transformation. The former Standard Supply Building, later a WIC office, sat deteriorating alongside a dilapidated trailer. Today, it stands as a charming symbol of community revitalization and women’s empowerment.
In 2018, Voices for Dignity, a local non-profit organization, acquired the tiny building. What followed was an extensive renovation project, fueled by the dedication of countless volunteers. Local businesses volunteered their services for the restoration.
Dec. 8, 2024
How a Colorado City woman helped police bust polygamist leader Samuel Bateman
Dr. Marie lives in “Short Creek,” the nickname for the border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., that have traditionally been the headquarters of the Fundamentalist LDS Church. A psychologist, she runs the nonprofit group Voices for Dignity.
“We help stigmatized populations,” she said. “What we want to do is bring dignity to people who are from unpopular groups, or, you know, suffer from, you know, the trauma of those kinds of experiences. So the main thing is that we try to empower people, and we are here in Short
Dec. 6, 2024
The couple aren’t polygamous or FLDS members, but Marie was drawn to keep helping the community and started a nonprofit charity called Voices For Dignity.
There were other organizations offering help, she said, but some focused on assisting people only once they left polygamy. Her Voices for Dignity took a harm-reduction approach, accepting that people needed support as they stayed or while they were deciding whether to leave, and served anyone who knocked on the front door.
Dec. 8, 2024
Marie testified the next day, feeling nervous and anxious but eager. “I waited for this day for so long,” she said.
Once on the witness stand, Marie said she felt like she got into a groove, walking the jury through the video and audio evidence that she and her filmmaker husband had recorded.
“And when I was done, it was such a massive relief,” she recalled…“I just want those women to have the very best life,” she said, “and freedom to think for themselves and to move on.”
Jun. 14, 2022
A real estate boom transforms a community with a polygamist past
“If it gets to the point where I don’t have anyone here, then I will have to go somewhere else,” said one, Esther Bistline, 45. “We have really lost our support system. We don’t even have a place to worship. My whole family has had to move away.”
She sells snacks and handmade clothing from Short Creek Cottage, a shop created by a nonprofit that advocates for marginalized groups including the FLDS.
“So many of our families have been driven away from the community. They have taken our storehouse, our religious buildings,” she said. “We have no bishops. If I had a religious issue, I guess I’d talk to my dad.”
Norma Richter, 55, stopped by to pick up some dolls she hoped to sell online. Her 12-year-old daughter Lydia who, like many FLDS children, is homeschooled, joined her.
Jul. 15, 2021
Adapt To The Transformation Of Short Creek
Bistline, the current FLDS member, has already seen some of that change come to Short Creek.
“The businesses have changed. And they’re not owned by the FLDS anymore. And it’s really hard to get a job and work for somebody that you feel like has taken away from you,” she said.
She works at the Short Creek Cottage, a business set up by the non-profit Voices for Dignity that helps FLDS members with economic and educational opportunities. At the store, FLDS members sell baked goods and homemade products to tourists: jams, jellys, travel pillows and blankets.
“That’s our main source of income now, tourism. People coming and wanting to buy the crafts and homemade things,” said Bistline.
Voices for Dignity estimates that no more than 15% of Short Creek are still FLDS. More people likely still believe in FLDS doctrines, but it’s hard to say as the community is in such flux.
Dec. 14, 2021
‘Keep Sweet’ documentary looks at the past and future of FLDS community Short Creek
Producer Glenn Meehan began visiting the community of Short Creek a decade ago, initially with the aim of making a documentary about the lost boys. But, that changed as he and director Don Argott watched the community change.
The result is the new documentary, “Keep Sweet,” which is streaming now on Discovery+. The Show spoke with Meehan to learn about the film and where the title “Keep Sweet” came from. (Voices for Dignity is mentioned in this documentary).
Jan. 5, 2020
Barlow said she and a group called Voices for Dignity, consisting of FLDS followers and their supporters, spoke to officials at Mohave County before the election. They were told they could vote under a provision in Arizona law that allows homeless and displaced people to cast ballots. However, Barlow said, it was not explained to them how that provision also requires voters to change their registered address to a public location such as a homeless shelter, a post office or a street corner.
Barlow said Voices for Dignity held an education campaign before the election, telling people they needed to be registered to vote at their current addresses when possible. She said some FLDS followers chose not to vote because they didn’t know which address to list and feared that if they cast ballots, “their integrity would be called into question.”
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No faithful FLDS members were at the open house. Instead, they were down the street at the opening of Short Creek Cottage. It’s a charity selling baked goods and homemade clothing and souvenirs to benefit FLDS and other people in Short Creek.
Esther Bistline, one of the few remaining FLDS members in Short Creek, said it was painful to see the meetinghouse lose its religious purpose.
In breakthrough, polygamous sect members reach agreements to stay in homes on Utah-Arizona line
Some of the arrangements have been made through an intermediary — an organization called Voices For Dignity. It helps people in Short Creek — in and out of the FLDS — find housing, legal assistance, clothing and other necessities.
Christine Marie Katas, who runs the organization . . .said the UEP has started giving her a list of properties to be served eviction notices. She goes to the occupants in those homes and encourages them to come to an understanding with the trust.
“We are delighted to help the FLDS find ways to remain in their homes without having to violate their religious beliefs,” Katas said in a text message.
Katas said she is speaking with Barlow about extending the arrangements to commercial properties owned by the UEP, as well as buildings the FLDS members have been using as schools.
Donations sought for FLDS children in need of shoes
Eight-year-old Lydia received her new boots from Voices for Dignity in Hildale, a non profit that helps those from the FLDS faith, and place those of the faith feel safe going for help. Lydia picked the brown color out herself for a reason.
“I thought most girls got pink, so I’d get something else more than most girls didn’t get,” said Lydia.
Princess party for polygamous-sect girls celebrates reading, teaches them a little bit about makeup
About 30 who read the requisite number of books got to attend a princess party. They dressed in gowns, most of which they and women from the FLDS sewed. Some participants also wore heels, put on makeup for the first time and went to the party at a home decorated for a ball.
The event was organized by Voices For Dignity, a nonprofit that has been working with people in and out of the sect in Hildale, Utah, and adjacent Colorado City, Ariz., collectively known as Short Creek.
A separate, nonprincess event is planned for FLDS boys.
In a fundamentalist Mormon town, modernization highlights a stark divide
Advocate Christine Marie Katas moved to the community to help FLDS women and families. She likens the evictions and turnover to a “cultural extinction.”
“It seems as if, the public think anything negative that happens to them, that’s okay, because they don’t agree with their religion,” said Katas, who works with the FLDS community through her non-profit Voices for Dignity. “And that’s really heartbreaking. Because they are American citizens who deserve as many constitutional rights and civil rights as anybody else.”
Polygamous group’s control over small town wanes
Community members gather at a resource center run by a charity called “Voices for Dignity,” which is dedicated to helping members of a Mormon offshoot religion called the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The group’s home community on the Utah-Arizona border is undergoing a series of changes as the sect’s control of the town slips away amid government evictions and crackdowns
Humanitarian aid takes root in Colorado City, Hilldale
“There’s no structure, no support system for people like me, because so many of us are gone,” said Norma Richter, one of an estimated 2,000 loyal followers of Jeffs who still lives in “Short Creek.”
It’s why outside volunteers have stepped in to help.
Richter was hosting an FLDS community fair on a recent Thursday in April, where FLDS girls and women braided hair for tips and sold baked goods and handmade wares. Most of the customers were missionaries and volunteers serving in a nearby shelter that was once a home for dozens of Jeffs’ wives. A nonprofit helped host the fair.
“I work 12 hours a day trying to help these people find housing, find jobs, food, shoes, educational supplies, all the things that used to be supplied by the church,” said Christine Marie of Voices for Dignity, who leads a humanitarian effort for FLDS refugees called “Operation Short Creek.”
Marie said her efforts used to be met with opposition by the FLDS. But they are now more receptive to getting help.
ABC4 – Shop opening to help FLDS families
David Bishop came from Salt Lake City to help. “I’m just an old retired cop trying to do something good to help good people help themselves,” said Bishop.
And then there’s Lamont Barlow who was once FLDS and considered an apostate to those who remain faithful but still volunteering.
“Bridges are being built, people are starting to warm up to each other. It’s a story of healing,” said Barlow.
The Short Creek Cottage opens July 3rd, in Central Street in Colorado City. They invite the public to come and shop.
ABC4 – FLDS women become victims advocates
FLDS women from the polygamous towns of Hildale and Colorado City were in St. George learning about how they can help those who may have suffered abuse.
At Dixie State University FLDS women are furthering their education, becoming advocates for victims for sexual assault.
“This has given me a greater understanding of what sexual assault victims go through,” said Esther, an FLDS mother.