She got her opportunity through Hope Rising, a Brenham-based child placement agency and Christian ministry that worked with young victims of sex trafficking. Hope Rising received about $2 million in state grants from 2018 to 2021 and even more from private donors. Like many stories that would later emerge about Hope Rising, the details of what happened depend on who is telling the story. The incident was one in a cascading series of accusations that would end with Clement’s ouster, followed by the dissolution of Hope Rising in 2022. She’d walked away from Hope Rising with “a lot of loss,” “a lot of heartbreak,” and “a much lower credit score,” she told the Observer.